Daughters of Gaia : women in the ancient Mediterranean world

From their personal lives at home to their roles in the realms of religion, health, economics, governance, war, philosophy, and poetry, this is the story of ancient women in all their aspects.

The author explores women's lives in four ancient civilisations of the Mediterranean: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome.

While the experiences of women in ancient cultures were certainly very different from those of most women today, a tendency to focus too much on negative or restrictive images has until now provided readers with a rather incomplete picture.

Looking at this important era from a female-oriented perspective, the author widens the perceptual lens and makes it possible to highlight the empowered aspects of women's activities in order to present them in balance with the various limits imposed on their participation in society.

Beginning with powerful images of goddesses and women's roles in the religious sphere, the author details the foundations of women's activities in all other social realms.

While these four Mediterranean civilizations were distinctive, they also influenced each other through various forms of contact - trade, colonisation, and war. Both the similarities and the differences permit richer comparisons and promote a deeper understanding of the lives of women in each.