Overview

Modern scholars have seen women's most important religious activity in classical Greece as their participation in fertility rituals. Matthew Dillon's wide-ranging new study makes it clear that women engaged in numerous rites and cults besides such festivals, and that their role in Greek religion was actually more important than that of men. Women invoked the gods for help in becoming pregnant, venerated the god of wine, worshipped exotic gods new to the Greek pantheon, used magic and potions for both erotic and pain-relieving purposes - and far more besides. While traditional scholarship has seen such involvement in religion as 'escapist', Dillon's skilful presentation of the evidence proves that this denigrates women's religiosity, and the real importance which they attached to their mediation with the divine. Clear, coherent, and comprehensive, the volume challenges many stereotypes of ancient Greek women, offering numerous fascinating and unexpected insights. With more than 50 plates, and a wide range of translated extracts from contemporary texts, this is the essential guide to the significance of women in classical Greek religion.

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9780415202725

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Reviews

'Highly recommended ... no collection of classical, religious or gender studies would be complete without it.' - Choice 'A work of considerable scholarship, and one on which the author is to be congratulated.' - Minerva 'It makes accessible a substantial body of disparate material.' - JACT Review ;Wisely, this important contribution to understanding the female dimesion of ancient religion does not make the worship of goddesses a central concern.' - International Review of Biblical Studies

To this reviewer's knowledge, no comparable study exists. Highly recommended--no collection of classical, religious, or gender studies would be complete without it. <br>-J.R. Asher, Georgetown College, Choice, September 2002 <br>

To this reviewer's knowledge, no comparable study exists. Highly recommended--no collection of classical, religious, or gender studies would be complete without it. -J.R. Asher, Georgetown College, Choice, September 2002

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Dillon, Matthew

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