_________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses "Women in Herodotus' "Histories"." Georgiou, Irene-Evangelia How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Georgiou, Irene-Evangelia (2002) "Women in Herodotus' "Histories".". thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43005 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ Women in H erodotus’ H is t o r ie s Irene-Evangelia Georgiou Submitted to the University of Wales in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Wales Swansea 2 0 0 2 ProQuest Number: 10821395 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10821395 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 lib r a r y DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently sujynitted in candidature for any degree. Signe<^^ D a te jH.-.Q.l-. 0.3. STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signal D ate 13 . QJ . 0 3 STATEMENT 2 I hereby consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signe D ate............\ 3.. 77.P. .1.71 .Q .3 Abstract [Irene-Evangelia Georgiou,Women in Herodotus ’ Histories] This thesis examines the role of women in Herodotus'Histories. It is the first monograph-length study of this important topic at the intersection of two major fields in ancient studies. As ‘causes’, victims or warrior fighters, women in Herodotus enter the male domain of war, in which they display the same valour as their men, when circumstances call for it. As queens, wise advisors and passive vehicles of power, they exercise influence but they are not portrayed as spiteful usurpers. They only assume such power under specific circumstances, and are in these cases portrayed as serious political actors. Sometimes, women are shown to reverse their gender-roles with men. They take control when the male is in no position to do so himself, only to revert to their anonymity after they have reinstated normality and order. In Herodotus' ethnographic treatments, the representation of women is not dominated by promiscuity, wantonness or rule over the male. Rather, worlds of polyandry' and equality between the sexes are constructed. In the Persian world of Herodotus, women are not all-powerful rulers of men. If they are shown to exercise any influence, this is only in the context of the royal court. For the most part, they are pawns in Persian expansionism. As concubines, prostitutes and slaves, they are not presented as immoral, but rather as suffering fates imposed by the male, by custom or by war. Women's role in religious life is never questioned but is presented as one of utmost importance for thepolis. Table of C ontents A cknowledgements vi Introduction i I. Ancient authors 6 a. Homer 6 b. The Ionian logographers 9 1. Hecataeus 10 2. Xanthus 11 3. Charon 13 4. Hellanicus 14 c. Thucydides 16 d. Ctesias 18 II. Modern scholarship and Herodotus 21 CHAPTER ONE: WOMEN AND WAR 26 I. Women as 'causes' of war 26 a. Women being Taped' 27 1. lo 27 2. Europa 28 3. Medea 29 b. Women being ‘sexually immodest' 30 1. Io (again) 30 2. Helen 31 c. Women being ‘vengeful' 34 d. Women being‘sexually jealous' 35 II. Women in time of war 37 a. The male attitude towards women in wartime 38 b. The hardships of defeat 39 c. The female attitude towards war 41 III. Women associated with cowardice 43 a. A disgrace for men to be called or treated as ‘women’ 44 b. The pillars of king Sesostris 46 IV. Warlike women 46 a. Tomyris of the Massagetae 47 1. The onset o f the war 47 2. Cyrus ’ devious plan 49 3. Tomyris ’ vengeance and Cyrus' death 51 b. Pheretime of Cyrene 52 1. A determined woman 53 2. Pheretime’s cruel vengeance 54 3. Pheretime’s odious end 55 c. Artemisia of Halicarnassus 56 d. Amazons 59 1. The androgynous Amazons 60 i 2. Marriage and the customs o f the Amazons 63 3. The Amazons ’ role in Funeral oration 66 CHAPTER TWO: POWERFUL INDIVIDUALS 68 I. Powerful queens 68 a. Candaules’ wife 69 1. The king’s obsession 69 2. The queen’s revenge 72 b. Semiramis 76 c. Nitocris of Babylon 77 1. Nitocris’ building projects 78 2. Nitocris’provocative inscription and guile 80 d. Nitocris of Egypt 82 II. Wise advisors 84 a. Artemisia 85 b. Gorgo 87 c. Polycrates’ daughter 90 d. Periander’s daughter 91 e. Sesostris’ 'wife 92 f. Atossa 93 III. Women as vehicles of power 94 a. Atossa, Artystone and Cambyses’ sisters 95 b. Amasis’ daughter and Tomyris 95 c. Candaules’ wife 96 d. Agariste 96 e. Argeia 99 f. Labda 100 g. Mandane 103 h. Phronime 104 i. The wife of the Macedonian king and Perdiccas 105 j. Pisistratus’ wife and Phve 106 CHAPTER THREE: THE FEMALE SEX IN CHARGE 108 I. Women and reversed worlds 108 a. Women consorting with slaves 108 1. The Scythian women 109 2. The women o f Argos 111 b. Topsy-turvy customs 113 1. Egypt 113 2. Amazons (again) 117 c. Women‘on top’? 118 1. The Lemnian crime 118 2. The wives o f the Minyae 120 II. Women and colonisation 122 a. Reversed worlds, colonisation and refoundation of cities 122 1. Minyae (again) 123 2. The refoundation o f Argos 123 3. Amazons and the Sauromatan foundation account 124 ii b. Rape and colonisation 124 1. Carian women 125 2. Pelasgians and Lemnos (again) 126 c. Heracles and the serpent-woman: the establishment of a nation 126 III. Women and preservation of culture 129 a. Carian women and Athenian women in Lemnos (again) 130 b. Scyles’ mother 131 CHAPTER FOUR: WOMEN IN ETHNOGRAPHIES 133 I. Marriage, sex, promiscuity and prostitution 133 a. The Babylonian custom of marriage 133 b. Marital customs: a case of polyandry or wantonness? 137 1. Copulating in the open 137 2. Marriage and promiscuity 139 c. Polygamy and death 141 d. Egyptian marriage practices 142 e. Adultery in Egypt 143 II. Equality between sexes or rule of women? 145 a. Lycians: a case of matriarchy? 145 b. Amazons 146 c. Issedonean and Zauekean women 147 III. Sparta: a case of'otherness' 148 a. The Spartan royal funeral and ethnographic ‘otherness’ 148 b. Female initiative: Gorgo, Argeia and the wives of the Minyae 150 c. Herodotus on Spartan marital customs 150 1. Marriage by betrothal or capture? 151 2. Spartan intermarriage 154 3. Spartan monogamy or polygamy? 155 d. Succession and legitimacy 157 1. Porphyrogenesis or primogeniture? 157 2. The question o f Demaratus ’ legitimacy 158 CHAPTER FIVE: PERSIAN WOMEN 161 I. The harem 162 a. Ranking 163 1. The royal wives 164 2. The royal concubines 165 b. Harem arrangements 165 II. Powerful and politically influential women 166 a. Atossa 167 1. Atossa as the 'cause ’ of the Persian Wars 167 2. Atossa as 'all-powerful’ 170 b. Amestris 172 1. Xerxes and Artaynte: a fatal passion 173 2. Amestris’ revenge 176 c. Intaphrenes’ wife and Sataspes’ mother 179 III. Marriage practices among the Achaemenids 181 a. Marriage alliances among Persian kings 181 b. Members of the royalty and the nobility 183 1. Royal daughters and sisters 183 2. Noble daughters 183 IV. Customs of Achaemenid Persia 184 a. Children 185 b. Burial rites and mourning 185 c. Financial status 186 d. Public appearance or seclusion? 187 CHAPTER SIX: CONCUBINES, PROSTITUTES AND SLAVES 190 I. Concubines 191 a. Persian concubines 192 1. Origin 193 2. Status 193 3. Duties 194 b. Egyptian concubines 195 II. Prostitutes 196 a. Sacred prostitution in Babylon and Cyprus 197 b. Prostitution for financial purposes 199 1. Babylon 200 2. Lydia 200 3. Egypt 202 c. Prostitution for a purpose: king Rhampsinitus* daughter 204 III. Slaves ~ 205 a. Cyno 206 b. Rhodopis 208 c. The daughter of the Egyptian king Psammenitus 210 CHAPTER SEVEN: WOMEN AND RELIGION 213 I. Women and religious festivals 213 a. Egypt 214 1. Dionysiac worship 214 2.