Believing Ancient Women: Feminist Epistemologies for Greece and Rome

This volume explores how concepts of knowledge, authority, rationality, objectivity, and testimony were constructed in Greece and Rome, using feminist epistemological frameworks to reveal issues of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, religion, age, class, familial status, and citizenship in the ancient and modern world. It aids in the recovery of non-dominant narratives and exposes similar injustices in our own time.

Format: Hardback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 31 December 2023
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

This volume employs contemporary feminist epistemological frameworks to examine the construction of concepts such as knowledge, authority, rationality, objectivity, and testimony in ancient Greece and Rome. The introductory chapter functions as a valuable field guide to feminist interpretations of classical sources, followed by sixteen chapters that explore diverse genres and historical periods, ranging from Greek poetry, tragedy, philosophy, oratory, historiography, and material culture to Roman comedy, epic, oratory, letters, law, and their reception. By employing an intersectional approach, these contributions highlight how epistemic systems marginalize and stigmatize the experiences of ancient women and other oppressed groups, thereby facilitating the recovery of non-dominant narratives and shedding light on issues of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, religion, age, class, familial status, and citizenship in both ancient and modern societies. The volume makes a significant contribution to a more inclusive and equitable study of classical antiquity and establishes transhistorical connections that can expose similar injustices in our contemporary world.

Weight: 658g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399512053