Did the Amazons really exist?
By Adrienne Mayor It was long assumed that Amazons, the fierce and fearsome women warriors of Greece, were imaginary. But curiously enough, stories from ancient Egypt, Persia, the Middle East, Central Asia, India and…
Tag: women in antiquity
Homosexuality – embracing queer sex and love in Ancient times
by Jennifer Ingleheart Abstract: Ingleheart argues for homosexuality as significant in ancient Roman cultural life, simultaneously showing that ancient Rome has been vitally important for the subsequent development of…
‘Acting on the instructions of this Clytemnestra’: a female killer in the ancient Athenian courts
By Christine Plastow Abstract: As part of feminist theatre company By Jove Theatre’s Sparagmos blog on women’s violence in Classics, Plastow discusses a case in Athenian courts of a female defendant for violence and…
Re-writing Women’s History
By Virginia L. Campbell Abstract: Campbell argues for different approaches to writing and presenting women in antiquity by comparing representations of brothels and prostitution, revealing in the process the Roman…
The Public Voice of Women
By Mary Beard Abstract: Beard analyses the culture surrounding women and public speaking in both Greek and Roman culture and literature, notably Homer’s Odyssey and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, drawing connections to the…
Rape, Lost in Translation: How translators of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” turn an assault into a consensual encounter
By Stephanie McCarter Abstract: In this article, McCarter analyses the Leucothoe’s rape in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and compares how various translations have obscured and misinterpreted the language to portray the…
Homeric Studies, Feminism, and Queer Theory: Interpreting Helen and Penelope
By Rachel H. Lesser Abstract: Rachel Lesser reviews feminist scholarship’s contributions to Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey. By drawing on Helen and Penelope as two opposing examples, Lesser suggests queer theory as an…
@EmilyRCWilson Scholia
By Emily Wilson In this compilation of selected Twitter threads, Dr Emily Wilson, the first female scholar to translate Homer’s Odyssey, gives insight into the nuances of Greek translation, as well as analyses on a…
Ovid’s Women of the Year: Narratives of Roman Identity in the Fasti
by Angeline C. Chiu Abstract: Roman love-poet Ovid, best known for the epic Metamorphoses, offers in his Fasti the self-proclaimed goal of exploring and explicating the Roman calendar. Published in his maturity circa…
Sappho is Burning
By Page duBois Abstract: To know all we know about Sappho is to know little. Her poetry, dating from the seventh century B.C.E., comes to us in fragments, her biography as speculation. How is it then, Page duBois asks,…