Euripides, Women and Sexuality

Anton Powell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9780415619424
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134983742
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Euripides' interest in the psychology and social position of women is well known. Of the great Greek playwrights, he most directly reflects contemporary philosophical and social debates, and his work is of great value as a source for social history. The important new studies in this volume explore Euripides' treatment of sexuality and Greek ideals of women's behaviour. Using a wide range of analytic techniques, seven scholars direct new light not only on Euripides' own views of women but also on the ideals and preoccupations of his contemporaries in this area. Athenian women of the classical period were used, in Plato's phrase, 'to a life in the shadows'. This book helps us to see how far the influence of these cloistered women extended into the sunlit world of men.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Editonal note
• Abbreviations
• 1. Sexual Imagery and Innuendo in Troades
• 2. A Woman’s Place in Euripides’ Medea
• 3. Euripides the Misogynist?
• 4. The Articulation of the Self in Euripides’ Hippolytus
• 5. Male Homosexuality in Euripides
• 6. The Structural Problems of Marriage in Euripides
• 7. The State and the Individual: Euripides’ Plays of Voluntary Self-Sacrifice
• Index