Description
Book Synopsis"This is an important title... It will be valuable in graduate-level study of Western and Middle Eastern antiquity."-Choice
Trade Review"This is the single best book I have seen on the nexus between sex/gender and the formation of national identity in antiquity." * Daniel Boyarin, author of
Carnal Israel *
"Bold and fearless, which is exactly what is needed when treading your way through a mine field." * David Noel Freedman, Editor-in-Chief,
Anchor Bible Dictionary and
Anchor Bible Commentaries *
"This is an important title. . . . It will be valuable in graduate-level study of Western and Middle Eastern antiquity." *
Choice *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations
Introduction: Setting the Stage
—Words of Warning
—Sex, Status, and Homecoming: A Jewish Penelope?
—Sin, Shame, and Sanctity: The Tale of the Lusty Wife and Rabbi Meir
PART 1: PROJECTIONS OF BIBLICAL SPHERES OF WOMEN
1. From Dinah to Cozbi: Rape, Sex, and Foundational Moments
—From Rape to Parental Reticence
—Why Not Marry a Shechemite?
—Dinah and Matriarchal Betrothals
—A Woman of the Wilderness: The Rape of Cozbi
—Foundation Murders and Rapes
2. Patriarchy and Patriotism: Integrating Sex into Second Temple Society
—Birth of a Nation: Marriage and Patriotism in Ezra
—Private and Public in Yehud
—Sin, Scripture, and Intermarriage
—The Fate of Foreign Spouses
—The Case of the Defiant Daughter: Jubilees' Dinah
3. From Esther to Aseneth: Marriage, Familial Stereotypes, and Domestic Felicity
—Marriage between Gentiles, Model 1: Ahasuerus and Vashti
—Marriage between Gentiles, Model 2: Haman and Zeresh
—The Jewish Family
—Intermarriage: Ahasuerus and Esther
—Integrating Brides into the Family: Aseneth and Joseph
PART 2: VISIONS OF RABBINIC ORDER
4. Keeping Adultery at Bay: The Wayward Wife in Late Antiquity
—Theologies and Theories of Sexuality: Roman and Rabbinic Perspectives
—Suspecting Adultery
—Preliminaries: Singling Out Adulteresses
—The right to Accuse: Constantinian and Rabbinic Innovations
—The "Other": Lovers and Aftermath
5. The Harmony of the Home in Late Antiquity: Jewish, Roman, and Christian
—Perspectives on Intermarriage
—Why not Marry a Goy?
—Early Christianity and Marital Peripheries
—Banning Jewish-Christian Marriage: Roman Legal Perspectives
Conclusion: To Die like a Woman? To Live like a Woman?
—Is There a Jewess in Judaism?
Notes
Bibliography
Indexes
Acknowledgments
