Women's History and Ancient History

This collection of essays explores the lives and roles of women in antiquity. A recurring theme is the relationship between private and public, and many of the essays find that women's public roles develop as a result of their private lives, specifically their family relationships.

Essays on Hellenistic queens and Spartan and Roman women document how women exerted political power -- usually, but not always, through their relationship to male leaders -- and show how political upheaval created opportunities for them to exercise powers previously reserved for men. Essays on the writings of Sappho and Nossis focus on the interaction between women's public and private discourses. The collection also includes discussion of Athenian and Roman marriage and the intrusion of the state into the sexual lives of Greek, Roman, and Jewish women as well as an investigation of scientific opinion about female physiology.

The contributors are Sarah B. Pomeroy, Jane McIntosh Snyder, Marilyn M. Skinner, Cynthia B. Patterson, Ann Ellis Hanson, Lesley Dean-Jones, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Mary Taliaferro Boatwright, and Shaye J.D. Cohen.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807843105
• ISBN13: 9780807843109
• Release Date: August 1991
• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The most beautiful thing upon black earth is what one loves (Sappho)

A lot of the essays in this book are highly specialized studies, only for Ancient History scholars, like 'Three Case Studies in Hippocratic Gynecological Therapy and Theory', or 'What's in a Name? The Emergence of a Title for Royal Women in the Hellenistic Period'. More generally interesting essays are two women portraits: One of Fulvia, the wife of Marcus Antonius, and her political influence in Ancient Rome, with Cicero in the role of a 'whournalist'; another of Plancia Magna of Perse, a very wealthy maecenas. For women's history, the following studies are important: 'The cultural Construct of the Female Body' : the Greek used natural female characteristics in order to justify the subordination of the female to the male. 'Menstruants and the Sacred in Judaism and Christianity': the reason for considering ejaculation as impure was to limit the frequency of sexual intercourse, 'so that sages should not behave like roosters.' 'The rhetoric of impurity only served to strenghten and justify the marginalization of women.' 'Women in the Spartan Revolutions': Women's economic power appears as one of the essential features of the Spartan revolutions, because they owned the majority of the land. The aim of the Spartan revolutions was to put an end to the unequal distribution of wealth, which was the major cause of the city's decline. And more importantly (!), 'the Spartan men obeyed their wives and allowed them to become active in public matters.' 'Family Behavior of the Roman Aristocracies': in order to control the size of their families, the Romans possessed in addition to contraception, an efficient method: the exposure of the unwanted newborn children. There was a social endogamy in order to enlarge the circle of allies. 'Women as Historical Subjects in Roman Art': the key concept is conservatism, a propagandistic form idealizing narratives of power and kinship. 'Marriage and the Married Woman in Athenian Law': Athenian marriage law was concerned first with the identification of legitimate children. Excellent are the essays on Sappho and the less known female writer Nossis. Highly recommended for Ancient History scholars and all those interested in Women's History.