The study of women in Graeco-Roman antiquity has a long history but many recent developments—prominent among which are the rise of feminist theory and theoretical and interpretive work in material culture—have transformed approaches to the study of women’s lived experiences in antiquity. This four-volume collection brings together the best scholarship that has both established the field and moved it forward.
The articles collected here are interdisciplinary, bringing into conversation the full range of evidence for women in the classical world: historical, literary, legal, medical, inscriptional, mythic, artistic (e.g., sculpture, frescoes, paintings, terracottas), and the material found in archaeological excavations, including evidence from burials, finds from houses, and the remains of food processing and textile production. Ideology is relevant to each volume, as both Greek and Roman societies had highly developed ideologies and cultural ideals that exercised profound and pervasive influence over women’s lives. Social class is implicated in these ideologies in ways that are made evident in every genre of source material.
Women in the Classical World, edited by two of the leading scholars in the field, presents in one reference source a complete picture of women in Ancient Greece and Rome, based on a vast of array of sources. This material has not been collected together in one place before.
