Athena's Sisters
Author(s): Katherine Backler
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Athena's Sisters transforms our understanding of Classical Athenian culture and society by approaching its institutions—kinship, slavery, the economy, social organisation—from women's perspectives. It argues that texts on dedications and tombstones set up by women were frequently authored by those women. This significant body of women's writing offers direct insights into their experiences, values, and emotions. With men often absent, women redefined the boundaries of the family in dialogue with patriarchal legal frameworks. Beyond male social and political structures, women defined their identities and relationships through their own institutions. By focusing on women's engagement with other women, rather than their relationships to men, this timely and necessary book reveals the richness and dynamism of women's lives and their remarkable capacity to shape Athenian society and history.
'Katherine Backler shows how much we can learn about women's actual lives and relationships to one another from fourth-century BC orations and inscriptions, all of which offer much more specific information about the authentic lives of women in the ancient Greek world than can be gleaned from epic and drama. The result is a more detailed, dynamic and positive picture of women's lives than can be derived from literary texts alone.'
Mary Lefkowitz, Mellon Professor Emerita in the Humanities and Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at Wellesley College
'This is an exciting contribution to a growing body of scholarship showing that ancient Athenian women had distinct identities and agency beyond their roles as wives and mothers. Drawing on a range of sources including forensic oratory and inscriptions, Backler uncovers the perspectives and even possibly the voices of these multifaceted women from antiquity. This book is original and likely to gain a wide audience.'
Sara Forsdyke, Josiah Ober Collegiate Professor of Ancient History, University of Michigan
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