Description
Book SynopsisUnlike many studies of the family in the ancient world, this volume presents readings of mothers in classical literature, including philosophical and epigraphic writing as well as poetic texts. Rather than relying on a male viewpoint, the essays offer a female perspective on the lifecycle of motherhood.
Although almost all ancient authors are men, this book nevertheless aims to carefully unpack the role of the mother not as projected by the son or other male relations, but from a woman’s own experiences in order to better understand how they perceived themselves and their families. Because the primary interest is in the mothers themselves, rather than the authors of the texts in which they appear, the work is organized according to the lifecycle of motherhood instead of the traditional structure of the chronology of male authors. The chronology of the male authors ranges from classical Greece to late antiquity, while the motherly lifecycle ranges from pre
Trade Review
"The chapters are successful in considering the nuances of the conceptualization of mothers in ancient sources, especially in poetry, and taken as a whole the volume achieves its aim of opening up new ways of viewing mothers in antiquity." -- Fiona McHardy, University of Roehampton * Early Modern Women *
Table of Contents
1. Introduction Alison Keith, University of Toronto, Mairéad McAuley, University College London, and Alison Sharrock, University of Manchester 2. Uncanny Mothers in Roman Literature Mairéad McAuley, University College London Section 1: Mothers and Young Children 3. From Body to Behaviour: Maternal Transmission in the Ancient Greek World Florence Gherchanoc, Université Paris Diderot, ANHIMA Centre 4. Νωδυνία: l’Oubli des souffrances maternelles et le chant théocritéen Florence Klein, Charles de Gaulle University 5. "Nimis mater": Mother Plot and Epic Deviation in the Achilleid Federica Bessone, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy 6. Augustan Maternal Ideology: The Blended Families of Octavia and Venus Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland Section 2: Mothers and Their Children’s Marriages 7. Motherhood in Roman Epithalamia Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer, Universität Basel, Switzerland 8. The Roman Mother-in-Law Alison Sharrock, University of Manchester Section 3: Mothers and Adult Children 9. maximum Thebis (Romae?) scelus/maternus amor est (Oed. 629-30): Amour de la mère et inceste chez Sénèque Jacqueline Fabre-Serris, Charles de Gaulle University 10. Mighty Mothers: Female Political Theorists in Euripides’ Suppliant Women and Phoenician Women Giulia Sissa, University of California 11. Wife, Mother, Philosopher: On the Symbolic Function of Augustine’s Monnica Therese Fuhrer, Ludwig Maximilians Universität Section 4: Mothers and the Death of Their Children 12. Virgilian Matres: From Maternal Lament to Female Sedition in the Aeneid Alison Keith, University of Toronto 13. Octavia: A Roman Mother in Mourning Valerie Hope, The Open University 14. Mothers as Dedicators Olympia Bobou, Aarhus University, Denmark
