How did patriarchy influence ancient civilizations and thier way of life?

Question

Civilizations such as the Greeks and Romans and the Chinese. How did patriarchy influence legal systems, leadership, and religion in each culture.

Answer 1

Inheritance of property and social status (e.g. king, nobility, hereditary priesthood) were based on the male line. This necessitated sexual fidelity on the part of women, or they might give birth to another man's child, and nobody would know whose. In some cases a woman's fidelity was protected with elaborate procedures. Often it meant that women had to stay at home, to avoid suspicion of infidelity. This meant they couldn't participate in legislation, commerce, leading or judging, on an equal basis with men. Alliances between families and even nations were also formed by marrying the daughter of one family to the son of another.

Answer 2

Women had no legal rights in most ancient societies - their fathers or husbands owned them, in a way - that's surely a product of patriarchy. But other than that, generalizing about how these societies might have differed if they were not patriarchies is pure speculation.