Women in Greek Myth / Edition 2

by Mary R. Lefkowitz

Overview

In the first edition of Women in Greek Myth, Mary R. Lefkowitz convincingly challenged narrow, ideological interpretations of the roles of female characters in Greek mythology. Where some scholars saw the Amazons as the last remnant of a forgotten matriarchy, Clytemnestra as a frustrated individualist, and Antigone as an oppressed revolutionary, Lefkowitz argued that such views were justified neither by the myths themselves nor by the relevant documentary evidence. Concentrating on those aspects of women’s experience most often misunderstood—life apart from men, marriage, influence in politics, self-sacrifice and martyrdom, and misogyny—she presented a far less negative account of the role of Greek women, both ordinary and extraordinary, as manifested in the central works of Greek literature.

This updated and expanded edition includes six new chapters on such topics as heroic women in Greek epic, seduction and rape in Greek myth, and the parts played by women in ancient rites and festivals. Revisiting the original chapters as well to incorporate two decades of more recent scholarship, Lefkowitz again shows that what Greek men both feared and valued in women was not their sexuality but their intelligence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801886508
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	08/27/2007
Edition description:	second edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.59(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Mary R. Lefkowitz is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in Humanities emerita at Wellesley.

Table of Contents

Preface to Second Edition
Preface to First Edition
1. Princess Ida and the Amazons
2. The Powers of the Primeval oddesses
3. The Heroic Women of Greek Epic
4. Chosen Women
5. Seduction and Rape
6. "Predatory" Goddesses
7. The Last Hours of the Parthenos
8. Women in the Panathenaic and Other Festivals
9. Women without Men
10. Wives
11. Influential Women
12. Martyrs
13. Misogyny
Epilogue
List of Abbreviations
Notes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

The evidence Lefkowitz provides in the new chapters bolsters her claims and makes this edition a necessary replacement of the former.
—Choice

An intelligent, readable, and useful analysis of the issues bearing on the status of women in ancient myth and society.
—Classical World

Exemplifies the characteristics of philological mastery, poetic insight, historical understanding, and lucid style that we have come to expect in a book by Mary Lefkowitz.
—New England Classical Journal

A smashing book in every sense of the word.
—Observer

From the Publisher

"The evidence Lefkowitz provides in the new chapters bolsters her claims and makes this edition a necessary replacement of the former."

Choice

"Exemplifies the characteristics of philological mastery, poetic insight, historical understanding, and lucid style that we have come to expect in a book by Mary Lefkowitz."

New England Classical Journal

"An intelligent, readable, and useful analysis of the issues bearing on the status of women in ancient myth and society."

Classical World

"A smashing book in every sense of the word."

Observer

Women in Greek Myth exemplifies the characteristics of philological mastery, poetic insight, historical understanding, and lucid style that we have come to expect in a book by Mary Lefkowitz.

New England Classical Newsletter