Women in the ancient world

The God Enki in Sumerian Royal Ideology and Mythology

by Peeter Espak

2010, University of Tartu, PhD dissertation, 284 pp. 2010, University of Tartu, PhD dissertation, 284 pp.

Die ‚grandiose Relativität‘ – Zur Deutung des Todes der Charite (Apul. met. 8,1-14)

by Matthias Stern

Paper from a seminar on Apuleius' "Metamorphoses" held by Dr. Marcus Beck at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg in 2010.

Following the research on the tale about Charite‘s death in Apul. met. 8,1-14, one is able to find many and very... more Following the research on the tale about Charite‘s death in Apul. met. 8,1-14, one is able to find many and very different interpretations of its message.

In this paper I made use of a rather constructivist approach in interpreting Apuleius and developed the thesis that the author deliberately confuses his audience and thoroughly refuses to present a message of his tale. Apuleius does so by:
- purposefully loosing the tale‘s connection the rest of the novel,
- s y s t e m a t i c a l l y  establishing discordant or even contradicting pictures of his figures in intra-, extra-, and intertextual ways,
- and also by wittingly undermining the sub-narrator‘s authority.

So, if one is allowed to modify a statement of Fuhrmann‘s about Tacitus, one can allude to the story of Charite‘s death as a tale of ‚profuse relativity‘.

She's Only A Bird in a Gilded Cage: Freedwoman at Trimalchio's Dinner Party

by Liz Gloyn

Published in Classical Quarterly (2012) 62.1: 260-280.

Materfamilias

by Roberto Fiori

in "Bullettino dell'Istituto di Diritto romano 'Vittorio Scialoja" 96-97 (1993-1994) pp. 455-498 (publ. 1996)

The sources give different meanings for 'materfamilias': 'woman in manu', 'woman sui iuris', 'woman who follows the... more The sources give different meanings for 'materfamilias': 'woman in manu', 'woman sui iuris', 'woman who follows the boni mores', 'wife'. This has led most scholars to believe that the title had no juridical value. In my opinion, the proper meaning of the expression was 'woman not subject to a patria potestas' (i.e., most of the times, the wife of a pater familias), and therefore it implied a specific juridical status. It was from this primary meaning that the secondary meanings of 'wife' and 'honest woman' evolved.

Peinadas y elegantes. La moda en numismática

by Ildefonso Ruiz López

Co-authored with RAMÍREZ RUIZ, CARMEN, in Stilus 9 (2012),  pp. 22-27  ISSN 1989-9750

A lo largo de la historia de Roma, el peinado de las mujeres y hombres romanos sufrió una significativa evolución,... more A lo largo de la historia de Roma, el peinado de las mujeres y hombres romanos sufrió una significativa evolución, como puede apreciarse a través de los distintos testimonios monetales existentes. Esta variedad de estilos en el peinado es especialmente llamativa en el caso de las féminas, y se constata sobre todo a través de las representaciones de mujeres pertenecientes a la familia imperial y a las principales familias patricias de Roma.

"Denn ihrem Diktat vermochte der König nicht zu widersprechen": Die Position der Frauen am Hof der Arsakiden

by Irene Madreiter

co-authored with Udo Hartmann
published in: Proceedings of the fifth conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea, held in Ravenna 6-11October 2003, ed. by. A. Panaino/A. Piras, 2006, pp. 485ff.

Alcune donne della Scuola Pitagorica

by Daphne Varenya

Frauen und Geschlechterrollen in der Sicht der hellenistischen Stoa

by Ulf Scharrer

in: Christoph Ulf / Robert Rollinger (eds.), Geschlechter - Frauen - Fremde Ethnien. In antiker Ethnographie, Theorie und Realität, Innsbruck e.a. 2002, p. 119-172

Il rituale come campo di sperimentazione del "politico": l'esempio della normativa sul rituale funerario nella documentazione epigrafica greca

by Flavia Frisone

published in Poleis e politeia. Esperienze politiche, tradizioni letterarie, progetti costituzionali, Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Storia Greca, Torino, 29-31 Maggio 2002, Alessandria 2004, pp. 369-384

Senhora da Casa, Divindade e Monarca: as várias faces da mulher egípcia (Lady of the House, Monarch and Divinity: the many faces of Egyptian women)

by Julio Gralha

Gralha, Julio
Senhora da Casa, Divindade e Monarca: as várias faces da mulher egípcia. Anais da Jornada de Estudos da Antiguidade (NEA - UERJ). , v.1, p.63 - 72, 2006.

Sobre las Mujeres en la Antigua Grecia

by Alba Sánchez Varela

Comentario sobre la situación de las mujeres en la Grecia antigua, sus ocupaciones, funciones y labores, y la visión... more Comentario sobre la situación de las mujeres en la Grecia antigua, sus ocupaciones, funciones y labores, y la visión de las mismas en las obras dramáticas.

La Canción de Nehmes Bastet (Blog Post)

by Ángel Román Ramírez

Unos arqueólogos egipcios y suizos descubrieron por casualidad, en el Valle de los Reyes de Egipto, la tumba de una... more Unos arqueólogos egipcios y suizos descubrieron por casualidad, en el Valle de los Reyes de Egipto, la tumba de una cantante que vivió hace casi 3.000 años.

« Les Femmes de Diodore de Sicile : rôle des figures féminines dans une histoire universelle »

by Cécile Durvye

dans 'Femme et féminisme dans les littératures méditerranéenne et arabe. Actes de la table ronde de Nancy, 13-14 mars 2008', éd. L. Denooz et S. Farès, Nancy, ADRA, coll. Études anciennes, 2010, p. 143-158.

Les femmes n’occupent pas dans l’histoire de Diodore un rôle politique important : quelques exceptions légendaires... more Les femmes n’occupent pas dans l’histoire de Diodore un rôle politique important : quelques exceptions légendaires mises à part (Sémiramis par exemple), leur fonction est limitée à la transmission de la légitimité, par alliance ou par descendance, et, dans de rares cas, au remplacement temporaire d’une autorité masculine (Cratésipolis). Dans ce dernier cas, en tant que substituts masculins, elles acquièrent des caractéristiques masculines. Cependant les femmes sont omniprésentes dans la Bibliothèque historique ; mais plus qu’un moteur historique, elles y constituent un outil littéraire destiné à introduire dans le récit une dimension pathétique propre à toucher tous les auditeurs et lecteurs. Victime privilégiée des coups du destin, la femme est essentielle dans l’œuvre de Diodore en ce qu’elle offre une image de l’humanité soumise à des puissances qui la dépassent.

Feminism and Religion: Where Do Nontheists Fit? By Bridget Ludwa

by Feminism and Religion

originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project.

What is a woman to do when she no longer finds any type of theism relevant to her, but as a human being still needs... more What is a woman to do when she no longer finds any type of theism relevant to her, but as a human being still needs community, ritual and sense of the sacred that theistic religion inherently provides?  The most vocal representatives of atheists are men, such as the voices of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens.  I’m happy to have these voices, because they’re brilliant and well-spoken, but where are the women?  My partner shares the same belief system as I do, but he does not feel the same need for community as I do.  Is it gender?  What ratio of women to men do you observe when you look at who is spending their time and energy making sure your local Catholic Church functions?  In questioning if women are more spiritual than men, Caroline Kline observed that women outnumber men in religious observance.  For the sake of argument, let’s accept for a moment that women are more inclined than men to seek community, ritual and a sense of the sacred.  What is a nontheist woman to do?

I wanted to go through some articles posted on here before diving into this question, maybe I would find a satisfying answer and that would be the end of it.  Carol Christ consistently poses the divine gender question, and admittedly I’ve been very drawn to a feminine manifestation of the divine.  The idea of Mother resonates with me more than Father (a father whom many believe could only “save” humanity via human sacrifice).  Part of my rejection of theism does indeed stem from this issue of gender.  For many who find traditional theistic concepts unnerving, Christ’s reevaluation of the divine is gratifying and empowering.  As empowering as this reevaluation is, however, the concept of any deity, male or female, still did not settle with me.

Women's Property and the Law of Inheritance in the Neo-Babylonian Period

by Cornelia Wunsch

In: D. Lyons and R. Westbrook (eds.): In: Women and Property in Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Societies (Conference held in Washington 2003)
electronic publication: <http://www.chs.harvard.edu/activities_events.sec/conferences.ssp/conference_women_property.pg&gt;
PLEASE NOTE: The copy attached here uses the correct diacritics and is therefore superior to the copy of the original publication.

La traición a la maat. La violencia contra las mujeres en el antiguo Egipto (Betraying Maat. Violence against Women in ancient Egypt)

by Marc Orriols-Llonch

Lot’s Wife in the Novels of Mary Anne Sadlier

by Janelle Peters

Postscripts 5.2 (2009): 155-174. Presented at SBL 2010.

The biblical figure of Lot’s wife (Genesis 19:26; Luke 17:32) in the novels of Mary Anne Sadlier functions... more The biblical figure of Lot’s wife (Genesis 19:26; Luke 17:32) in the novels of Mary Anne Sadlier functions typologically, assigning the role of Lot’s wife to both men and women. This essay explores how such an interpretative move functioned to reverse the charges leveled against Catholic men by muscular Christianity and Catholic women by the Protestant Cult of True Womanhood. Sadlier’s audience was the burgeoning Irish American immigrant community, but the ethnically porous character of Sadlier’s sources of inspiration for that community might be attested by her family’s Catholic catechetical publishing company’s reprint of Cardinal Wiseman’s Fabiola in the United States a mere two years after its initial publication in Britain and by her numerous translations from the French. The choice of a typological figure with a widely acknowledged perceived historical basis helped Sadlier to navigate between progressive and conservative Catholic biblical interpretation contemporary to her writing. Typology also facilitated Sadlier’s participation in the Catholic polemics against anti-Catholic, nativist literature by assimilating a negative biblical exemplar to biblically devoted Protestants.

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For an example of the continuing cultural impact of Wiseman's Fabiola and the Oxford Movement, see this newspaper article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/5345000/Fabiola-Francis-Alys-at-the-National-Portrait-Gallery.html

Maidens, fillies and the death of Medusa on a seventh-century pithos

by Kathryn Topper

Perseus, the maiden Medusa, and the imagery of abduction

by Kathryn Topper

Tra codice letterario e" spontaneitÃ". Il rapporto Cicerone-Terenzia alla luce delle epistole (cic. Fam. 14)

by Marta Guglielmi