Women in the Ancient World by Jenifer Neils
Women in the Ancient World is a beautifully put together overview of the roles, perceptions and portrayals of women from Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt using the source materials from archaeological records of the time.
Written by professor of ancient art history and classical archaeologist Jenifer Neils, the book isn’t overly academic but is both accessible and an informative read on life in ancient times.
Taking different traditional feminine roles, Neils examines how these are represented, or not, in the classical record. From grooming to sex, motherhood to death, religious ritual to political power, from start to finish she explores what we can infer from documents and artefacts.
Illustrated with gorgeous photographs of archaeological finds, some of which are eye-poppingly graphic (I was embarassed at some points to be caught reading this on the bus!), the book outlines in some depth how women’s lives were circumscribed from birth until death.
I am by no means a classicist, so her clear but knowledgeable written style was massively helpful. However, I did find the mixing and overlapping examples from Greek to Etruscan to Egyptian cultures a little confusing and disorientating.
There were points where I wasn’t sure what time period was being talked about, or where. And I felt that, athough differences between how women were represented in different cultures was mentioned, more could have been done to draw out the contrasts.
However, as a non-expert I found the book an engaging introduction to the lives of women in this period, factually based, credibly written and without an obviously feminist agenda being peddled – the artefacts and the stories behind them were allowed to speak for themselves.
Women in the Ancient World is published by British Museum Press, and is available to buy in paperback for £16.14.
Rating: 3/5. A highly readable coffee table book, illustrated with lovely photography of some of the best preserved, and occasionally x-rated, artefacts. Requires a little concentration to remember which part of the ancient Mediterranean is being discussed, but using your brain was never a bad thing.
Other recommended reading: For more things Greek, Katherine Buetner’s retelling of the story of Alcestis is a good place to start. A more recent history of women’s changing roles in society can be found in What Did You Do in the War, Mummy? by Mavis Nicholson.
Johanna Derry
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