How did the Greeks and Romans perceive rape? How seriously was it taken, and who were seen as its main victims? These are two central questions that Rape in Antiquity: Sexual Violence in the Greek and Roman Worlds (1997), edited by Susan Deacy and Karen F. Pierce, aimed to approach in twelve chapters. Setting out to understand if the ancients had a concept of rape and how it was understood through different angles – including legal, social, cultural and historiographical – Rape in Antiquity made an invaluable contribution to the scholarship on sexual violence in the ancient world, impacting upon the development of new approaches in the decades that followed its publication.
Revisiting Rape in Antiquity: Sexualised Violence in Greek and Roman Worlds maps out the influence of Rape in Antiquity while exploring how far cultural changes since the 1990s have reshaped the scholarly landscape. This collection, comprising chapters by established scholars and early career researchers from many countries, provides a new window into sexual – and sexualized – violence. Covering a long chronology, this book journeys from Homer to Byzantium, to modern receptions, to the analysis of wartime rape, ancient Greek tragedy, classical myth, how stories involving rape are retold for children, ancient law and rhetoric, classical art, Ovid, Late Antiquity, modern literature, comic books and cinema. This book is the culmination of a rich scholarly inheritance, setting out new perspectives that will hopefully inspire researchers for decades to come.
Lists of Plates, Figures, Maps and Tables List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: ‘Twenty Years Ago’: Revisiting Rape in Antiquity Susan Deacy (University of Roehampton, UK) Part 1: Why are we still Reading Rapes? 1. Sympathy for the Victims of Sexual Violence in Greek society and Literature Edward M. Harris (Durham, University, UK) 2. Why are we Still Reading Ovid’s rapes? Holly Ranger (Institute of Classical Studies University of London, UK) 3. Women who Punish Other Women: Rape and Infidelity in Retellings for Children of the Greek myth of Io and Hera Robin Diver (University of Birmingham, UK) Part 2: Victims and survivors 4. The Rape of Boys in Ancient Athens José Malheiro Magalhães (University of Roehampton, UK) 5. The Rape of Chrysippus Nuno Simões Rodrigues (University of Lisbon, Portugal) 6. Shame on whom? Changing Clerical Views on Raped Women in Late Antiquity Ulriika Vihervalli (University of Liverpool, UK) Part 3: Critiquing 'A series of Erotic Pursuits' 7. ‘Simulated’ Pursuit Scenes on Red-Figure Pottery: An Iconographic Re-Contextualization Marco Serino (University of Turin, Italy) 8. Changing Fashions in the Visual Depiction of Sexual Pursuit in Classical Athens Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge, UK) 9. Fifty Shades of Rape: Erotic Pursuit and Abduction in Athenian Vase-Painting Viktoria Räuchle (University of Vienna, Austria) Part 4: Constructing Rape and Sexual(ised) Violence 10. Revisiting the Vulnerability of Athena: Rape, Sexual Conflict and the ‘Myth Instinct’ Susan Deacy (University of Roehampton, UK) 11. Sexual Violence in the Female Martyrdoms of the Sixth-Century Byzantine East: Febronia and Mahya Elisa Groff (University of Exeter, UK) 12. Sororophobia in Ovid Melissa Marturano (The City University of New York, USA) Part 5: Coded Rapes: Now and Then 13. Why Centaurs do not Rape Anymore? Looking for Sexual violence in Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Culture Inspired by Classical Antiquity Ana Mik (University of Warsaw, Poland) 14. Sex, Violence and Graphics: Illustrating Helen Karen F. Pierce (University of Cardiff, UK) 15. Warfare, Violence, Rape, Revenge: Jane Holland’s Boudicca & co Marguerite Johnson (University of Newcastle, Australia) 16. Rape and Rhetoric during the Athenian Democracy Jean Zacharski Menzies (University of Roehampton, UK) Notes Bibliography Index
Susan Deacy is Professor Emerita of Classics at the University of Roehampton, UK, Visiting Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK, and Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol, UK. José Malheiro Magalhães is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton, UK, and an Associate Researcher at the Centre for History of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Jean Zacharski Menzies is an author of nonfiction on mythology from around the world for all ages, and a PhD graduate in Classics from the University of Roehampton, UK.
