A Companion to Women in the Ancient World

A Companion to Women in the Ancient World is the first interdisciplinary, methodologically–based collection of readings to address the study of women in the ancient world while weaving textual, visual, and archaeological evidence into its approach. Prominent scholars tackle the myriad problems inherent in the interpretation of the evidence, and consider the biases and interpretive categories inherited from centuries of scholarship.  Essays and case studies cover an unprecedented breadth of chronological and geographical range, genres, and themes. Illuminating and insightful, A Companion to Women in the Ancient World both challenges preconceived notions and paves the way for new directions in research on women in antiquity.

List of Illustrations ix Notes on Contributors xvi Preface and Acknowledgments xxii Abbreviations xxiii Maps xxvi Introduction 1 PART I Women Outside Athens and Rome 5 Case Study I: The Mother Goddess in Prehistory: Debates and Perspectives 7 Lauren Talalay 1 Women in Ancient Mesopotamia 11 Amy R. Gansell 2 Hidden Voices: Unveiling Women in Ancient Egypt 25 Kasia Szpakowska 3 Looking for Minoan and Mycenaean Women: Paths of Feminist Scholarship Towards the Aegean Bronze Age 38 Marianna Nikolaïdou 4 Women in Homer 54 Cristiana Franco 5 Etruscan Women: Towards a Reappraisal 66 Vedia Izzet PART II The Archaic and Classical Periods 79 Case Study II: Sex and the Single Girl: The Cologne Fragment of Archilochus 81 Sharon L. James 6 Woman, City, State: Theories, Ideologies, and Concepts in the Archaic and Classical Periods 84 Madeleine M. Henry and Sharon L. James 7 Women and Law 96 Barbara Levick 8 Women and Medicine 107 Holt Parker 9 Reading the Bones: Interpreting the Skeletal Evidence for Women’s Lives in Ancient Greece 125 Maria A. Liston 10 Approaches to Reading Attic Vases 141 Kathryn Topper 11 Spartan Girls and the Athenian Gaze 153 Jenifer Neils 12 Interpreting Women in Archaic and Classical Greek Sculpture 167 A. A. Donohue 13 Dress and Adornment in Archaic and Classical Greece 179 Mireille M. Lee 14 Women and Religion in Greece 191 Eva Stehle 15 Women and Roman Religion 204 Lora L. Holland 16 Women in Magna Graecia 215 Gillian Shepherd PART III Women in a Cosmopolitan World: The Hellenistic and Late Republican Periods 229 Case Study III: Hellenistic Tanagra Figurines 231 Sheila Dillon Case Study IV: Domestic Female Slaves in Roman Comedy 235 Sharon L. James 17 Female Patronage in the Greek Hellenistic and Roman Republican Periods 238 Anne Bielman 18 Women on Hellenistic Grave Stelai: Reading Images and Texts 249 Christina A. Salowey 19 Female Portraiture in the Hellenistic Period 263 Sheila Dillon 20 Women and Family in Menander 278 Cheryl A. Cox 21 Gender and Space, “Public” and “Private” 288 Monika Trümper 22 Oikos Keeping: Women and Monarchy in the Macedonian Tradition 304 Elizabeth D. Carney 23 The Women of Ptolemaic Egypt: The View from Papyrology 316 Maryline Parca 24 Jewish Women: Texts and Contexts 329 Laura S. Lieber 25 Women, Education, and Philosophy 343 Marguerite Deslauriers 26 Perceptions of Women’s Power in the Late Republic: Terentia, Fulvia, and the Generation of 63 BCE 354 T. Corey Brennan PART IV The Beginnings of Empire 367 Case Study V: Vergil’s Dido 369 Sharon L. James 27 Women in Augustan Rome 372 Judith P. Hallett 28 Women in Augustan Literature 385 Alison Keith 29 Women on the Bay of Naples 400 Eve D’Ambra 30 Early Imperial Female Portraiture 414 Elizabeth Bartman 31 Portraits, Prestige, Piety: Images of Women in Roman Egypt 423 Christina Riggs PART V From Empire to Christianity 437 Case Study VI: Female Portraiture in Palmyra 439 Maura K. Heyn 32 Women in Imperial Roman Literature 442 Rhiannon Ash 33 Female Portraiture and Female Patronage in the High Imperial Period 453 Rachel Meyers 34 Women in Roman Britain 467 Lindsay Allason–Jones 35 Public Roles for Women in the Cities of the Latin West 478 Emily A. Hemelrijk 36 Rari exempli femina: Female Virtues on Roman Funerary Inscriptions 491 Werner Riess 37 Women in Late Antique Egypt 502 Jennifer Sheridan Moss 38 Representations of Women in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium 513 Ioli Kalavrezou 39 Becoming Christian 524 Ross S. Kraemer Appendix: Women in Late Antiquity (Apart from Egypt): A Bibliography 539 References 545 Index of Women 605 Subject Index 611

Sharon L. James is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of Learned Girls and Male Persuasion: Gender and Reading in Roman Love Elegy (2003), and the forthcoming Women in Greek and Roman New Comedy . Sheila Dillon is Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University with a secondary appointment in the Department of Classical Studies.  She is the author of Ancient Greek Portrait Sculpture (2006), and The Female Portrait Statue in the Greek World (2010). 

"This companion without doubt succeeds in its mission, while advocating for the further inclusion of women in antiquity in both scholarship and teaching."  (The Classical Journal, 3 May 2013) “This is a fascinating study, one which will feed into much current thought and discussion, lead to more links being made between periods, between genres and opening up the world of the ancient woman to further scrutiny and understanding, perhaps even more scholarship.”  ( Reference Reviews , 1 October 2012) Named CHOICE Outstanding Title for 2012 “While the scope of topics here is massive and not every subject has been covered, this is an invaluable compilation of great breadth and a valuable resource on an important, complex subject.”  ( Choice , 1 September 2012)