Women in the Ancient World: a Library Resource Guide
#ReadHERStory
When we think of everyday women in ancient classical societies, we may be tempted to assume that they were restricted to subservient domestic roles, valued mainly as vehicles for childbirth and controlled completely by patriarchal social norms. But recent research has shown that ancient women often worked outside the home and had “unofficial” power and influence that belied their overtly inferior social status. It is true that women in ancient societies had fewer rights than men: generally they could not vote or inherit or attend political assemblies or hold public office, and until the late Roman empire they were required to have male guardians in order to undertake financial or contractual decisions.
Yet women did have significant influence in ancient social and political life and sometimes rose to positions of great power. Egypt had a long history of female monarchs going back to the 2nd Millennium BCE, including of course Cleopatra VII (51-30), who was famously associated with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony during the final years of the Roman Republic. Several north African kingdoms also had female leaders in the Hellenistic period and late antiquity.
In ancient Greece, Sappho of Lesbos (c. 630–570 BCE) was a renowned and highly influential poet: Plato called her “the tenth Muse” and her likeness appeared on coins. (https://poets.org/poet/sappho)
Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 360–415 CE) was considered the world’s leading mathematician and astronomer, and was a popular teacher and lecturer. (www.britannica.com/biography/Hypatia)
In the late Roman Republic, Fulvia (c. 83–40 BCE), the wife of Mark Antony, wielded great power in the city: when Antony left Rome to pursue Caesar’s murderers, Fulvia ran the city by herself, with the support of local street gangs, becoming the most powerful woman in Rome. According to Cassius Dio, Fulvia controlled the politics of Rome. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulvia)
“Women in ancient Persia had more rights and greater freedom than any other ancient civilization including, according to some scholars, even ancient Egypt which is famous for its respect for the feminine principle in religion as well as daily life. …Persian women had almost equal rights with men and, in many instances, more freedoms and benefits. Many Persian women exercised almost total autonomy and ran their own businesses, supervised male subordinates in the workplace, and served as commanding officers in the military. … Pantea Arteshbod (559-529 BCE) was a commander in Cyrus the Great’s army. She fought alongside her husband and helped Cyrus establish the Achaemenid Empire. Her courage and leadership made her a legendary figure in Persian history.” (https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1493/twelve-great-women-of-ancient-persia)
(Sources owned by the Library: consult the online catalog for call numbers and locations.)
Essential Reference Sources:
The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ed. Simon Hornblower. (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012)
The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Horn. & Spawforth. (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012)
Starting Points:
Ancient Greece, a Political, Social, and Cultural History. Pomeroy, S. (Oxford Univ Pr, 1999)
The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Flower, Harriet. (Cambridge Univ Pr, 2004)
Daily Life of the Ancient Romans. Matz, David. (Greenwood Press, c2002)
The Missing Thread, A Women's History of the Ancient World. Dunn, Daisy. (Viking, 2024)
The Princeton Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Shaw, Ian. (Princeton Univ. Press, 2008)
Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations, a Reference Guide. Vivante, Bella (Greenwood, 1999)
Egypt:
31 BC: Antony, Cleopatra and the Fall of Egypt. Stuttard, David (British Museum Press, 2012)
Cleopatra, a Life. Schiff, Stacy (Little Brown, 2010)
Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt by Tyldesley, Joyce A.
Women's Letters From Ancient Egypt, 300 BC-AD 800. by Bagnall, Roger S. 2006
Women in Ancient Egypt Robins, Gay (Harvard, 1993)
Woman in Ancient Africa Loth, Heinrich. (L. Hill, 1987)
Women's Work, the First 20,000 Years Barber, E. J. W., 1940- (Norton, 2024)
Greece:
Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Greek & Roman Women. Marjorie Lightman (Checkmark, 2000)
Divine Might--Goddesses in Greek Myth. Natalie Haynes (Harper, 2024)
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho. Sappho, translated by Anne Carson (Knopf, 2002)
Lysistrata and Other Plays. Aristophanes (Penguin, 2002)
The Missing Thread: a Women's History of the Ancient World. (Viking, 2024)
Pandora's Jar: Women in Greek Myths. Natalie Haynes (Harper, 2022)
Portrait of a Priestess: Women & Ritual in Ancient Greece. Joan Connelly (Princeton, 2007)
Searching for Sappho: the Lost Songs & World of the First Woman Poet, P. Freeman (Norton, 2016)
Women of Ancient Greece. Don Nardo (Lucent Books, 2000)
Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations, a Reference Guide. Bella Vivante, ed. (Greenwood,1999)
Rome:
Queens of a Fallen World: the Lost Women of Augustine's Confessions Kate Cooper (Basic, 2023)
A Rome of One's Own: Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire E. Southon, (Abrams, 2023)
Roman Wives, Roman Widows. Winter, Bruce W. (Eerdman’s, 2003)
Women and Beauty in Pompeii D'Ambrosio, Antonio (Getty, 2001)
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