Manuscript Kilyashova Kristina Alekseevna POLITICAL ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE COURT OF MACEDONIAN KINGS OF ARGEAD DYNASTY Specialty 07.00.03 - General History (Ancient World History) THESIS ABSTRACT for the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences Kazan - 2018 The work was performed at the Department of General History of the Institute of International Relations, Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education "Kazan Federal University." Supervisor: Rung Edward V. - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, specialty 07.00.03 - General History (Ancient World History), professor of the department of General History FSAEI "Kazan Federal University" (Kazan). Official opponents: Klimov Oleg Yuryevich - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, specialty 07.00.03 - General History (Ancient World History), head of the department of the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, FSBEI “Saint Petersburg University” (St. Petersburg). Kuzmin Yury Nikolaevich - Candidate of Historical Sciences, specialty 07.00.03 - General History (Ancient World History), associate professor of the department of History, International Law and foreign Regional Studies, FSBEI "Moscow City University" (Samara). Leading Organization: Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of higher education "Lomonosov Moscow State University" (Moscow). The defense of the thesis will take place on December 27, 2018 at 10.00 at the dissertation council meeting D 212.081.01 at the FSAEI of HE "Kazan Federal University" at the following address: 420111, Kazan, Pushkin St., 1/55, room 502. The dissertation can be found in the Nikolay Lobachevsky Scientific Library of "Kazan Federal University" (35, Kremlevskaya St.,reading room No1). The electronic version of the thesis abstract is available on the official website of Kazan Federal University http://www.kpfu.ru and on the official website of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation http://www.vak.ed.gov.ru Abstract is distributed __/__/2018 Scientific Secretary dissertation council Candidate of Historical Sciences, associate professor (signature) R.R. Khairutdinov GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE THESIS Relevance of the research topic. In recent decades, there is an increase of interest in the position of women in society, as well as their role in world history. The attention of researchers, first of all, focuses on the field of historical feminology, which main task was to study the changes in the social status and functionality of women's roles. Development gender studies contributed to the design of female and male political experience based on cultural determination. The four components of gender relations in society1, developed by the American historian Joan Scott, expanded the provisions of gender history and made it possible to view politics and power as an area in which gender can be used for historical analysis. The use of methods from gender psychology, sociology and history has allowed the historians to move away from the positions of classical objectivity2. In these trends’ context gender methodology allowed us to identify passive and active forms of female political behavior. Based on these provisions, historians refer to the study of the political activities of women, at the same time the role of women in the ancient world is intensively studied, in ancient Greek society in particular, where the participation of women in politics was extremely insignificant. In this area of research, a special interest in historiography is in the position of women in Ancient Macedonia due to the peculiarities of the historical development of the Macedonian state, which in a relatively short 1 Scott J.W. Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis // American Historical Review. 1986. Vol. 91. No. 5. P. 1053-1075; Russian edition: Scott J. Gender - A Useful Category of Historical Analysis // Gender Studies. 2000. № 2 (5). Pp. 142–170. 2 Pinchukova I.V. Gender approach in historical science // News of Altai State University. 2007. № 4. P. 117−120. period of time had transformed from a tribal monarchy into a leading power of the ancient world. This transformation could not but affect the position of women, especially those belonging to the royal dynasty of Argead. If, at first, a woman had not yet become a subject of politics, later it was Macedonian royal women who could openly challenge men in the struggle for power and influence in Macedonia. Such transformation of the political role of women at the royal court of the Argead dynasty is going to be the focus of this thesis. Thus, the scientific relevance of the work is due to the understanding of the political role of women in the context of the complex changes that occurred in the ancient Macedonian state during the rule of the Argead. Accordingly, the main functional work load is to consider the changing political role of women in the historical context. The object of the research is the Macedonian royal court. The subject of the research is the political role of women at the court of the Macedonian kings in the 5th – 4th centuries. BC. The purpose of the study is to identify the political role of women at the court of the Macedonian kings of the Argead dynasty. To achieve this goal it was necessary to solve the following tasks: 1. Describe the political role of women in Macedonia during the early kings of the Argead dynasty. 2. Identify the reasons for the change in the political role of women at the court of Philip II and Alexander the Great. 3. Show the transformation of the political role of women of the Argead dynasty during the wars of the Diadochi. The chronological framework of the study covers the period from the middle of the VI to the turn of the IV – III century. BC. The lower chronological boundary is due to the years of the reign of Aminta I (547–498 BC). It was during this period during which the first reports of ancient authors appeared that were directly related to the women of the Argead dynasty. The upper chronological boundary of this study is represented by the IV – III century. BC. This time frame is associated with the departure of female representatives from the historical scene of the Argead dynasty which was then replaced by the Antigonid dynasty. The geographical scope of the study is mainly limited to the territory of the Balkan Peninsula, but also covers the territory of the Persian Empire. The methodological basis of the research includes both general scientific methods (descriptive, analysis, synthesis, deduction, and induction) and specifically historical (historical-genetic, historical-comparative, historical- typological and historical-systemic). In addition, the historical-anthropological method is actively used in gender studies. The limits of the anthropological approach are determined by the history of everyday life, customs, stereotypes of consciousness. A person acts as a carrier of a certain political culture, mentality. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the fact that for the first time in historiography based on the application of gender approaches to historical research the involvement of women in political events and processes in Macedonia during the Argead dynasty are being thoroughly examined; it is being proved that the political role of women at the court of this royal dynasty did not remain unchanged, but evolved at different stages the Macedonian state history, whilst depending on both internal and external political factors as well as on the personality of a particular woman included in the dynasty. Approbation of the main provisions of the thesis. The main results of the research were presented as reports at All-Russian and International conferences: the 56th International Scientific Conference of Students, Postgraduates and Young Scientists "New Century: People, Society, History through the Eyes of Young People" (Saratov, SSU, April 19-21, 2013 ), XIX Sergeevsky Readings (Moscow, Lomonosov Moscow State University, February 2–4, 2015), IV author's international scientific and educational conference “Greeks, Romans, barbarians: similarities and differences” (Kazan, KFU, 18– May 19, 2017), at the scientific seminars "Antique Monday". The results are also reflected in 5 scientific publications that can be found in journals from the list of peer-reviewed scientific journals, where the main scientific results of dissertations for the degree of candidate of science should be published. The dissertation was discussed and recommended for protection at the Department of General History of the Kazan Federal University. The scientific and practical significance of the research is due to the novelty of the researched problems and the findings. The results of this dissertation work can be used in preparing materials for lectures and workshops on the history of the ancient world, will be helpful in making test and teaching aids, preparing scientific articles on the history of ancient Macedonia. The main provisions for the defense: 1. The nature of the monarchical form of government in Macedonia contributed political activity of women and implied a change in gender roles. In this regard, women take on unusual roles, such as administrative, military and representative, as advocates of their own interests, the interests of the dynasty and their families. 2. The use of marriage unions as instruments of diplomatic policy in Macedonia contributed to the integration of women into the political organization of the state. 3. The status of women at the court of the Macedonian kings was influenced by their family connections, ethnicity, the birth of heirs, pedigree, including the one which raises a woman to the clan of “heroic” ancestors, a woman’s ability and desire to participate in the dynastic debates at the royal court in Macedonia. 4. The polygamy of the Macedonian kings of the Argead dynasty is a historiographic construct, and the analysis of the source material undertaken in this thesis convincingly shows that polygamousness was not the leading trend in the marriage policy of the Macedonian kings.