Women and War in Classical Greece
The lives of women in Classical Greece in the context of war. War is
often regarded as the domain of men but actually it is a social phenomenon where everybody
is involved. Scholarship has begun to be interested in issues of women and war in Classical
Greece, while they are insightful and demonstrate portions of women's experience, studies to
date have not attempted to create a holistic view. In such studies, women are generally
depicted as a single homogeneous group, their involvement in war is viewed as limited and
exceptional, and they are only seen as the marginal victims of war. This thesis, by contrast,
strongly argues for diversity in women's experiences during war. It demonstrates the
centrality of war to women's lives in Classical Greece, as well as how women's experience
might vary according to (for example) their social and economic circumstances. By analysing
both written sources and archaeological material across the Classical period, this thesis
intends to produce a broader perspective. By providing the first full-length study on the
subject, this thesis, thus, contributes to the disciplines of both gender studies and warfare
studies.
This thesis begins by investigating the way in which ancient sources outlined wartime
boundaries for women. While there were no formal 'rules of war', ancient writers nonetheless
suggest that there were certain social conventions particular to the treatment of women in
Classical Greece at times of war. As chapter 1 shows, perhaps surprisingly, women were not
always evacuated from their communities as is commonly thought, they were not supposed to
be maltreated, nor killed in Classical Greek warfare.
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