The duty of women to have children creates a prejudice against them. Many laws for women and writings about women relate to their childbearing work. This is their most important responsibility and also what has given them fewer freedoms than men. I will explore this fact in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome using the writings of Sappho, Aristotle and the scribe Any. The first laws regarding women that we have were the Code of Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi states that a man can only take a second wife if the first wife has not borne him children (law 144). This shows that the most important role of women was to have children. The second wife's sole purpose is to have children so that the man can pass on his family name. This idea is reinforced by Law 145 which states that if a man takes a second wife, she will not be equal to the first wife. The Sumerians were very concerned about passing on their genes and having children as early as possible because life was very uncertain for them. The Tigris frequently faced violent floods that could wipe out entire crops and kill many people. The Egyptians, on the other hand, could rely more on their river and women also had more latitude. For them, marriage was considered a partnership and women were allowed to own property and represent themselves in court. “In Advice from a Scribe to His Son”, the scribe Any writes: “It is a joy when your hand is with her”4 in reference to his son's future wife. Life was less volatile, so men had time to appreciate their wives for something more than the children they could bear. Even though their main task was always to have children, as shown by Any who writes "take a wife while you are young so that she will bear you a son"4, once women have had a few children, they acquired a...... middle of paper ... virgins gave their wives a little more freedom. The Sumerians, for whom life was unreliable, had to have children right away and also did not give their wives much freedom, while the Egyptians, for whom life was more reliable, again gave more freedom for their wives. “On a Good Wife,” from The Politics & Economics of Aristotle, Edward English Walford & John Gillies, trans., London: G. Bell & Sons, 1908.2Bernard, Mary. Poems of Sappho.3Davis, Williams. “Xenophon: on men and women” taken from readings of ancient history: illustrative extracts from the sources. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-1913.4Lichtheim, Miriam. “Advice from a Scribe to His Son” from ancient Egyptian literature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.5Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. Gender in History. Oxford: Blackwell Editions, 2011.