Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology

by Ian M. Plant

Despite a common perception that most writing in antiquity was produced by men, some important literature written by women during this period has survived. Edited by I. M. Plant, Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome is a comprehensive anthology of the surviving literary texts of women writers from the Graeco-Roman world that offers new English translations from the works of more than fifty women. From Sappho, who lived in the seventh century B.C., to Eudocia and Egeria of the fifth century A.D., the texts presented here come from a wide range of sources and span the fields of poetry and prose. Each author is introduced with a critical review of what we know about the writer, her work, and its significance, along with a discussion of the texts that follow. A general introduction looks into the problem of the authenticity of some texts attributed to women and places their literature into the wider literary and social contexts of the ancient Graeco-Roman world.

Genres: History, Poetry, Nonfiction, Classics, Ancient, Anthologies, Womens

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2001

Reviews

[Edvald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure this is a good book to read cover to cover, but I’m glad I did.

When I did a survey of ancient literature module, the only woman writer I read was Sappho. For a long time, I thought we didn’t have the writings of many other women than her preserved. I was wrong. Plant succeeds at what he aims to do, which is to present the diversity of women’s writing in Ancient Greece and Rome. He introduces each writer briefly before presenting her writings (and in the few cases where we have a lot of their writings, he presents a selection). I’m so happy this exists – but it doesn’t make for a riveting read. Not everything is bedside reading, to put it like that. The alchemical writings get pretty complicated, and to be honest, I skimmed through parts. But I was nevertheless fascinated by the sheer variation in the book. That’s really what I have to say about the book in general. So here are my thoughts on three amazing woman writers I have just discovered!

Erinna was my favourite. We just have one poem that she wrote, and we don’t even have all of it. But what we have is beautiful. Her poem, “The Distaff”, is about her friend Baucis, who passed away shortly after being married. I am struck by how modern it feels. The way she jumps between events captures the loss of childhood, and her references to mythology give a feeling I associate more with modern magical realism than ancient poetry. Part of this is probably because of the fragmentation of her text, which lets me read into the poem what I want. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t a great poet.

Sulpicia was one of Rome’s big love elegists of the first century BC, along with more widely read male writers such as Catullus and Propertius. Like them, she wrote about a turbulent relationship with her lover. Unlike them, she faces the social expectations of upper class women. I found poem 11 especially evocative, where she sits in front of the altar. Her mother tells her what to pray for, but as she is “now her own woman”, she prays for herself and her lover.

Egeria is so late she’s almost early Middle Ages. She wrote a journal of her travels from her home in modern-day Spain to Jerusalem. For journals, they’re not that personal from a modern perspective – she’s more concerned with describing the places she visits than her own reactions to them. Nevertheless, I was fascinated by the slivers of insight I got into the travels of a woman almost two thousand years ago.

Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome is not an amazing book. But looking into and learning about the women of antiquity we can read today is worth it – it is a treasure trove I never knew existed.

[Jenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give up! I’ve been reading this since January and I can’t do it anymore. A collection of fragments of writing that may have been written by women in Ancient Greece or Rome. Or may not have been. Who knows!

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book incredibly interesting. The book contains the known histories of many ancient women writers, along with examples of their writings, some long and complete, some just snippets that have survived.

I have now added many individual works by some of these women to my wishlist, and hope to read more about and by them, women like Sappho, Hypatia, Eudocia, Egeria, Proba, and Perpetua. I find them, their lives, and their writing fascinating.

[Lulu]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I.M. Plant is clear in his introduction about how many women he is leaving out of this anthology and I thought he was clear on why. Yet, I found exceptions throughout to his rules about which women to include. While he says we have almost a hundred women writers, he includes only 55. Yet, most of these are only a few lines of text, far outweighed by the introductions about them. I would have much prefered to see all "nearly 100" of them with introductory information since we have such little of their actual work. At least then, we can see (or help our students see) what type of evidence historians must contend with when we are trying to rediscover the lives of women from the Greek and Roman cultures of antiquity.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic reference book, filled with 55 entries of Greek & Roman women writers. Each entry has a wonderful introduction with many references, the extant work (or a sampling for those whose work has survived in quantity), and endnotes. I'd heard of only a few of these women, so I was very happy to be introduced to so many more. Their work still resonates today. I have to add, though, that whenever I read things like this, I always weep for how many works we have lost from antiquity.