Becoming a Woman and Mother in Greco-Roman Egypt

by Ada Nifosi

How did Greco-Roman Egyptian society perceive women’s bodies and how did it acknowledge women’s reproductive functions? Detailing women’s lives in Greco-Roman Egypt this monograph examines understudied aspects of women's lives such as their coming of age, social and religious taboos of menstruation and birth rituals. It investigates medical, legal and religious aspects of women's reproduction, using both historical and archaeological sources, and shows how the social status of women and new-born children changed from the Dynastic to the Greco-Roman period. Through a comparative and interdisciplinary study of the historical sources, papyri, artefacts and archaeological evidence, Becoming a Woman and Mother in Greco-Roman Egypt shows how Greek, Roman, Jewish and Near Eastern cultures impacted on the social perception of female puberty, childbirth and menstruation in Greco-Roman Egypt from the 3rd century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D.

268 pages, Hardcover

Published February 6, 2019

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book and ended up being somewhat disappointed. In part this disappointment was due to the misleading title. I expected the book to focus on the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods in Egypt. Instead it focused on Egypt from the Predynastic until the late Roman Period. This broad chronological focus might be okay if addressed by the author adequately but I didn't feel that she did that. I also had to keep checking references to be sure what time period she was discussing since she muddled a lot of the evidence together rather than always presenting a clear, chronological discussion. A few areas, such as her discussion on domestic space, lacked up-to-date references, which lead to some dubious conclusions. Despite these negatives the author had some wonderful ideas that she could develop further and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

[lauren ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

yes, i am in fact on a goodreads rampage rn… and since there only 4 reviews and some stranger is bound to come across this: i’ve been updating my goodreads with all of the articles and books i’ve had to read lately for school. this one didn’t wow me, but i found the detail it included was very interesting