Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations: A Reference Guide

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Description

Knowledge about the roles of women in ancient civilizations has been limited to traditionally held notions, but recent discoveries and research have led to exciting insights into the great variety of ways in which women contributed to ancient cultures. This reference work, designed for student research, features lengthy essays and a wealth of new information about women's roles in twelve ancient civilizations around the world - China, India, Japan, Mesopotamia, the Levant, Egypt, West Africa, Greece, Rome, the Maya, the Inca, and Native North America. Historical studies have tended to ignore women's roles in ancient civilizations and to devalue their contributions to the community. These essays examine women's religious, political, public, economic, and domestic roles, their legal status, creative expression in art and literature, and notions of beauty. Students can then compare women's roles across cultures. The contributors, each of whom is a subject specialist, examine not only the nature of women's limitations in patriarchal culture but the ways in which women often succeeded, despited these limitations, in becoming agents of social change. Each essay begins with a timeline of events in the history of that culture to place the narrative in historical context, and concludes with suggestions for further reading about women in that culture.

Reviews

"I...enthusiastically endorse Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations (Bella Zweig, ed.)....[I]t is a very valuable resource which should be available in every high school library."-Eileen M. Strange Head, Modern and Classical Languages Miss Porter's School, Farmington CT
"The collection provides a cornucopia of information and insights."-Phyllis Trible Professor of Biblical Studies Wake Forest University Divinity School
"Unique in scope, this dense guide to what the scanty evidence tells us about women in 12 ancient societies will fill a gap in libraries serving academic high schools with strong history or women's studies programs....[T]his systematic and eye-opening resource will furnish serious students with a study base for topical research in many areas of social history."-School Library Journal
"This collection has achieved an elegant balance, avoiding the defects of, on one hand, starkness of primary sources without much context, or on the other hand, confusion of anthologized excerpts, sometimes also out of context, that are inaccessible to all but expert., ,," the wook is a rich compilation of information and should be in every library's collection.-Cloelia
[A] thoughful and varied look at women's role in ancient civilizations.-Reference & Users Quarterly
[T]his edition would be a good starting point for discussion of why and whether women need a history of their own.-Journal of World History
The volume succeeds admirably in its presentation of the data available on the topic, clarifying the differences between the more recent and ancient treatment of women in each area and bringing together the texts and archaeological evidence to support the claims made. The book is an important resource because it allows easy access to the information about the similarities and differences in the roles of women in the different ancient areas, but also between the ancient and the modern within each area. Also interesting is the nature of the evidence available in the different areas considered.-Religious Studies Review
This is a solid work that gives insight into ancient civilizations and allows the reader to compare female roles across cultures. It is a scholarly yet accessible work that is a valuable addition to the field of women's studies.-American Reference Books Annual
Unique in scope, this dense guide to what the scanty evidence tells us about women in 12 ancient societies will fill a gap in libraries serving academic high schools with strong history or women's studies programs....[T]his systematic and eye-opening resource will furnish serious students with a study base for topical research in many areas of social history.-School Library Journal
An excellent resource for students!- Pennsylvania School Librarian's Association
An excellent resource for students!-Pennsylvania School Librarian's Association
An excellent resource for students!Pennsylvania School Librarian's Association
"A thoughful and varied look at women's role in ancient civilizations."-Reference & Users Quarterly
"This edition would be a good starting point for discussion of why and whether women need a history of their own."-Journal of World History
""This collection has achieved an elegant balance, avoiding the defects of, on one hand, starkness of primary sources without much context, or on the other hand, confusion of anthologized excerpts, sometimes also out of context, that are inaccessible to all but expert., ,," the wook is a rich compilation of information and should be in every library's collection."-Cloelia
"[A] thoughful and varied look at women's role in ancient civilizations."-Reference & Users Quarterly
"[T]his edition would be a good starting point for discussion of why and whether women need a history of their own."-Journal of World History
"An excellent resource for students!"-Pennsylvania School Librarian's Association
"This is a solid work that gives insight into ancient civilizations and allows the reader to compare female roles across cultures. It is a scholarly yet accessible work that is a valuable addition to the field of women's studies."-American Reference Books Annual
"The volume succeeds admirably in its presentation of the data available on the topic, clarifying the differences between the more recent and ancient treatment of women in each area and bringing together the texts and archaeological evidence to support the claims made. The book is an important resource because it allows easy access to the information about the similarities and differences in the roles of women in the different ancient areas, but also between the ancient and the modern within each area. Also interesting is the nature of the evidence available in the different areas considered."-Religious Studies Review

Author Bio

BELLA ZWEIG is Associate Professor at the University of Arizona. Her research has focused on women's roles in ancient Greek religion, drama, poetry, and society, and she has also performed in ancient Greek, including scenes at the famed ancient theatre at Epidauros in Greece. Her translation of Euripides' Helen in Women on the Edge: Four Plays by Euripides is forthcoming.