408 pages LC 98-30496. The collection provides a cornucopia of information and insights. Miss Porter's School, Farmington CT Knowledge about the roles of women in ancient civilizations has been limited to traditionally held notions, but recent discoveries and research have led to exciting insights into the great variety of ways in which women contributed to ancient cultures. Historical studies have tended to ignore women's roles in ancient civilizations and to devalue their contributions to the community. These essays examine women's religious, political, public, economic, and domestic roles, their legal status, creative expression in art and literature, and notions of beauty.
Students can then compare women's roles across cultures.
The contributors, each of whom is a subject specialist, examine not only the nature of women's limitations in patriarchal culture but the ways in which women often succeeded, despite these limitations, in becoming agents of social change. Each essay begins with a timeline of events in the history of that culture to place the narrative in historical context, and concludes with suggestions for further reading about women in that culture. This is a solid work that gives insight into ancient civilizations and allows the reader to compare female roles across cultures. It is a scholarly yet accessible work that is a valuable addition to the field of women's studies. The book is an important resource because it allows easy access to the information about the similarities and differences in the roles of women in the different ancient areas, but also between the ancient and the modern within each area.