Women's Life in Greece and Rome

This highly acclaimed collection, the first sourcebook on ancient women and now in its fourth edition, provides a unique look into 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. The brand new design of the fourth edition integrates the third edition's appendix and 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. Its readings cover women's legal status, domestic conditions, health issues, and relations with other people. The emphasis throughout is not so much on what ancient writers thought about women, as on what women actually did, both within the home and outside it, from their intellectual achievements, benefactions, and religious roles, to humble jobs and acts of physical and moral courage.

Review: This admirable source book will be widely used. * Times Educational Supplement *

The modern reader can enter the ancient world through this text. * London Review of Books *

The choice of materials is excellent... Although the book is designed for classroom use, it provides an excellent introduction to the field as a whole. * CHOICE *

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 *

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 *

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 *

This up-to-date and varied volume is a bountiful resource, amply furnished with fascinating, insightful and, at times, entertaining extracts; it is indispensable to anyone with an interest in the lives of ancient women. * Minerva *

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 *

This latest integrated edition brings a wealth of additional material, some recently discovered ... [The authors] have compiled an invaluable cornucopia of sources accompanied by helpful exposition and suggestions for further reading. It will provide many hours of pleasure to all those who are interested in ancient culture and society or in women's lives. * Classics For All Reviews *

This source book remains the only one of its kind in the field of women's studies ... this compendium by Lefkowitz and Fant has not been replicated or replaced since its initial publication except by its newer revised editions ... The authors have translated most of the texts themselves and this allows for smooth reading from one source to the next. For students who lack Greek and Latin this source book is essential to their understanding of gender in classical antiquity. * Classics Ireland *

New documents, new translations, and new illustrations make this revised, fourth edition of Women's Lives in Greece and Rome a richer and more illuminating resource for historical investigation into the conditions of ancient Greek and Roman women's existence. * Judith P. Hallett, Professor of Classics, University of Maryland, College Park, USA *

The new Fourth edition not only offers a wealth of new material, including the recently recovered papyri of Sappho and Posidippus, but new translations and illustrations. The editors have clearly made an effort to make the book more user-friendly for students in important ways, including the providing of more comprehensive identifications of the sources in the table of contents and in the individual headings, and of notes at the end of each chapter. I look forward to using the enriched version of this long-established textbook in my course. I look forward to using this new edition, which has additional sources in every chapter, including some recent papyrus finds, and further guidance for students in new headings and notes. The fourth edition of Women's Life in Greece and Rome offers a number of additions and improvements, all of which make the book easier for students to use and understand. * K. Sara Myers, Professor of Classics, University of Virginia, USA *

This pioneering collection has been updated with new materials, new translations and a wealth of references to further reading. Direct, eye-opening and provocative as ever, it speaks with urgency and immediacy to its readers, inviting us all to read on, ask questions, and initiate new debates. As such, it demands to be used not only in gender and women's studies courses but in every ancient history and civilization class. * Emma Dench, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics, Harvard University, USA * 

 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION Acknowledgments WOMEN'S VOICES Female poets/Men's words in women's mouths I.MEN'S OPINIONS Praise/Invective II.PHILOSOPHERS ON THE ROLE OF WOMEN III.LEGAL STATUS IN THE GREEK WORLD Crete/Athens/Amorgos/Sparta/Thera/Smyrna/Egypt IV.LEGAL STATUS IN THE ROMAN WORLD Early Rome/The Roman jurists/Roman Egypt V.PUBLIC LIFE Women's bravery in legend and history/Political life/Women's organizations/Inscriptions Honouring Benefactresses and Philanthropist Victors VI.PRIVATE LIFE Correct behavior/Education of females/Intellectual life/Women and women/Women and men/Babies/Parents and children/The home/Celebrations/Epitaphs VII.OCCUPATIONS Apprenticeship/Self-employment and entrepreneurship/Prostitution/Women gladiators/The arts and entertainment/Skilled labour/Sales and services/Agriculture/Other records of women's employment VIII.MEDICINE AND ANATOMY Philosophers observe nature/Writings of practising physicians/Writings on medical matters by laymen/Case histories from epitaphs/Female medical practitioners IX.RELIGION Dionysus,Bacchus/Hera/Demeter,Ceres/Athena/Artemis/Aphrodite/Asclepius/Serapis/Vesta/Bona Dea/Isis/Witchcraft/Priestesses/Christianity/Late Pagan 'Saints' ABBREVIATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY CONCORDANCE OF SOURCES INDEX