Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation / Edition 4

by Mary R. Lefkowitz, Maureen B. Fant

Overview

The essential collection of source materials on the lives of women in the ancient world.

Now in its fourth edition, this highly acclaimed sourcebook examines the public and private lives and legal status of Greek and Roman women. The texts represent women of all social classes, from public figures remembered for their deeds (or misdeeds), to priestesses, poets, and intellectuals, to working women, such as musicians, wet nurses, and prostitutes, to homemakers. The editors have selected texts from hard-to-find sources, such as inscriptions, papyri, and medical treatises, many of which have not previously been translated into English. The resulting compilation is both an invaluable aid to research and a clear guide through this complex subject.

Building on the third edition's appendix of updates, the fourth adds many new and unusual texts and images, as well as such student-friendly features as a map and chapter overviews. Many notes and explanations have been revised with the non-classicist in mind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421421131
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Edition description:	fourth edition
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	974,562
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Mary R. Lefkowitz is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Emerita, at Wellesley College. She is the author of Women in Greek Myth and Lives of the Greek Poets. Maureen B. Fant studied classics and archaeology at the University of Michigan and is now a writer and editor living in Rome, Italy.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations
Preface to the fourth edition
Acknowledgements
1. Women's Voices
2. Men's Opinions
3. Philosophers on the Role of Women
4. Legal Status in the Greek World
5. Legal Status in the Roman World
6. Public Life
7. Private Life
8. Occupations
9. Medicine and Anatomy
10. Religion
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Concordance of sources
Index of women and goddesses
General Index

What People are Saying About This

K. Sara Myers

"The fourth edition not only offers a wealth of new material, but new translations and illustrations. The book is also more user-friendly for students in important ways, with more comprehensive identifications of the sources in the table of contents and individual headings, and with notes at the end of each chapter. I look forward to using the textbook in my course."

Emma Dench

"This pioneering collection has been updated with new materials, new translations, and a wealth of references to further reading. It demands to be used not only in gender and women's studies courses but in every ancient history and civilization class."

From the Publisher

This pioneering collection has been updated with new materials, new translations, and a wealth of references to further reading. It demands to be used not only in gender and women’s studies courses but in every ancient history and civilization class.
—Emma Dench, Harvard University, author of Romulus’ Asylum: Roman Identities from the Age of Alexander to the Age of Hadrian

New documents, new translations, and new illustrations make this revised, fourth edition a richer and more illuminating resource.
—Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland, College Park, author of Fathers and Daughters in Roman Society: Women and the Elite Family

The fourth edition not only offers a wealth of new material, but new translations and illustrations. The book is also more user-friendly for students in important ways, with more comprehensive identifications of the sources in the table of contents and individual headings, and with notes at the end of each chapter. I look forward to using the textbook in my course.
—K. Sara Myers, University of Virginia, author of Ovid’s Causes: Cosmogony and Aetiology in the Metamorphoses

Judith P. Hallett

"New documents, new translations, and new illustrations make this revised, fourth edition a richer and more illuminating resource."

Editorial Reviews

Recommended.

Choice

This commendable and successful work continues to generate plenty of discussion both in and out of the classroom and has clearly been a force behind the application of new methodologies in the area of women in antiquity.

— Lisa Hughes

Mouseion: Journal of Classical Association of Canada

Over 450 short works and excerpts reveal the life of women in classical Greece and Rome. Included are women's voices in poetry and women characters' speeches by men playwrights, men and philosophers' opinions, and documents on legal status, public and private life, occupations, medicine, and religion. Greatly expanded from the 1980 first edition. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

This commendable and successful work continues to generate plenty of discussion both in and out of the classroom and has clearly been a force behind the application of new methodologies in the area of women in antiquity.

Mouseion: Journal of Classical Association of Canada - Lisa Hughes

This text will continue to be of significant value to students and scholars alike who wish to research women in the ancient world.

Religious Studies Review - Marian Osbourne Berky

Throughout the history of this text, as the dust jacket for the first edition attests, 'what remains unchanged is the extraordinary power of these writings and the eloquence with which they speak for and about women in the ancient world.'

New England Classical Journal - Phyllis B. Katz

In its third incarnation, Women's Life in Greece and Rome should remain a staple reference work for undergraduates and scholars alike.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Without doubt this book should be favorable received by students and scholars alike. Copious anecdotes, funerary inscriptions, legal and philosophical tracts serve to illuminate fully the position of women in Classical antiquity... Women's Life in Greece and Rome accomplishes with erudition, grace, and humor its aim.

The History Teacher

Invaluable in providing not only 'mainstream' authors but much less accessible items.

JACT Review

The modern reader can enter the ancient world through this text.

London Review of Books

This admirable source book will be widely used.

Times Educational Supplement

Throughout the history of this text, as the dust jacket for the first edition attests, 'what remains unchanged is the extraordinary power of these writings and the eloquence with which they speak for and about women in the ancient world.'

— Phyllis B. Katz

New England Classical Journal