Pre-Islamic Arabia
Pre-Islamic Arabia refers to the Arabian Peninsula prior to the rise of Islam in the 630’s. Some of the most prominent civilizations within the Arabian Peninsula were the Thamud, which arose around 3000 BCE, and the Dilmun, which lived around the end of the fourth millennium. Pre-Islamic Arabia consisted of many different religions; indigenous polytheistic beliefs, Nestorian, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.
Pre-Islamic Syria
In Syria, people had a mix of beliefs systems. People held tribal polytheistic beliefs. Others strongly believed in Christianity, others believed in Judaism, and some were Zoroastrian. However, two of the larger and more dominant religions in Syria were Judaism and Christianity, both, which helped shape the religion of Islam.
Brief History of Syria
For over 10,000 years Syria has been exposed to the Persian, Egyptian, Turkish, Greece, and Roman cultures. Prior to the rise of the Roman Empire and Christianity, many Jews lived in the city of Damascus and Judaism in Syria dates back to ancient times.
Prior to the rise of Islam, Syria was an important location for the Greek and Roman Empires. In 64BCE the Romans dominated Syria. Syria adopted the Christian religion under Emperor Constantine. Constantine established many Christian churches throughout Syria and during this time, Syria agriculturally flourished and was the center for many trade roots. Therefore, prior to Islam, the country of Syria was mainly dominated and influenced by Judaism and Christian beliefs.
How were Women treated in Syria prior to Islam?
In pre-Islamic times women’s statuses varied widely depending on the laws and cultural norms of the tribes in which they lived, or the specific religion they were apart of. Therefore, when answering the question: How were women treated in Syria prior to Islam? We must first focus on a specific religion and how they treated women.
Tribal Law
In tribal law women generally had essentially no legal status. The tribe acted as the main l unit of society. The tribes were extremely patriarchal and inheritance was passed down through male lines. Women were not permitted to own or inherit property. Typically, the tribal leader enforced the rules within the tribe and generally those rules limited the rights of women. Women were often view as property to be inherited or seized in tribal conflict. In addition, it was also quite common that males would kill female infants since they were considered a liability to the tribe. Typically they did this for two reasons because women were an economic burdens and fear of humiliation because other tribes frequently captured women and girls.
Christianity
In Christianity women also had few rights. Women were seen as property of the men. Frequently, women were used as tools to form alliances. Kings would offer up their wives to neighboring territories in order to form agreements. Also during this time wealthy men, kings especially in the Roman Empire, would have Harems and sleep with many women. In addition, women were not allowed to own property or collect inheritance. Women were not permitted to play a role in the political society. Women were only responsible for the duties at home, such as childbearing and raising the children. Women were expected to remain virgins until marriage and if they were not, it was punishable by death.
Judaism
In Judaism, men also oppressed women. It was commonly practiced that unmarried women were not allowed to leave the home of their father without permission and married women were not allowed to leave the home without their husband’s permission. Within society Women’s roles were extremely restricted. Women essentially held no authority. Women were not permitted to testify in court, they could not appear in public venues without their husbands, and they had to wear veils when they left their homes.
Conclusion
Overall, It has been documented that in Pre-Islamic society in Arabia and in Syria specifically, women’s rights were extremely limited. Women were mere subjects of a patriarchal society. In all three of the main religions in Syria prior to the rise of Islam, women were treated as second-class citizens. They were viewed as property and had virtually no rights. They were not permitted to participate in politics or even express themselves socially. Women were only viewed as child bearers and caretakers of the home.
Sources:
http://www.reviewofreligions.org/9983/syrias-religious-heritage/
http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Syria.html
http://www.made-in-syria.com/culture-and-religion-in-syria.html
syriapagebypaige 
I liked that you separated each religion into categories. Then you explained clearly how each religions plays an important role in treating women. It was crazy to find out that in early Christianity in Syria, women were considered property towards women. Women were expected to become virgins until marriage or they would be punished by death. Also, in Juddism women needed a husbands permission to leave home. I learned alot, thank you.
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This was a really clear, informative post! It mostly made me think of all the struggles women must have suffered through under all of that oppression. For example, one issue of concern would be rape. Like you stated under Christianity, women were expected to remain virgins until marriage. However, are we supposed to believe that horrible offenses such as rape did not occur back then? I am skeptical of that. It would not have been as forbidden as it is today, so I am sure women had to suffer such offenses by men without consequences to their behavior. If a woman was raped before she was married, it would be considered the woman’s fault, she would be deemed impure, and most likely put to death. Since women had no legal standing and could not testify in court, they had no way of standing up for themselves in cases of legal infractions against them. This blatant disregard for women as human beings is also shown by the fact you pointed out about female infants being killed for their gender. Women had no role in the political, educational, or business world. Most women were illiterate. Because of this, history was recorded at this time predominantly by men, by their point of view. Imagine all the offenses that were not recorded due to the fact they were deemed socially acceptable at the time. We may never fully know to what extent women suffered back in the times of pre-Islamic Middle Eastern countries.
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Your posts are always very detailed. It is interesting to see the similarities amongst all of the groups in the region. Similar to Bahrain in pre-Islamic time, women did not have many rights, but I wonder if you found anything that showed women as playing important roles in society. I believe that because our countries are fairly close regionally, there will be many connections. I really enjoyed how you were able to find information on the women and each of the main religions. Over all I think reading your blog gives me a lot on insight in the whole region and I am curious to see if throughout history until today if Syria and Bahrain have more in common.
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