Sarah B. PomeroyReseñas

Loved this. Great reference; I particularly liked the chapter on Spartan polyandry.

A good read.

I picked up this book from a library display based on its interesting title. Originally published in 1975, this book provides an introduction to what we know about women's lives in classical antiquity.½

A very adequate primer on ancient Greek history. It captures ancient Greece's achievements and flaws; and is written in a scholarly but still readable fashion. The additional reading list is useful.

I knew going in this wasn't a murder mystery; actually it's a study of an particular upper-class Roman woman, Regilla, chosen because we have statues and inscriptions about her. We know the murderer from the start. The background information on the life of an upper-class Roman female was interesting, but I felt the meat of the book was Chapter 4, where the murder was discussed and there were insights into the Roman judicial system. She was locked into an abusive marriage with a husband 20 years older than she and taken off to Greece to live, away from family and friends. Her husband, although a Roman citizen, was Greek. Her wealthy husband was a real charmer [NOT] she was finally while 8 months pregnant, kicked to death. Her brother Bradua tried to bring justice but Emperor Marcus Aurelius acquitted the murderer; wow, in spite of his wonderful writings, I think the less of this philosopher-emperor for doing that. I guess money and connections talked really loudly.

Style was not quite scholarly and not quite for laypeople.

An overview of the position of women in Classical antiquity in myth, legend, literature, and history.

This was a groundbreaking book when it was published in 1975, the first to examine the position of women of those times in such a comprehensive manner. In some ways it's very much of its time. I suspect a modern book would give more credence to systemic sociological and economic factors rather than psychoanalytical ones, for example. But, having said that, it's full of interesting tidbits presented in an engaging manner.

Pomeroy published this book the same year Evelyn Reed's Woman's Evolution was published. Overall, Reed's book, while it has some too obviously Marxist views (too much pounding of the private property is evil drum), is superior in its scholarly efforts to examine what life for women must have been like in both pre-history and antiquity.

Too often Pomeroy asserts statements that demonstrate how much she still believes the idea that men are superior to women, sometimes soon after making statements that are clearly feminist. On page 8 of the edition I have, for instance, she stated that "a fully realized female tends to engender anxiety in the insecure male." Yet on p. 33, she asserts, "thus, the role of women--because it was biologically determined--displayed a continuity throughout these obscure times--despite the upheavals that changed men's lives," clearly buying into the idea that women's roles are solely determined by biology.

Pomeroy also gives up valuable logical ground too easily, asserting, for instance, that there is no evidence for matriarchal cultures prior to the pre-historical Greek cultures she examines, even while admitting that this period appears to be transitional--from matriarchal to patriarchal, which is something Reed argues more strongly and more clearly. Even though Pomeroy wants to paint herself as a feminist, she buys into the arguments against matriarchal cultures and strong women with the same illogical arguments that are still used today: there is no definitive proof for matriarchal societies (even though plenty of evidence exists, this evidence is usually dismissed since we cannot read anything specific about that era), therefore they did not exist. This spurious argument goes the other way--since there is no definitive proof that the patriarchy always existed.

Perhaps more disturbing is how she dismisses owners' rape of their slaves as the women's being "sexually available," as well as how she continually refers to prostitutes and courtesans as "whores."

So, while this book offers some tantalizing insights into the lives of women from the early Greek through the Roman republican periods, Pomeroy's basic argument isn't really an argument at all: she believes the misogynistic Stoics' "argumentation [that women should confine their energies to marriage and motherhood} is brilliant and difficult to refute. And this rationalized confinement of women to the domestic sphere, as well as the systematization of anti-female thought by poets and philosophers, are two of the most devastating creations in the classical legacy" (230). No kidding.

Overall, Pomeroy could have used more Marxist perspective in her examination, while Reed could have beat that drum less often, but both books are worth reading, examining, and re-visiting.

Not a bad overall introduction to ancient Greece. However, the authors seem to spend way too much of their time talking about the exceptions that prove the rule and about what ancient Greece could have been rather than discussing the cold, hard facts of ancient Greek life. For example, the authors feel the need to constantly quote and discuss the lone individual from ancient Greece who happened to think that slavery or the disenfranchisement of women were unjust, meanwhile glossing over the fact that ancient Greeks actively practiced slavery and actively disenfranchised women. Often, the book became more than apologetic for the ancient Greeks than any real examination of the truth of ancient Greece. As long as the reader approaches this book with at least a basic understanding of the harsh realities of ancient Greece and an appreciation for the fact that the ancient Greeks did not adhere to modern Western mores, this book is, overall, a and worthwhile introduction to ancient Greece.

Basically, this book is about a real murder case from Ancient Rome. A man beat his pregnant wife to death, to the scandal of everyone. Regilla's husband was obviously gay. Even the homoerotic Romans thought he paid a little bit too much attention to his male paramours. What role this played in the murder, though, is anyone's guess.

I think this book could have been a lot more interesting than it was, considering the topic, but academic writing is often very dry and we must forgive that fact. It was sort of intriguing to learn about the criminal justice system of the time (if I'm reading right, murders did not get prosecuted automatically but someone had to bring a prosecution against the alleged killer, like a civil suit today). But I think I could only recommend this book to classics historians or women's studies scholars.

The text I used for my Greek history course at undergrad level. It's a good basic-level text which takes you through the history of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period, detailing all the major political, social and cultural events. Its main plus point is how well it integrates sources into the body of the text. Accessible even to those who have very little prior knowledge of Greek history.

link: http://eska-rina.livejournal.com/446004.html

An excellent piece of feminist scholarship. Useful in broadening understanding of what the ancient Mediterranean was like.

En klassiker som beskriver kvinnornas olika roller och deras situation i antikens Grekland och Rom.

305.420 938 POM

Every woman should read this book.

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