Women in Greece and Rome

From the records of an age dominated by masculine values and characterized by the almost continuous exercise of the masculine arts of war, the author has undertaken the delicate task of piecing together the public and private lives of women...The author recounts stories drawn from legend and from life: of goddesses, Homeric heroines, empresses, poetesses, wives of the famous, mothers, sisters, concubines. She searches out the other class of women, ignored by history--the obscure, the dispossesses, the slaves upon who exploitation the luxuries of the powerful depended. Describing the network of laws and sanctions that deprived women of the ancient world of the means to independent action, Dr. Zinserling goes on to explore the social attitudes and family relationships that reinforced the legal codes. Finally, she discusses the spheres of activity to which woman was typically confined: home, family, matrimony, child-rearing, religious observances, beauty culture, and fashion. Supplementing her analyses with selections from poets, philosophers, and statesmen of the age, and with homely descriptions from other contemporary sources, the author presents a comprehensive picture. Many of the examples of painting and sculpture that she has chosen to illustrate the book are details of larger works--intimate portraits that invite the viewer into the lives of their subjects.-- Publisher description.