Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity

When Goddesses was published twenty years ago, I did not anticipate the reception and long life that it would enjoy. As soon as the book appeared, it was described in Choice as “the first and only scholarly book on its subject in the English language.” It was widely reviewed in both the popular and the scholarly press. Goddesses was translated into Italian, German, and Spanish.1
Goddesses was published early in the development of the history of women in antiquity as a field for serious research, and it established parameters for subsequent studies of the history of women in antiquity. The overall chronological organization, which draws attention to change over time in women’s lives, has been preferred by most historians to the thematic or synchronic approach. The categorization by class and social status, which points to differences between wives on the one hand and whores and slaves on the other, and within social classes the additional comparisons by gender (for example, Ptolemaic queens and their brothers who are kings, and Roman matrons and upper-class Roman men), are in common use. The terms “respectable” and “non-respectable” as applied to women have become clichés. The final important category, geographical variation, immediately observable in the distinctions between Greek women and Roman women, is nowadays axiomatic in women’s history and is gradually being recognized in family history. The constant attention to differences between women is nowadays a fundamental principle in women’s studies. The chronological organization, in particular, has made it easier to assimilate women’s history into traditional history.
"The first general treatment of women in the ancient world to reflect the critical insights of modern feminism. Though much debated, its position as the basic textbook on women's history in Greece and Rome has hardly been challenged."-Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement. Illustrations.