bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Urologists’ Approach to Nocturia: Routine vs. Standardized Approach
Authors: KAZAN Hüseyin Özgür , ALKIŞ Okan , ARAS Bekir
Published: January 2024

Objective: We aimed to compare the effect of urologists’ routine approach and standardized approach on disease management and treatment results in patients suffering from nocturia.
Material and Methods: The study was designed as a non-randomized prospective cohort study between March and July 2023. In the first stage, the routine clinical approach of 6 urology specialists was evaluated. Demographic data, comorbidities, baseline nocturia number, quality of life, and multidisciplinary approach preference of the patients were recorded (Group 1). In the second stage, the patients’ demographic data, comorbidities, and additionally the voiding diary and “Targeting the individual’s Aetiology of Nocturia to Guide Outcomes” (TANGO) questionnaire were questioned (Group 2). All patients were re-evaluated in the first month of the treatments/recommendations given. The difference in the multidisciplinary approach and the change in the number of nocturia and the quality of life of the patients were compared between the two approaches.
Results: Forty-seven patients were included in each group. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients in both groups were statistically similar. Charlson’s comorbidity index was higher in Group 2 (p=0.01). The multidisciplinary treatment approach was at a higher level in Group 2 (59.6% vs 8.5%, p=0.001). While the average number of nocturia decreased from 4.6 to 2.19 in group 1, it decreased from 5.15 to 1.21 in group 2. In the first month, the number of nocturia and quality of life scores were lower in group 2. The decrease in the average number of nocturia and quality of life in group 2 was statistically significantly higher than in group 1.
Conclusion: In the approach to nocturia, questioning comorbidities and applying multidisciplinary management provides more meaningful results in nocturia treatment and increase the quality of life.
Measurement of cystic artery diameter by computed tomography in the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis
Authors: Gür Özcan Seray Gizem , Zengin Nezih , Özdoğan Alperen , Durak Doğukan
Published: January 2024

Aim: The aim of this study is to measure the diameter of the cystic artery using computed tomography in patients undergoing emergency surgery for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis, as well as to understand the role of cystic artery diameter in the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis, and to investigate its association with clinical data, laboratory data, and computed tomography findings.
Methods: A total of 187 patients admitted to the general surgery clinic between 2019 and 2023, comprising 123 individuals as the patient group and 64 individuals as the control group, were reviewed in terms of their radiological images, demographic data, and laboratory parameters. The patients' surgical records, laboratory parameters, and computed tomography scans taken during the diagnosis were investigated.
Results: The diameter of the cystic artery was measured, and a cut-off value of cystic artery diameter >1.9 mm was found to be sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis (AUC: 0.852, 94% sensitivity, 75% specificity, p <0.001, 95% confidence interval 0.792-0.899).
Conclusion: A cystic artery diameter >1.9 mm was found to be highly specific for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. This study suggests that the measurement of cystic artery diameter can be used as an additional criterion in the evaluation of computed tomography for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis.
Unveiling Pelvic Floor Health: Understanding Awareness, Perspectives and Habits in Pakistani Women of Reproductive Age
Authors: Ismail Ayesha , Bibi Iqra
Published: January 2024

The pelvic floor, a crucial anatomical structure supporting pelvic organs, is vital in various physiological functions. Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD) encompasses disorders affecting pelvic floor muscles and is a significant health concern globally. Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) has been advocated for managing PFD, especially in women post-childbearing. However, there is a lack of awareness and understanding regarding PFMT in Pakistani women. Objective: To assess the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) towards PFMT among women of childbearing age in a rural health centre in Haripur, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a Rural Health Center in Haripur, Pakistan, involving 158 women aged 20 to 50. A structured questionnaire covered KAP's details regarding PFMT. Data analysis employed SPSS 26.0, utilizing mean and standard deviation. Results: The study revealed a response rate of 52.6%, with a mean age of 30±7.3 years for participants. Notably, 29.1% of women reported an inability to control their urine. Knowledge assessment showed that 54.9% of participants knew pelvic exercises and their potential benefits. Attitude towards PFMT was positive in 41.8% of women, while only 20.5% practised PFMT regularly. Pregnant women exhibited a higher prevalence of urinary incontinence. Conclusions: The study concludes that a substantial proportion of women in Pakistan lack awareness of PFMT benefits, leading to inadequate practice. This underscores the importance of implementing awareness programs and training sessions targeting women of childbearing age to address the challenges posed by PFD effectively.
Impact of Hearing Aid use on listening skill of hearing impaired Students
Authors: Saqulain Ghulam , Asif Insha , Maqbool Maryam , Moiz Abdul , Abdul Sami Muhammad
Published: January 2024

Background: Hearing loss affects listening and communication. Listening represents the basis for verbal communication. Literature reveals a research gap as regards listening effort in case of HA users. Hence, current study was conceived to determine the impact of hearing aid on listening skills of school going hearing impaired students.

Methods: This comparative study was conducted from 1st February, 2023 to 30th June, 2023 at Shifa International Hospital Ltd using purposive sampling. Sample of N=66 participant students of both genders, aged 5 years and above with moderate to profound hearing loss for more than three years and using hearing aids. 20 words were presented to the participant first without hearing aids and then with hearing aids and their response was recorded. Data analysis was performed by SPSS version-23 & Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to determine any associations and p<0.05 was considered significant.

 Results:  Results revealed that for unaided condition Median (IQR) score of 54, and IQR of 35. & mean rank 32.  In aided condition Median (IQR) score was 80, IQR was 2 &. mean rank was 0. The p=0.000 suggests a significant difference between the two categories.

Conclusion: Study concludes that there is substantial improvement in the listening skills of participants with hearing aids on as compared to without hearing aid with children having moderately severe category of hearing loss benefitting the most from hearing aids.
Role of Physical Therapy Intervention and Gene Therapy on Muscular Dystrophies, Current Status and Future Perspectives: A Narrative Review
Authors: Abid Hafsa , Shah Saleh , Ahmed Ali , Habib Nazira , Bibi Mah , Ibrahim Muhammad
Published: January 2024

Muscular dystrophies form a collection of genetic disorders marked by progressive muscle weakness and degeneration. The identification of the majority of responsible genes has enabled precise diagnosis and subtype-specific anticipatory care. Over the years, various therapies, encompassing genetic, cellular, and pharmacological approaches, have emerged for muscular dystrophies. This narrative review thoroughly explores the ongoing developments in muscular dystrophy therapeutics, including antisense therapy, CRISPR, gene replacement, cell therapy, based gene therapy Adeno-associated viral vector (AAV), and disease-modifying small molecule compounds. The review is particularly significant as it reflects advancements in supportive medicine that have altered the standard of care, leading to an overall improvement in the quality of life, clinical course and survival for affected individuals. In this study, our focus is on the clinical manifestations, molecular pathogenesis, diagnostic strategies, and therapeutic advancements related to this group of conditions. The study involved the review of 20 pertinent English-language articles, publications, reports, and online resources.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Gastroscopy with Narrow Band Imaging for the Diagnosis of Helicobacter Pylori Gastritis
Authors: Rehan Bushra , Ul-Haq Muhammad Mansoor , Kumar Rajesha , Akmal Mehreen
Published: January 2024

Helicobacter pylori infection promotes stomach cancer and chronic gastritis globally. Endoscopic features that may identify H. pylori are being explored. Objective: Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) is used to identify and treat H. pylori gastritis before biopsy since most patients are lost to follow-up or follow-up is too late. H. pylori gastritis may be treated early to improve quality of life and gastrointestinal concerns. Methods: This cross-sectional study at Department of Gastroenterology, Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, conducted between 1st March 2022 till 28th February 2023, included 150 patients. Patients with gastritis on endoscopy were evaluated for the presence of H. pylori with Narrow band Imagining. Findings were compared with histopathology as gold standard. Results: Mean age of the patients was 41.87 ± 12.5 years. Male participants were 71 (47.3%). The most common admission complaints were nausea, appetite loss, and abdominal distension. The diagnostic accuracy of NBI for the detection of H. pylori was 85% sensitivity, 88% specificity, 88% positive predictive value, 87% negative predictive value and overall accuracy of 88%. NBI endoscopy was cheaper and took less time to diagnose (27 minutes vs. 37 minutes). NBI endoscopy is more effective and cost-effective than standard gastroscopy. Conclusions: The data confirm the high incidence of H. pylori in gastrointestinal patients. NBI endoscopy is more effective and cost-effective than standard gastroscopy.
Neuroplasticity: A Shrouded Self-Recovery
Authors: Naveed Muhammad Asif
Published: January 2024

The human brain is a replica of a well-integrated universe within which light fleets in swathes and heralds the secrets of its unprecedented steadfastness and coherence. The human universe, called brain has been designed capacious enough to withhold the impacts of barter along with the adroitness of guiding the fluid dynamics of majestic human creatures. It was not until 1948 that Jerzy Konorski coined this neuro-physiological dexterity into the term ‘neuroplasticity’. The word is the true depiction of its functional mastery over making sophisticated humans adapt to any sort of internal or external change in the environment, through sharing the intense impulses of response with the neurons in closer proximity. This commitment to adaptation leads to either a renovated, recess, or re-establishment relay of neuron connections in brain, named synapses.  

This mechanism of self-recovery has been recently incorporated into practical therapy, owing to the flush of discoveries, enlightening both the people of science and laymen with its benefits. Neuroplasticity has been applied in the models of nervous degeneration, cognition, learning, and memory decline translating into flabbergasting outcomes among patients of Alzheimer, stroke, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and aging deterioration [1]. The technique has also unwound its potencies to psychologist and psychosocial activists that now recommend neuroplasticity-stimulating exercises to patients of depression and anger issues.

A Question arises on how such a complete package of control is achieved by humans. Research shows and argues that it can be attained in a myriad of ways, no one roadmap has yet been formulated. Certain proteins, molecular switches, high fat diets, muscle vibrations, enforced habitual reinforcements, and conditional piquing of neurons’ originator cells onset and drive the plasticity of the neurons. A contemporary scientific investigation on the effects of virtual reality exposure to rats concluded that it fine-tuned the hippocampus region of the brain unveiled through ‘eta’ waves that were associated with storing memory [2]. Debates are underway whether neuroplasticity is the facilitator of new cranial rewiring or simply an enhancer of existing brain abilities.

Future implications of neuroplasticity include its manifestation in the guise of artificial intelligence (AI). The success in proliferation of AI has been counter-argued with the extent of its ability to interpret and respond to unexpected and untaught stimuli. But the unearthing of systems such as SynapShot, a real time fluorescent apparatus developed to visualize brain’s impulse connections,  heralds a before long translation of neuroplastic codes into machine language [3]. To arrive at such approaches the need of hour is to fully unlock and explore the mightiness of the plasticity horizons of the neurons, that imitate the ideology of galaxies.
Sexus muliebris in Flavian Epic
Authors: Keith Alison
Published: January 2024

This article investigates the lexicon of sexual difference in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica, Papinius Statius’ Thebaid, and Silius Italicus’ Punica in order to explore the dynamics of gender in these long epics. The Flavian epic poets test the conventions and contradictions of normative Roman femininity (and masculinity) in scenes that rehearse different models of epic femininity: lamenting mother, sacrificial maiden, terrifying witch, faithful wife, and Amazonian warrior. Their narratives repeatedly measure the female sex against the standards of masculinity, and are acutely sensitive to contemporary contestations of the territorial assignments of gender in Flavian Rome.
Gendered and Gendering Insults and Compliments in the Latin Novels
Authors: Lateiner Donald
Published: January 2024

The chief and subsidiary narrators (generally male) in Petronius and Apuleius’ fictions voice judgments on men’s and women’s actions, words and other sounds, and gestures. These and other behaviors are described as suitable or objectionable for their sex. Sexual and gender codes are fundamental to the functioning of every face-to-face society. This paper examines examples of denotative, evaluative, and metaphoric language for males and for females in the two novels (e.g., vir, homo, dominus--furcifer, tortor, latro, verbero, stuprator, semivir; puella, virgo, femina, matrona, domina, anus, mulier--meretrix, scortum, succuba, milvium). We then examine frequently associated gendered and gendering adjectives (e.g., prudens, sceleratus/a, nequissimus/a, virilis, virginalis) and gender paradoxes, such as Giton’s and Encolpius’ “girlish” behaviors and Psyche and Charite’s “manly spirits” (Sat. 80-82; Met. 5.22, 6.27, 8.14). These two writers endorse and reinforce asymmetrical and misogynistic elements infused in Roman conversation, third-person description, and interior reflection.
La poésie de Sappho aux prises avec le genre : polyphonie, pragmatique et rituel (à propos du fr. 58 b)
Authors: Calame Claude
Published: January 2024

La publication récente d’un papyrus recueilli à Cologne a permis de compléter un poème de Sappho connu par quelques vers seulement. Portant sur la vieillesse, ce poème évoque l’exemple « mythique » de l’amour éprouvé par Aurore pour le jeune Phaon, qu’elle enlève. Du point de vue du genre entendu comme système, dans une culture particulière, des identités de sexe et des relations fondées sur les représentations de sexe à partir du donné biologique, ce poème est doublement intéressant : d’une part parce qu’il recourt à une langue poétique qui n’est pas spécifiquement marquée du point de vue féminin ; d’autre part en ce que que la relation que Sappho établit avec son un groupe de jeunes filles, destinataires du poème, n’est pas homologue à l’amour d’Eôs pour le jeune homme. Ce qui semble compter c’est le dépassement des maux de l’âge par la lumière de la beauté chantée dans une poésie à portée rituelle.
Agathon and Agathon. Male Sensuality in Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae and Plato’s Symposium
Authors: Sissa Giulia
Published: January 2024

This is a comparison of Agathon’s role, in Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae and Plato’s Symposium. Firstly, I examine the platonic version, and the unique, idiosyncratic part Plato gives Agathon to play, as a host to all, and a hostage to Socrates. Secondly, I discuss his interaction with Inlaw, the ordinary Athenian, in Aristophanes’ play. Such parallel reading allows us not only to refine our outlook on the dramatic construction both of the “talking party” and of the comic performance, but also to capture how really poikilos, for better or worse, that urban love could be. Finally, I analyze the significance of this juxtaposition, as an intertext. Plato, I argue, produces a proper palinode of Agathon, as an erotikos and a mimetic poet. By taking seriously the face-to-face between Agathon and Agathon, two dissonant, and yet compatible, variations on one man, our picture of Athenian erotic culture emerges sharper, and in greater detail.
Tiresias between texts and sex
Authors: Michalopoulos Charilaos N.
Published: January 2024

This paper investigates the special dramatic role of the combined presence of Tiresias and his daughter, Manto, in Seneca’s Oedipus. An overview of Manto’s relatively rare appearance in both Greek and Latin literature is followed by a detailed examination of Tiresias’ mythological past. Tiresias’ bisexuality, an emblematic trait of his myth, which is intrinsically related to his prophetic power, receives special attention. Learned Seneca proves to be well informed of Tiresias’ bisexuality, possibly through Ovid. The Roman dramatist exploits the father-daughter pair of Tiresias and Manto not only as an on-stage pre-figuration of Oedipus’ future (blind Oedipus guided by his daughter Antigone), but more importantly as a bold dramatic visualization of Tiresias’ own bisexuality. My discussion is rounded off with a section on the multiple connections between Oedipus and Tiresias.
Hadrian’s Practice of Freedom: Yourcenar, Beauvoir, and Foucault
Authors: Miller Paul Allen
Published: January 2024

This article contends that there is a debate in postwar France about the nature of freedom. It argues that an important nexus of that debate can be seen by comparing Marguerite Yourcenar’s Mémoires d’Hadrien with the work of her contemporary, Simone de Beauvoir. It makes the supplementary argument that one can shine a more focused light on this dialogue by observing the way in which Yourcenar’s position anticipates the later arguments of Michel Foucault, Both Yourcenar and Foucault turn to antiquity as a way of strengthening their argument and relativizing the construction of the modern normative subject.
Scenarios of Sulpiciae: moral discourses and immoral verses
Authors: Hallett Judith P.
Published: January 2024

This discussion examines literary depictions of several Roman women who shared a name, and presumably membership in the same aristocratic family, with the Augustan elegist Sulpicia: by Livy in 39.8-10, in his account of the Bacchanalian conspiracy in 186 BCE; by Valerius Maximus, in an episode dated to 43/42 BCE that is also related by Appian at BC 4.39; and by Valerius Maximus again at 8.15.12, in an episode dated to the third century BCE that is also related in part by the elder Pliny in NH 7.120, and treated by Ovid at Fasti 2.157-160. It considers how these scenarios featuring these other Sulpiciae, mostly by authors with a moralizing message, help to contextualize the eleven Sulpicia elegies and their later Roman reception. It also considers why Ovid, who seems to have known Sulpicia and her work, never refers to a contemporary female elegist of this name.
Le cycle thébain des Métamorphoses : un exemple de mythographie genrée ?
Authors: Fabre-Serris Jacqueline
Published: January 2024

Aux livres 3 et 4 des Métamorphoses, Ovide raconte la fondation de Thèbes par Cadmus et les histoires de ses descendants sous la forme d’un cycle dont la construction narrative témoigne de l’influence des pratiques mythographiques en même temps que de sa lecture d’Œdipe-Roi et des Bacchantes. La thématique qu’il propose est focalisée sur la sexualité, le désir et le plaisir des femmes en tant qu’objets de la curiosité des hommes, susceptibles de les conduire à des violences, tentatives de transgressions et punitions. Le choix de cette perspective est à rattacher au rôle qu’a alors la littérature en tant qu’espace de réflexions sur tout ce qui fait débat dans la culture romaine et particulièrement sur une question dont les Lois Juliennes attestent aussi l’actualité : celle de la morale et la sexualité. Le cycle thébain des Métamorphoses est, plus largement, à verser au dossier de l’histoire des rapports de sexe en Occident, où la contribution d’Ovide a été fondamentale.
Parallel lives: Domitia Lucilla and Cratia, Fronto and Marcus
Authors: Richlin Amy
Published: January 2024

The letter-book of Marcus Cornelius Fronto shows a quadrilateral relationship involving not only Fronto and the young Marcus Aurelius but Fronto’s wife Cratia and Marcus’s mother Domitia Lucilla. Perhaps, as Marcia commemorated Cremutius Cordus, so it was Fronto and Cratia’s daughter Cratia who put the letter-book together, centered as it is on family and emotions rather than on politics. Fronto and Marcus inhabit a kind of closet, in which Domitia Lucilla serves as what Eve Sedgwick called «the omnipotent, unknowing mother»; she dwells in the margins of the letters, especially in the closings, and she and Cratia both feature in letters where Marcus and Fronto express their feelings for each other. The letters also attest to a friendship between the two women, although it seems to have ended when the relationship between Marcus and Fronto cooled off. Could this relationship fall into Judith Bennett’s category of the «lesbian-like»? The historical evidence for the lives of these two women is reconsidered, and the now standard account of Cratia is challenged on several points: her name might as well be «Gratia» as «Cratia», nor does either necessarily mean she was «Greek», much less from a prominent family from Ephesus; the possible date of her marriage to Fronto and her age at marriage must be revised; the Sorrento inscription might be hers rather than her daughter’s, nor need it be funerary, nor need it have come from Fronto’s house, nor does it prove the location of Fronto’s house. The salient fact of Cratia’s life is her loss of five children in infancy; she may well have come from the circle of families tied to Fronto’s in North Africa, and her family may have been connected to that of Domitia Lucilla through the brick industry. Domitia Lucilla, much better known, contrasts with her (much younger?) friend on all points – power, success in childbearing, family – but had her own problems within the house of the Caesars.
Galen and the widow. Towards a history of therapeutic masturbation in ancient gynaecology
Authors: King Helen
Published: January 2024

This paper offers a close reading of the ancient Greek and Roman texts which Rachel Maines (The Technology of Orgasm, 1999) used as evidence for therapeutic masturbation in the ancient world, and thus presented as precursors for the vibrator. Examining the evidence of the Hippocratic corpus, Celsus, Soranus and Galen, it shows that the lines of transmission between the ancient sources, and in their later reception, are far more complex than her work suggests, and thus challenges her claims for the normality of massage to orgasm in Western medicine. While Maines herself has subsequently insisted that she proposed a ‘hypothesis’ rather than a ‘fact’, in the popular reception of her book this distinction has been almost entirely overlooked, leading to an obscuring of female agency – both as patients, and as healers.
Magna Mater and the poet unmanned (Ovid, Fasti 4.179-372)
Authors: Edwards Catharine
Published: January 2024

Ovid’s treatment of the Magna Mater festival in Fasti Book 4 resonates significantly both with his earlier work and with his exile poetry. The episode offers more than one potential figure, it is argued, for the poet and his traumatic experience of punishment at the hands of the emperor. Some significant parallels might prompt readers to perceive an analogy between Ovid, whose experience of exile is repeatedly figured as a painful wound, and Attis, the castrated acolyte of the Magna Mater. More compelling ultimately is the parallel between Ovid and Claudia Quinta, whose reputation, wrongly impugned, is vindicated by the goddess.
Cucumbers in Praxilla’s “Adonis” fragment (fr. 747)
Authors: Rosenmeyer P. A.
Published: January 2024

Praxilla of Sicyon (floruit ca. 450 BCE) records Adonis’ response to a question posed to him in the Underworld. He is asked by his companions below what he misses most from his former life on earth. His answer is preserved by Zenobius (early 2nd c. CE), and includes the sun, moon, and stars as well as apples, pears, and cucumbers. Zenobius condemns Adonis’ response, saying, “anyone who lists cucumbers and the rest alongside sun and moon can only be regarded as feeble-minded”. Using comparative material from both Greco-Roman and ancient Jewish sources, this paper considers what we know about the cultural context of cucumbers in the ancient Mediterranean and argues for a shift in blame from Adonis to Praxilla herself for composing such “nonsense”.
L’onomastique des premières Julio-Claudiennes chez les auteurs des Ier et IIe siècles après J.-C. Un outil discursif sur le pouvoir au féminin
Authors: Berlaire Gues Estelle
Published: January 2024

Cet article analyse l’usage qui est fait par les auteurs anciens de l’onomastique de deux femmes impériales : Livie et Julie, respectivement épouse et fille d’Auguste. Si l’onomastique féminine des femmes impériales se complexifie au fil des dynasties, force est de constater que la plupart des auteurs anciens ne recourent qu’à un seul nom pour les désigner. Reflètent-ils en cela les usages en vigueur parmi les aristocrates romaines, ou encore le discours impérial délivré au sujet des femmes de la domus Augusta ? Il est clair que l’usage de l’onomastique féminine n’est jamais neutre dans leurs écrits, tout particulièrement lorsqu’il s’agit d’évoquer le pouvoir de certaines femmes impériales. À ce titre, étudier l’usage de l’onomastique fluctuante de la première impératrice et de celle, fort simple, de sa belle-fille, révèle la reconnaissance, la critique ou encore l’oubli de ce même pouvoir.
Terror and Sexual Assault: Ovid’s Presence in Fiona Benson’s Vertigo & Ghost
Authors: Cox Fiona
Published: January 2024

This article explores Fiona Benson’s reception of Ovid in Vertigo & Ghost, examining the way in which she probes the horror and violence of narratives that have entertained and enchanted readers of the Metamorphoses for centuries. I contextualise Benson’s treatment of Ovid by situating it within recent trends of Ovidian reception, that are alert to the dark and disturbing undercurrents of his accounts of pursuit and sexual aggression.
Proof of Consummation of Marriage in Menander Rhetor
Authors: Gibson Craig A.
Published: January 2024

Menander Rhetor’s instructions for composing and delivering a “bridal chamber speech” (κατευναστικός) suggest that the consummation of a marriage in some partsof the Greek-speaking world in the late third century CE may have been confirmed and celebrated by the display of a blood-stained item before guests on the morning after the wedding.
Non solo moglie e madre. La materfamilias come soggetto patrimoniale nella legislazione etico-matrimoniale di Augusto
Authors: Vettori Giulia
Published: January 2024

A dispetto dei profondi cambiamenti politici, sociali e culturali intervenuti, l’ideale della matrona morigerata e virtuosa, con la sua esaltazione dei ruoli statutariamente connessi alla femminilità nel mondo antico, quello di moglie e di madre, non ha mai dismesso la sua vitalità nella storia di Roma. Dopo il dramma delle guerre civili e delle proscrizioni, al modello culturale e antropologico celebrato dalla tradizione epigrafico-letteraria Augusto decise di dare cogenza normativa con la sua legislazione etico-matrimoniale, conferendo alla figura femminile una centralità giuridica assolutamente priva di precedenti. Tuttavia, se si volge lo sguardo al di là degli aspetti ideologici sottesi al progetto legislativo, concentrando l’analisi sulle modalità concretamente adottate dal princeps per raggiungere i suoi scopi demografici e moralizzatori, si osserva chiaramente come la matrona non vi sia considerata solo in quanto uxor e mater, ma anche in qualità di domina, titolare di diritti patrimoniali. L’articolo si propone dunque di contribuire alla ricostruzione di questo peculiare aspetto dell’identità matronale, da un lato esaminando per quali aspetti la normativa augustea possa aver sancito un turning-point per la condizione socio-giuridica delle donne, con particolare riferimento alle matronae dell’élite; dall’altro, cercando di mettere in luce le ragioni storiche che hanno condotto il triumviro prima ancora che il princeps a riconoscere e valorizzare in modo così macroscopico la capacità patrimoniale femminile.
Casta Diva: Juno’s “Unexpected Pain” in Statius’ Thebaid
Authors: Giusti Elena
Published: January 2024

The innovative character of Juno in Statius’ Thebaid seems to challenge and correct the previous portrayals of the goddess in Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The present article argues that Statius goes further in this challenge than has so far been recognised, by making both Juno’s ineffective speech and her speechlessness and inaction indicative of the gender imbalance that has long caused her suffering, and her vindictive features, in the epic literary tradition. Statius’ Thebaid casts Juno as a woman wounded from the very start of her existence, and suggests that it is precisely out of this feminine wound that both the goddess and the poem can achieve a productive reconciliation in the epic’s closure.
Cinaedus Galbinatus: Cultural Perception of the Color “Green” and its Gender Association with Pathici in Rome
Authors: Gazzarri Tommaso
Published: January 2024

Unlike Greek, where a word for the color green, if not absent, is certainly inconspicuous, the Latin language possesses a basic term: viridis (connected to virere “to be vigorous”, vis “strength”, and vir “man/male”, cf. n. 24). Like Greek χλωρός, galbinus corresponds to a hue between yellow and green. Unlike viridis, galbinus, when referring to persons, is utilized mainly to describe women and cinaedi. Because of the lack of effective mordants and the difficulty of mixing yellow and blue, the color green did not enter the Roman wardrobe until the early empire. Even then it became a color not for the objects encountered in everyday life, but for those witnessed at unusual occasions and events. Furthermore, ancient medical lore describes the hue on the color spectrum between green and yellow as typical of a variety of gynecological pathologies, which were eventually grouped by early modern doctors under the heading of “χλώροσις”. Whether cinaedi purposefully elected galbinus as their hue of choice, or such representation stemmed merely from the imaginations of caustic Roman satirists, this otherwise exclusively feminine element of ancient fashion suggests that its connection with cinaedi involves a more public dimension to their identity than the passive role ascribed to them during the sexual act, at least as they are defined by constructivist scholarship. Rather, the link with this color seems to be part of their identity, which is not limited to the moment of sexual submission; indeed, it defines cinaedi as figures also identified with constructions of women, their esthetics and sensitivity, and more crucially their physiology. The galbinus attire, while reinforcing the interpretation of cinaedi as a gender-deviant marginal group, simultaneously invites a more complex assessment of these individuals: one that possibly involves the notion of identity.
Matrices actives et matrices admirables chez les médecins grecs d’époque classique
Authors: Longhi Vivien
Published: January 2024

L’article s’intéresse au rôle de la matrice dans les théories de la génération des médecins grecs d’époque classique principalement. L’utérus est parfois représenté chez eux avec une fonction active. On trouve même des éloges de la force d’achèvement et de perfectionnement propre à la matrice. Dans la médecine postérieure à celle d’Hippocrate, on la rencontre aussi étroitement liée aux prodiges qu’accomplit la nature. Quel sens donner à des discours de ce type ? L’admiration parfois visible pour la conception embryonnaire n’engage pas pour autant une réhabilitation du principe féminin de la génération, mais relève plutôt d’une tendance à l’éloge de la nature. En outre ces discours mineurs cohabitent sans contradiction apparente, dans la médecine hippocratique, avec la violence des traitements utérins qui sont rapportés.
Stili di potere. Linguaggio politico, genere ed eros nella poesia imperiale romana
Authors: Bessone Federica
Published: January 2024

L’articolo offre alcune riflessioni sul rapporto tra potere, genere ed eros nella poesia imperiale romana: interpretando testi elegiaci ed epici di Ovidio e di Stazio, indaga il linguaggio della politica e del potere, il suo uso in relazione al genere e il suo rapporto con idee, linguaggio ed immagini, e codificazioni letterarie dell’amore. Si analizza in primo luogo una declinazione al femminile del linguaggio dell’ambizione politica nelle Epistulae ex Ponto di Ovidio, nella Consolatio ad Helviam matrem di Seneca e nella Tebaide di Stazio (il modello di una donna ambitiosa pro – a favore di – un uomo amato, opposto al paradigma della donna ambitiosa per – per mezzo di – un congiunto); in secondo luogo, l’amore del potere attribuito alla dea dell’amore nella rappresentazione ovidiana di una Venere imperialista nelle Metamorfosi; infine, la matrice elegiaca del desiderio maschile di potere come desiderio erotico nella Tebaide, dove il ritratto platonico del tiranno come schiavo si trasforma nel servitium amoris del tiranno.
The Maculate Muse. A source of sexual arousal in fourth-century AD Alexandria (Palladas, AP 9.395)
Authors: Litinas Nikos
Published: January 2024

Since Homer was the main source for readers in primary education, the epigrammatist Palladas, who lived in Alexandria in the fourth century AD, exploited words or verses of the Homeric epics in his epigrams in order to refer to situations or examples which were familiar to all his readers. The Homeric heroes are revived in Palladas’ epigrams as caricatures through which he presents contemporaneous figures of his city. Therefore, issues of the Homeric epics become part of the reality of Palladas, but, since the figures are hidden behind the Homeric expressions, they are not immediately recognizable. In particular, the epigrammatist chose certain well-known female figures of the Homeric world and added a humorous element to the characteristics of these women. AP 9.395 is an example of such an epigram. “Odysseus said: “nothing is sweeter than a man’s fatherland”, for in Circe’s isle he never ate cheese-cake. If he had seen even the smoke curling up from that, he would have sent ten Penelopes to the deuce” (transl. Guichard). Palladas referred to two well-known verses of the Odyssey, 9.34 and 1.58 and used the figure of the Homeric Odysseus to remind the reader that this clever and strong hero never tasted Circe’s cakes, but just tasted the concoction that she offered him, and because of the antidote he had taken on Hermes’ advice, this drink had no effect on him. However, if he had tasted the concoction of Palladas’ Circe, he would never have returned to his own Penelope or other “Penelopes”. The aim of the poet by using this quip on Circe and his pun on the ἔκχυτον was to refer neither to Circes’ magic nor to Penelope’s patience, nor to Odysseus’ adventures during his wanderings. We could infer that ἔκχυτον in Palladas’ epigram was not the Homeric Circe’s potion in a cup from where Odysseus drank, but the juices poured out from the Palladian Circe’s vagina, when this latter Circe had sexual desires and excitement. The Homeric quotations may work as a springboard to describe a Circe of his city, probably a warm and seductive woman, or a prostitute. It is quite certain that not only whoever experienced the taste, but also all who could see the smoke (because of her hot excitement) rising up in the chimney of the house, were captivated so much that they would cheat on the most faithful wife many times to become her erotic slaves. The Homeric Odysseus is a man who would never return to his Penelope, if he had tasted the concoction prepared by Palladas’ Alexandrian Circe.
Stéréotypes et réalités du pouvoir politique féminin : la guerre civile en Égypte entre 132 et 124 av. J.-C.
Authors: Bielman Anne
Published: January 2024

L’article confronte les sources documentaires (papyrus et ostraca) et les sources littéraires (notamment Diodore, Tite-Live, Trogue Pompée/Justin et Orose) relatives à la guerre civile qui bouleversa l’Égypte entre 132 et 124 av. J.-C. et au rôle de la reine Cléopâtre II dans ce conflit. Les premières attestent que Cléopâtre II a été reconnue comme unique souveraine à Alexandrie et dans quelques villes du sud du pays pendant plusieurs mois, à partir de 132 av. J.-C., et dessinent les contours et les limites de l’action politique de la reine. Les secondes présentent la reine selon des stéréotypes de genre, en la décrivant essentiellement comme une victime de comportements masculins dominateurs ou comme une femme désemparée cherchant de l’aide auprès d’un homme. Cependant, quelques éléments de ces récits littéraires dérogent aux topoi attendus et concédent ainsi à Cléopâtre II, de manière discrète ou implicite, un rôle plus conforme aux informations livrées par les sources documentaires.
Fallite Fallentes: Rape and Intertextuality in Terence’s Eunuchus and Ovid’s Ars amatoria
Authors: James Sharon L.
Published: January 2024

This paper argues for a dense and systematic intertextual relationship between Ovid’s Ars amatoria Book 1 and Terence’s Eunuchus. The attitude of the praeceptor Amoris toward meretrices, the target women of the Ars, is found in all the male characters of the play, from neuter pronouns (quod) used for them to resentment at the expenses required for their company to the belief that rape of meretrices is justified. The praeceptor’s lessons on deception (Ars 1.631-658) and rape (659-706) draws heavily on the rape plot of Eunuchus. From fallite fallentes (645) to the exemplum of the rape of Deidamia by Achilles (681-704), this passage takes plot and language from Chaerea, the young adulescens who rapes Pamphila, the foster sister of the meretrix Thais. The painting of Jupiter and Danae in Pamphila’s bedroom offers a model for the Deidamia-Achilles tale, and Achilles’ role as a model for the male pupil of the Ars further justify rape of women who have no physical, social, or legal recourse. Through his persistent intertextual engagement with Terence’s play, Ovid exposes male privilege and resentment toward meretrices.
Les bandelettes croisées : l’attribut de la femme active grecque ?
Authors: Bauer Elodie
Published: January 2024

Cet article analyse la fonction identitaire, genrée et pratique d’un accessoire vestimentaire particulier, les bandelettes croisées. Portées sur la partie supérieure du vêtement, elles semblent caractériser les jeunes filles grecques à l’époque classique. Deux postulats principaux sont examinés de manière critique : d’une part le fait qu’il s’agisse d’un attribut associé aux divinités qui s’illustrent par leur goût du mouvement (Athéna, Niké...), d’autre part qu’il forme un signe de reconnaissance sociale des jeunes filles, παρθένοι, en manifestant leur statut de femme non mariée. Le rôle pratique d’un tel accessoire doit aussi être interrogé. Est-il destiné à maintenir uniquement le vêtement ou également la poitrine féminine lors de mouvements ? On le sait, les παρθένοι pratiquaient toutes sortes d’activités impliquant des mouvements vifs et variés, comme lors de jeu, danse ou rites initiatiques. L’article se propose dès lors d’analyser le rôle polysémique de cet attribut au travers du prisme de la nature active des jeunes filles qui le portent en se fondant sur les sources iconographiques et textuelles. La notion d’« activité », outre son sens littéral qui induit le mouvement, est à appréhender également dans un sens métaphorique d’agentivité féminine, directement lié au rôle des παρθένοι dans la société athénienne de l’époque classique que cet attribut éclaire.
Drag Queen: The Liminal Sex of the Bust of Queen Nefertiti
Authors: McGuiness Kevin
Published: January 2024

The bust of Queen Nefertiti is a brilliant piece of artisan craftsmanship. Despite its ancient origins, the piece still perpetuates the same sensual allure and intrigue it undoubtedly did upon its creation around 1340 BCE. This article will propose that the enduring fame of the Bust of Nefertiti can be directly traced to the androgynous qualities of the Queen’s portrait. Nefertiti’s likeness possesses masculine features and this sexual ambivalence has contributed to the public’s continued fascination with this statue. Employing the writings of art historians Rudolf Anthes and Dorothea Arnold, as well as theorist Camille Paglia, this article will establish the sexual hybridization present within the bust and its role in the celebrity of the sculpture.
‘Greek’ love at Rome: Propertius 1.20 and the reception of Hellenistic verse
Authors: Ingleheart Jennifer
Published: January 2024

This paper analyses the homoerotic aspect of Propertius 1.20 and its presentation of the myth of Hylas, the lost beloved of Hercules. It argues that Propertius reacts to the portrait of ‘Greek love’ that is found in the two surviving lengthy versions of this myth in Apollonius’ Argonautica and Theocritus’ Idylls, increasing the homoerotic ambience of the myth and encouraging his readers to look back to his models for traces of the approach that he himself takes. It also interrogates Propertius’ domestication of his Greek models’ narratives in a contemporary Roman and particularly elegiac context, and argues that the poem is better integrated into Propertius’ elegiac universe than is often acknowledged.
Tragic Realities: Fictional Women and the Writing of Ancient History
Authors: Murnaghan Sheila
Published: January 2024

The fortieth anniversary of Sarah Pomeroy’s groundbreaking Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves (1975) is an occasion for recognizing Pomeroy’s thoughtful and flexible approach to the methodological problem of using male-authored fictional texts, such as the Homeric epics and Athenian tragedy, as sources for ancient women’s history. In her chapter on the women of tragedy, Pomeroy acknowledges the limits of tragic texts as testimony to women’s lives but still makes careful use of them, sometimes as fearful male fantasies or “nightmares of the victors”, sometimes as reflections of women’s actual roles in religious and domestic life, sometimes as expressions of sympathy for women’s difficult circumstances. Ten years later, Phyllis Culham initiated a vigorous debate among feminist classicists by calling for the exclusion of literary evidence in favor of material and subliterary sources that could give more direct access to ancient women’s lived realities. Culham’s call was answered by a series of rebuttals and two decades of scholarship that followed Pomeroy’s lead in identifying connections between tragic texts and the gendered experiences of actual Athenians. The recent turn to reception in classical literary studies offers the opportunity to consider ancient male-authored fictions in relation to the real experiences of modern women. This discussion focuses on two wartime memoirs by twentieth century women, Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth (1933) and the anonymously-published A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Captured City (1954). Each woman’s story echoes the Homeric epics and confirms two important points made by critics responding to Culham: that lived experience cannot be extricated from the ordering patterns of fiction or myth-making; and that the stories told by male authors are sometimes stories that women might tell.
Collera, crisi politica e soggetti queer. Da Antigone a Dioniso
Authors: Susanetti Davide
Published: January 2024

How does outrage work in Greek tragedy? Does the success or defeat of outraged characheters depend on gender identity? The paper outlines two differents patterns from Sophocles’ and Euripides’ drama. Through her orgé Antigone does not open a new history. Oedipus’ catastrophe is updated, the catastrophe of an impossible and indiscernible legitimacy: political power ashamed to discover that it is founded on horror. Antigone’s outrage is the fruit of the political incest played out in Oedipus’ story. It is a wretched family where fathers, sons and brothers mingle and blur into a monstrous muddle and this is the symbolic image of a crisis in Athenian democracy. The Sophoclean pattern of implosion is antagonistic to the Euripidean pattern, where the system explodes and is shattered forever. Euripides’ dramaturgy draws queer outraged characters – Medea and Dionysus – who transgress the boundaries of identity category and liquidate corrupt system and affiliations.
A Christian Concubine in Commodus’ Court?
Authors: Strong Anise K.
Published: January 2024

In the late 2nd century CE, Marcia, a “god-loving woman” and the principal concubine of the Roman Emperor Commodus, interceded with her lover to free a number of Christian prisoners who had been sentenced to slave labor in the mines of Sardinia (Hippolytus, Philosophumena, 9.2.12.). Such an act of charity and clemency might have been expected to earn her a place among the Catholic saints. On the other hand, Marcia’s patronage of a persecuted and despised minority might have led to her public execution in the Roman arena. However, Marcia was neither particularly honored by the Christians nor condemned by the Roman authorities for her actions. This devaluation of Marcia in both pagan and Christian sources reveals its own story about the nature of early church politics, the complex intrigues of an Emperor’s court at the end of the high empire, and the ability of a lowly concubine to exert political influence and change the course of Western history.
Les noms de la femme dans les poèmes de Sappho : Traits érotiques, statuts sociaux et représentations genrées
Authors: Calame Claude
Published: January 2024

On le sait : ni le concept moderne de sexualité, ni la notion européenne de lyrique, ni même le concept anglo-saxon de gender ne correspondent à des notions grecques anciennes ; pas plus d’ailleurs que le concept anthropologique de mythe. Dans le retour aux catégories indigènes exigé par une perspective anthropologique d’ethnopoétique (par le moyen de concepts opératoires modernes dont le « gender ») on s’interrogera ici sur les différents statuts impliqués par les protagonistes des relations érotiques que mettent en scène les poèmes de Sappho. Dans un second volet de l’enquête à venir, il conviendra de s’interroger sur ces rapports eux-mêmes en relation avec les positions énonciatives que ces protagonistes, femmes et hommes, assument dans le chant en performance. Ainsi, quant aux statuts sociaux et symboliques de genre dans les poèmes de Sappho, l’attention peut se porter dans un premier temps, en bonne sémantique lexicale, sur les dénominations, selon la suggestion qui a présidé à l’organisation de ce numéro de la revue Eugesta. Mais qui dit sémantique dit aussi syntaxe et surtout pragmatique.