Women's Life in Greece and Rome

by Lefkowitz, Mary R.; Fant, Maureen B.

• ISBN13: 9780801844751
• ISBN10: 0801844754
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-10-01
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

This highly acclaimed collection provides a unique look into the public and private lives and legal status of Greek and Roman women of all social classes-from wet nurses, prostitutes, and gladiatrixes to poets, musicians, intellectuals, priestesses, and housewives. The third edition adds new texts to sections throughout the book, vividly describing women's sentiments and circumstances through readings on love, bereavement, and friendship, as well as property rights, breast cancer, female circumcision, and women's roles in ancient religions, including Christianity and pagan cults.

Table of Contents

List of Plates	xxi
Preface	xxiii
I. WOMEN'S VOICES
Female poets
Sappho	2	(1)
To Aphrodite	2	(1)
When I look at you	3	(1)
Anactoria	3	(1)
Parting	3	(1)
Remembering the girl Atthis	4	(1)
The Wedding of Hector and Andromache	4	(1)
Corinna	4	(1)
The contest of Cithaeron and Helicon	4	(1)
Reflections on a woman poet	5	(1)
Praxilla	5	(1)
Two fragments	5	(1)
Erinna	5	(1)
Childhood	5	(1)
Two epigrams for Baucis	6	(1)
Anyte	6	(1)
Miletus	6	(1)
Antibia	6	(1)
Thersis	6	(1)
Philaenis	7	(1)
Nossis	7	(1)
To Hera	7	(1)
To Aphrodite	7	(1)
To Artemis	7	(1)
Polyarchis	7	(1)
Thaumarete	7	(1)
Callo	7	(1)
Sulpicia	8	(1)
To Messala	8	(1)
To Cerinthus	8	(1)
Claudia Trophime	9	(1)
Two epigrams	9	(1)
Inscribed on the Colossus of Memnon	9	(1)
Caecilia Trebulla	10	(1)
Balbilla	10	(1)
Damo	10	(1)
Men's words in women's mouths
Medea's complaint	10	(1)
Andromache's ideal behaviour	11	(1)
How a wife ought to behave	11	(1)
Deianeira contrasts childhood with life after marriage.	12	(1)
The lot of women: Procne	12	(1)
Pasiphae	13	(1)
In defence of women	13	(1)
A fragment of a comedy	14	(2)
II. MEN'S OPINIONS
Praise
Inscriptions	16	(1)
Archedice	16	(1)
Aspasia	16	(1)
Dionysia	16	(1)
Claudia	16	(1)
Eucharis	17	(1)
Amymone, housewife	17	(1)
An accomplished woman	17	(1)
Murdia	17	(1)
Pythion and Epicydilla	18	(1)
From the tomb of the Statilii	19	(1)
Epitaph for a little girl, Politta	19	(1)
Allia Potestas	19	(1)
Athenodora	20	(1)
Urbana, housewife	20	(1)
Macria Helike, a Christian	21	(1)
Literary sources	21	(1)
Cornelia's noble nature	21	(1)
Tiberius chooses to die in place of Cornelia	22	(1)
Womanly virtue	22	(1)
Invective
Pandora	23	(1)
How to pick a wife	24	(1)
The nature of women	25	(1)
The female mind	25	(2)
The best days in a woman's life	27	(1)
Greek tragedy	27	(1)
The uselessness of women	28	(1)
The unreasonableness of women	28	(1)
The worthlessness of women	28	(1)
Satire and irony	29	(1)
Woman as the equivalent of evil	29	(1)
Weighing bad women against good	29	(1)
The price of a wife	30	(1)
Wives and courtesans compared	30	(1)
An overbearing wife	30	(1)
The dangers of literacy	31	(1)
The disadvantage of a rich wife	31	(1)
Juvenal on women in general	31	(3)
Bereavement	34	(1)
Cicero on Clodia	34	(4)
III. PHILOSOPHERS ON THE ROLE OF WOMEN
The female role	38	(3)
Educating women to make them more like men	41	(6)
Men and women should be treated alike	47	(3)
A Roman philosopher advocates women's education	50	(5)
IV. LEGAL STATUS IN THE GREEK WORLD
Crete
Laws relating to women	55	(3)
Athens
Funeral law	58	(1)
The banker Pasion's will	59	(1)
Aristotle's will	59	(2)
Provisions for female children	61	(1)
Married heiresses	62	(1)
Widow of Diodotus	62	(2)
Property	64	(1)
Maintenance	64	(1)
Payment of a dowry	64	(1)
Proof of marriage	64	(1)
A mistress's scheme	65	(1)
A husband's defence	66	(5)
The case for the prosecution in a poisoning trial	71	(2)
The past activities of a courtesan	73	(9)
Amorgos
A mortgage	82	(1)
Security for a dowry	83	(1)
Transactions with a society	83	(1)
Leased property	83	(1)
Sparta
Opinions attributed to the sophist Gorgias	84	(1)
A saying attributed to the philosopher Antisthenes	84	(1)
The education of Spartan mothers	84	(1)
The advantages of Spartan education and marriage customs	85	(2)
Anecdotes	87	(1)
The behaviour of Etruscan women	88	(1)
Egypt
A marriage contract	89	(2)
Annulment of a marriage contract	91	(1)
Agreement to transfer a concubine	91	(1)
Problems over a dowry	92	(1)
A wife requests restitution of a dowry	92	(1)
A husband complains that his wife stole his property	92	(2)
V. LEGAL STATUS IN THE ROMAN WORLD
Early Rome
The laws of the kings	94	(1)
The Twelve Tables (excerpts)	95	(1)
Husbands' punishment of wives	96	(1)
The first divorce for sterility	96	(1)
Punishment for adultery	97	(1)
The Roman jurists
On women's status within the family	98	(1)
On guardianship	98	(1)
Patria potestas and adoption	99	(1)
Patria potestas	100	(1)
Guardianship	100	(1)
Guardianship	100	(1)
Guardianship	100	(1)
Pregnancy, status, and paternity	101	(1)
Children of slaves	102	(1)
On the Julian marriage laws	102	(1)
Men must marry	103	(1)
Prizes for marriage and having children	103	(1)
Augustus' law	103	(1)
The consequences of adultery	104	(1)
Petitions to the emperor	105	(1)
Adultery	105	(2)
Concubinage	107	(1)
The right of life and death	108	(1)
Social status and marriage	109	(1)
Social status	110	(1)
On marriage	111	(1)
Consent as the basis of marriage	111	(1)
Consent as the basis of marriage	111	(1)
Marital subordination	112	(2)
Social status and citizenship of children	114	(1)
Marriage after adultery	114	(1)
Eligibility for marriage	114	(1)
Conditions for the dissolution of marriage	115	(1)
The dowry	115	(1)
On legal powers of women	116	(1)
How women could make use of their freedom to contract	116	(1)
The wife's property	116	(1)
Division of property between husband and wife	116	(1)
The husband's liability	117	(1)
On sexual mores	117	(1)
Adultery defined	117	(1)
Prostitution	118	(1)
Punishments	118	(1)
Marriage with a freedman	118	(1)
How a woman loses her social status	119	(1)
Rape	119	(1)
Roman Egypt
Marriage and inheritance	119	(1)
A final dowry payment	120	(1)
Dowry payment through a bank	121	(1)
Legitimacy	121	(1)
A mother's last will and testament	122	(1)
Calpurnia Heraclea, a woman landowner	123	(1)
A woman's petition to act without a kyrios	124	(1)
A prostitute and her mother	125	(1)
A husband's complaint about an assault on his wife	125	(1)
A woman greengrocer brings a charge	126	(1)
A violent quarrel	126	(1)
A wife's complaint against an abusive husband	127	(2)
VI. PUBLIC LIFE
Women's bravery in legend and history
Legend	129	(1)
The courage of the poet Telesilla	129	(1)
Marpessa and the defence of Tegea	130	(1)
A memorial to Telesilla	130	(1)
Thargalia	130	(1)
Artemisia, the sea-captain	130	(1)
Cloelia the hostage	131	(1)
The rape of Lucretia	132	(2)
History	133	(1)
Women who risked their lives to save their husbands	134	(1)
A funeral eulogy	135	(4)
Pythias, a courageous slave-woman	139	(1)
On Arria	140	(1)
Arria's death	141	(1)
On Fannia	141	(1)
Political life
Women demonstrate and obtain repeal of the Oppian law	142	(5)
Sempronia, a revolutionary	147	(1)
A portrait of Cleopatra	147	(2)
Hortensia's speech	149	(2)
Caenis, concubine of the Emperor Vespasian	151	(1)
Women advocates	151	(1)
Electioneering	152	(1)
The family of Julia Domna	153	(2)
Women's organisations
A trade union?	155	(1)
A women's club	155	(1)
The curia of women	156	(1)
The women's collegium	156	(1)
A grant for funeral rites	156	(1)
The matrons	156	(1)
Raising money	156	(1)
A meeting of married women	157	(1)
A women's `senate'	157	(1)
A plan to restore the `senate'	157	(1)
Honorific inscriptions
The chaste Ase	158	(1)
Aufria, woman of letters	158	(1)
Lalla of Arneae (gymnasiarch)	158	(1)
A benefactress	158	(1)
Food for children	159	(1)
Eumachia	159	(1)
Junia Theodora	160	(1)
Flavia Publicia Nicomachis	160	(1)
Modia Quintia	160	(1)
Aurelia Leite	160	(1)
Scholasticia	161	(1)
Victors
A royal victor	161	(1)
Winner of a four-horse chariot race	161	(1)
Winner of a two-horse chariot race	161	(1)
From the Panathenaic victor lists	162	(1)
Women victors	162	(1)
Melosa	162	(1)
VII. PRIVATE LIFE
Correct behaviour
Chastity	163	(1)
Greek and Roman customs compared	164	(1)
Imperial upbringing	165	(1)
Seating for gladiatorial shows	165	(1)
The household of P. Larcius Nicia	165	(1)
Education of females
The education of Eurydice	166	(1)
The need for educated parents	166	(1)
Heraidous, a girl who is learning to read	166	(1)
Intellectual life
Plato's female pupils	167	(1)
A female philosopher	167	(1)
Epigram on Hipparchia	168	(1)
A learned woman	168	(1)
Agrippina's memoirs	168	(1)
A philosopher	169	(1)
A Roman philosopher	169	(1)
Women's eloquence	169	(1)
Sulpicia	169	(1)
Sayings attributed to Aspasia by Socrates	170	(1)
Women and women
Biote	170	(1)
Praxidice and Dyseris	170	(1)
The dildo	170	(2)
Going to a festival	172	(2)
The go-between	174	(1)
Lesbians as a bad omen	175	(1)
A letter from a soldier's wife	176	(1)
Women and men
The rape of the Sabine women	176	(2)
`Birth control'	178	(1)
The courtesan Aspasia, mistress of Pericles	178	(1)
Disadvantages of a liberal education	179	(1)
Melite	180	(1)
Betrayal	180	(1)
A butcher and his wife	181	(1)
Graffito on a tomb	181	(1)
Women unfavourably compared with boy lovers	181	(1)
Advice on marriage	182	(2)
To Calpurnia Hispulla	184	(1)
To his wife Calpurnia	185	(1)
To Calpurnia	185	(1)
To Calpurnia	186	(1)
To Calpurnius Fabatus	186	(1)
From a husband who misses his wife	186	(1)
Babies
Exposure of a female child	187	(1)
Hiring a wet-nurse	187	(1)
Graxia who nursed her own children	188	(1)
A letter from a parent offering to pay for a wet-nurse	188	(1)
The philosopher Favorinus on breast-feeding	188	(2)
Parents and children
Posilla Senenia	190	(1)
A mother's request	190	(1)
A mother's last wish	190	(1)
A mother's instructions about her son's education	190	(1)
The good old days	190	(1)
Cornelia's children	191	(1)
A letter from Cornelia to Gaius Gracchus	191	(1)
Seneca to his mother	192	(1)
The death of the Helvidiae	193	(1)
The death of Minicia Marcella	194	(1)
Epitaph of Minicia Marcella	194	(1)
Julia, daughter of Augustus	195	(1)
Julia's wit	195	(1)
The home
How to train a wife	196	(7)
Letter from a woman about domestic matters	203	(1)
Letter from a woman managing an estate	203	(1)
Celebrations
Attempts to explain Roman marriage customs	204	(1)
A wedding invitation	205	(1)
A birthday party	205	(1)
Epitaphs
Phrasicleia	205	(1)
Bitte	206	(1)
Xenoclea	206	(1)
From a husband	206	(1)
A widower	206	(1)
Epitaph with curse	206	(1)
A devoted couple	206	(1)
From the second husband	207	(1)
From a father	207	(1)
From a mother	207	(1)
VIII. OCCUPATIONS
Apprenticeship
An apprenticeship agreement	208	(1)
Self-employment
An incentive to female enterprise	208	(1)
Valeria Maxima, owner of a farm	209	(1)
Prostitution
Nemeas the aulos player	209	(1)
Prostitutes	209	(1)
The trial of the hetaera Phryne of Thespiae	210	(1)
The palace brothel	210	(1)
The senate vs. Vistilia	210	(1)
Justinian on pimps	211	(1)
Vibia Calybenis, the procuress	212	(1)
Graffiti	213	(1)
A runaway slave	213	(1)
Women gladiators
Freedom	213	(1)
Lady gladiators	214	(1)
In the Colosseum	214	(1)
Domitian's entertainment for the masses	214	(1)
Lion slayers	214	(1)
Amazons in the Colosseum	214	(1)
Fans	214	(1)
Septimius Severus calls a halt	215	(1)
The arts and entertainment
An exceptional tumbler	215	(1)
A tumbler	216	(1)
Aglais the trumpet-player	216	(1)
A harpist	216	(1)
Women painters	216	(1)
An actress	217	(1)
A troupe of castanet-dancers	217	(1)
Menophila	217	(1)
A citharist	217	(1)
Phoebe Vocontia	218	(1)
Twin singers	218	(1)
A musical family	218	(1)
A singer	218	(1)
A lutenist	218	(1)
Skilled labour
Handiwork	218	(1)
Handiwork	219	(1)
A weaver of gold	219	(1)
A reader	219	(1)
A dressmaker	219	(1)
Sales and services
A washerwoman	219	(1)
A society of launderers	219	(1)
A grocer	220	(1)
The women's market	220	(1)
A bar-maid	220	(1)
Other records of women's employment
Papyri	220	(1)
Egypt, 3rd cent. BC	220	(1)
Egypt, Roman Imperial period	220	(1)
Inscriptions	221	(1)
Occupations of freedwomen	221	(1)
Occupations of freedwomen	221	(1)
Occupations of freedwomen	221	(1)
Occupations of women, from inscriptions on gravestones	221	(1)
A storeroom attendant	221	(1)
Women in the service of the imperial household	222	(1)
Occupations of slaves and freedwomen in Italy	222	(2)
Occupations in Roman Athens	224	(1)
Jobs named on lead curse tablets	224	(1)
IX. MEDICINE AND ANATOMY
Philosophers observe nature
Origins of the desire for procreation	225	(1)
The female role in generation	226	(3)
Menstruation	229	(1)
Writing of practising physicians
The Hippocratic Corpus	230	(1)
Intercourse, conception and pregnancy	230	(3)
A contraceptive	233	(1)
Women's illnesses	233	(4)
Displacement of the womb	237	(1)
Hysterical suffocation	238	(1)
Dislocation of the womb	239	(1)
Dropsy in the womb	240	(1)
The dangerous periods during pregnancy	241	(1)
Hysteria in virgins	242	(1)
Case histories	243	(1)
Galen
Comparison of male and female anatomy	243	(3)
Psychological origins of hysteria	246	(2)
Aretaeus of Cappadocia	248	(1)
The wandering womb	248	(1)
Inflammation of the womb	249	(1)
Soranus	250	(1)
Menstruation, conception, contraception and abortion	250	(5)
Childbirth: instructions for the midwife	255	(1)
Treatment for hysterical suffocation	256	(3)
Writings on medical matters by laymen
The women of Miletus (a traditional story)	259	(1)
Pregnancy	259	(1)
Treatments for diseases of the womb	260	(2)
The dangers of sharing a bath with women	262	(1)
Side effects of menstruation	262	(1)
Case histories from inscriptions
Epitaph for a woman who died while pregnant	263	(1)
Malpractice	263	(1)
Death in childbirth	263	(1)
Death in childbirth	263	(1)
Taking the cure	263	(1)
Socratea	264	(1)
Female medical practitioners
Physicians	264	(1)
Antiochis	264	(1)
Primilla	264	(1)
Terentia Prima	264	(1)
Four doctors	265	(1)
Panthia	265	(1)
Domnina	265	(1)
Midwives	265	(1)
Qualities and training	265	(1)
A midwife and physician	266	(1)
Epitaphs of midwives	267	(1)
Epitaph of a midwife	267	(1)
Wet-nurses	267	(1)
A nurse	267	(1)
Advice on hiring a wet-nurse	268	(2)
Two contracts for wet-nurses for slave children	270	(2)
Receipt of wages for nursing	272	(1)
X. RELIGION
Dionysus/Bacchus
Imported Phrygian rituals	273	(1)
Rules of ritual	273	(1)
Epitaph for a priestess	274	(1)
Authorisation to establish a temple	274	(1)
Equipment for women's orgiastic rites	274	(1)
Senatus consultum de bacchanalibus	275	(1)
Rules in the cult of Dionysus	276	(1)
The festival of Agrionia	276	(1)
Hera
Chrysis, priestess of Hera	277	(1)
The cult of Hera	277	(1)
Demeter
The story of Persephone	278	(2)
Thesmophoria	280	(1)
Regulations for women attending the festival of Demeter	281	(1)
The order of the procession at the Mysteries	281	(1)
Athena
Inscribed monument dedicated by a woman	281	(1)
The priestess and temple of Athena Nike	282	(1)
The religious duties of aristocratic young girls	282	(1)
A procession	282	(1)
Artemis
A puberty ritual	283	(1)
Offerings to Artemis at Brauron	284	(1)
Dedications to Artemis Brauronia	284	(1)
Ritual procedures	284	(1)
Aphrodite
Dedication of statues of women	285	(1)
Asclepius
Cures of women's diseases	285	(2)
Serapis
A petition to Ptolemy and Cleopatra	287	(1)
Vesta
Vestal Virgins	288	(2)
Vestal Virgins	290	(1)
Augustus and the Vestal Virgins	291	(1)
Inscription to the chief Vestal	291	(1)
Bona Dea
A divine portent	291	(1)
Desecration of the rites of the Bona Dea	292	(2)
Witchcraft
Medea	294	(1)
A love potion	295	(1)
Bitto's curse	296	(1)
Ingredients for a love charm	296	(2)
Epitaph with a curse	298	(1)
A comprehensive curse	298	(1)
A curse against Aristo	298	(1)
A curse against Aristocydes	299	(1)
A remedy for induration of the breasts	299	(1)
A remedy for ascent of the womb	299	(1)
Women alchemists	299	(1)
Priestesses
Mamia	300	(1)
Priestesses at the sanctuary of Hilaeira and Phoebe	301	(1)
Priestesses of Eileithyia and Zeus Sosipolis at Olympia	301	(1)
Flavia Ammon	301	(1)
The priestess Lalla	301	(1)
Tullia, priestess of Hestia	302	(1)
The priestess Alexandria	302	(1)
Tata	302	(1)
Cassia Victoria	303	(1)
Theano the arrhephoros	303	(1)
Thesmophane	303	(1)
A priestess of Demeter at Eleusis	304	(1)
Berenice	304	(1)
Flavia Vibia Sabina	304	(1)
Paulina, priestess of several mystery cults	304	(2)
Umbria Matronica	306	(1)
Christianity
Teachings of Paul of Tarsus on women	307	(2)
Teachings about women attributed to Paul	309	(1)
The conversion of Lydia and the exorcism of a slave-girl	310	(1)
St Thecla's devotion to St Paul	311	(2)
The martyrdom of St Perpetua	313	(5)
Persecution under Diocletian	318	(5)
Gnostic ritual	323	(1)
Drinking parties	324	(1)
Celibacy	325	(2)
St Macrina and her mother Emmelia	327	(4)
Late pagan `saints'
The martyrdom of the pagan philosopher Hypatia	331	(2)
Sosipatra the philosopher	333	(2)
Notes	335	(25)
Abbreviations	360	(3)
Bibliography	363	(4)
Concordance of sources	367	(6)
Concordance with the first edition	373	(2)
Index of women and goddesses	375	(6)
Subject index	381