Women's History Month: Classics Newsletter
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: CLASSICS NEWSLETTER ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER Hello and welcome to the Classics Department’s newsletter for Women’s History Month! When considering the classical and ancient world, it is all too easy to be drawn in by tales of warriors, kings and heroes (such as Achilles, Aeneas and Hercules) and be blinkered to the stories of the incredible women who also once lived. That is why I am immensely proud to present some brilliant articles written by students and staff about the lesser-known women who have made their own marks on the history of civilisation. There are poets, scientists, queens, warriors, murderers and sorceresses, so I hope there might be something in here to interest you. I am also incredibly grateful to Dr. Helen Morales, Professor of Hellenic Studies at UC Santa Barbara and former Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge (and author of Antigone Rising), for kindly providing a thought-provoking and incisive introduction to this newsletter: Sappho was one the reasons I was drawn to studying Classics. Her poetry is exquisite, she broke social norms writing love poetry to women as well as men, and she was hugely admired. As a rather awkward queer high school student, the fact that Sappho lived and wrote meant a great deal to me (even if we know frustratingly little about her). Now I’m interested in the hetairai of ancient Greece. A hetaira was an upper-class prostitute (or so you will read - the word translates simply as ‘female companion'). The hetaira Aspasia was rumored to have written the famous funeral speech attributed to and delivered by Pericles. The hetaira Phryne was said to have become so wealthy that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes after Alexander the Great had destroyed them. But were hetairai really sex workers who became wealthy and famous? Or were they independent women (musicians, writers, celebrities) who were called sex workers in order to undermine them (not unlike, one could argue, the slut-shaming of Meghan Markle by the British press). Studying ancient women can expand our horizons, because they offer examples of different ways to live, and resilience and creativity in a society that was afraid of women’s independence and power. The classical world is such a diverse and fascinating field, with some of the most complex, twisted and interesting figures, as I hope will be made clear here. Even if you have never been interested in or studied Classics, I would encourage you to have a glance at some of the articles here, you might surprise yourself! Mary Brown L6M Contents: ¨ Agrippina by Zara Wedgewood U6A ¨ Medea by Eleonora Coull L6F ¨ Sappho by Mrs. Tennant ¨ Boudicca by Dennis Williamson 3C, Joshua Parish 3S, Josh Mulholland-Wells 3P and others ¨ Antigone by Sophia Dex L6A ¨ Review of A Thousand Ships by Poppy Kellock U6G ¨ Hypatia by Beth Philips 3F ¨ Olympias by Mr. Dammers ¨ Pericles by Alex Mair U6P ¨ Aspasia by Mr. Dammers ¨ Female Gladiators by Bonnie Gray L6F ¨ On the Treatment of Ancient Women by Evelyn Brough 4A ¨ Women in Sparta by Mr. Dammers ¨ Cleopatra by Mary Brown L6M ZARA WEDGEWOOD U6A Agrippina the Younger Agrippina the Younger is best known for being the original “evil stepmother” and the murderous wife of Emperor Claudius. There are three main sources on her life, all of which are heavily biased: her story has been twisted and manipulated as, for Tacitus (who tends to portray strong women as evil anyway), she is a symbol of the corruption of the JulioClaudians and the faults of the Imperial system. Agrippina’s real rise to power began when she married the emperor Claudius, her own uncle (even for the Romans this act was horrifying and required laws to be changed)! Sources of course claim Agrippina relentlessly seduced Claudius, portraying her as a devious temptress, willing to sell her own body for power and largely ignore the political and economic value she would provide as she strengthened Claudius’ claim to power due to herself and Nero (her son) being the only surviving descendants of Augustus. From then on, Agrippina’s influence grew; she set a new precedent as being the first empress to be featured with the emperor on the same coin, established a veteran’s colony named Colonia Agrippinensis (the modern city of Cologne), gave financial backing to public games in Asia and, most importantly, built up a number of personal and political ties to several senators, which further increased her influence over the senate. If Agrippina is remembered for anything it should be her ambition for Nero. Her plotting and manipulation led to Claudius adopting Nero as his own son and Nero marrying Octavia (Claudius’ daughter) three years later. This solidified Nero’s status as the “next-in-line emperor” and, when it seemed Claudius was changing his mind, he died. Almost all sources agree that Agrippina killed him with poison (a woman’s weapon) either through his drink, mushrooms or having a doctor force it down his throat. Her next moves show her cunning as news of the death was kept quiet until the senate was convened, and Nero’s succession confirmed. Only when Agrippina was satisfied was Claudius announced as dead and the 16-year-old Nero hailed as emperor. From that day forward, Agrippina’s role in public life resembled more of a man’s than a woman’s. Coins were minted to mark Nero’s accession with him facing Agrippina, marking them as equals and making it very clear exactly whose scheming had ensured Nero’s power. Agrippina was the powerhouse behind the scenes: she wrote letters on his behalf, received dignitaries, and even had senate meetings moved to the imperial palace so she could secretly listen behind a curtain. Less than a year into his reign and her relationship with Nero already had cracks: tensions had been rising due to her influence over imperial policy and the people were not happy with having an “emperor ruled by a woman”. Tacitus reports that Agrippina was so desperate not to lose her control over Nero she resorted to seducing him (but incest is a popular claim against the Roman elite so should mainly be ignored). In the end, Nero’s lover Poppaea Maxima persuaded him to kill his mother. However, Agrippina was prepared for assassination attempts, she regularly drank poisons to build up her immunity and, due to her being the only surviving great-grandchild of Augustus, many men refused to kill her by sword. Instead, Nero’s complicated plan involved tricking his mother onto a collapsible ship which sank in the bay of Naples. But Agrippina would not go down so easily, she swam to shore and returned to her villa where she met her defiant end. As she was being beaten by Nero’s assassins, she pointed at her womb that her traitorous son had come from and shouted, “strike here!”. Instead of the exile and starvation that many of her predecessors faced, Agrippina died a “masculine death”, suitable for someone who was often accused of acting too far outside her gender. ELEONORA COULL L6F Medea I’m sure most of you are already familiar with the myth of Medea, famed sorceress. But just in case you’re not, here’s the story. Medea came from Colchis (located in modern-day Georgia) and was the daughter of the king, Aeëtes. One day the Argonauts, with Jason as their leader, arrived in Colchis, seeking the Golden Fleece. Medea supposedly fell in love with Jason and agreed to help him on the condition that he would take her away with him when he left. And so, when Aeëtes demanded that Jason complete three tasks before he be allowed to take the fleece, Medea helped him complete them. First, she helped him yoke fire-breathing oxen and plough a field with them by giving him fire- resistant ointment (take note, firefighters). Then she helped Jason defeat the warriors that sprang up from sown dragon teeth: the trick was to throw a rock amidst the army so they would start fighting, and eventually kill each other. Finally, Medea provided Jason with sleeping herbs to use on the sleepless guardian dragon, so he could collect the Golden Fleece. Thus, Jason was allowed to depart in peace, having completed all three tasks, with Medea and the fleece by his side, right? Wrong. Aeëtes had never expected Jason to succeed and did not actually plan to let him depart with the fleece. He pursued them, leaving Medea with no other choice (in her mind) but to slaughter her brother and scatter his pieces in the sea to delay her father (he would have to stop and collect them to give his son a proper burial). Jason and Medea encountered some trouble on their way home back to Iolcus, such as the giant bronze man, Talos, but nothing powerful enough to stop them. But even when they got home their troubles weren’t over. Pelias, king of Iolcus, refused to give Jason the throne (the whole reason why he went to get the Golden Fleece), so once again Medea had to step in. She convinced Pelias’ daughters that if their father were to be chopped up and boiled with herbs, he would be rejuvenated (very believable, of course). Obviously, this was not the case and Medea had in fact tricked the daughters into murdering their own father. Thence, Medea and Jason were forced to flee from Iolcus, and they settled in Corinth, where they had two children together. Now comes the best part, in my opinion, that is the section of the myth most famously depicted in Euripides’ Medea.