Brill’s companion to ancient women and war in the Mediterranean world

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[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]

Elizabeth D. Carney and Sabine Müller have produced an expansive companion that corrects an impression of ancient warfare as an exclusively male sphere and argues against generalizing representations of women in war as either transgressive or as victims. The past three decades have witnessed burgeoning interest in women, war, and power, especially in the Roman world.[1] This volume encapsulates the state of scholarship and expands the field. To varying degrees, the twenty-eight chapters provide surveys and close readings of texts, figures, and material evidence; in keeping with the intended audience, scholars often pursue further arguments in footnotes. The volume is successful in its overall intention: not to be exhaustive, but to fuel debate.

After a general introduction, part two addresses goddesses, myth, and the Amazons and initiates two main themes of the volume: constructions of gender and the problem of patriarchy. Six chapters traverse mythological and historical texts and iconography from Homer to the third century CE. Tanja S. Sheer opens with a simple question: why do women figure in narratives of war? Put another way, when are men not enough? Her answer goes back as far as the goddesses in Homer and Hesiod, and the Persian wars provide her with a historical “cross-check”. Walter Duvall Penrose Jr.’s chapter on the Amazons opens with controversy and concludes with compromise. Amazons are ambiguous figures, and Penrose emphasizes their cultural function for the Greeks: to reinforce the patriarchy. This chapter is usefully compared to Sergey A. Yatsenko’s contribution on Scythia, which elucidates questions surrounding female warrior burials. The following two chapters by Olga Palagia and Rachel M. Kousser are similarly paired. Palagia surveys female combatants in Archaic and Classical sculpture, focusing on goddesses and Amazons; her discerning discussion of the mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the “aggressively Hellenized” appearance of the Amazons offers a striking counterpoint to other monuments. Kousser’s analysis of Roman art includes a vast array of public and private images and objects, from the Boscoreale fresco of Macedonia and conquered Asia to a denarius of Julius Caesar with Gallic captives. Kousser’s chapter should be read alongside contributions on martial violence and representations of women, from physical suffering to Roman war goddesses that provide a more “attractive” way to envision war (Kousser 112). In a model of scholarly storytelling, Meghan Poplacean traces the transformation and adaptation of Bellona from her positive function in the Roman republican state to her syncretization with Cappadocian Ma and worship by women and common soldiers. Poplacean stresses Bellona’s chameleonic qualities that make the goddess embody, “both masculine virtus and radical femininity in equal parts” (Poplacean 143).

Part three turns to royal women. Sarah C. Melville finds women involved in war at every level of the social hierarchies of ancient Mesopotamia, although the available evidence is weighted towards Assyrian texts and art. Her material challenges gender stereotypes. For example, an Old Babylonian poem likens combat to a woman in labor, and “in so doing rendered both experiences heroic” (Melville 149). The goddess Inanna-Ishtar, similar to Poplacean’s Bellona, is successful because she combines “male” and “female” qualities. Uroš Matić brings the discussion to Ancient Egypt and Nubia; Egyptian burials of women with daggers connect to the Amazons and Scythians in part two, as well as Carney’s discussion of three tombs at Vergina in the following chapter. In contextualizing the Argead women, Carney identifies a shift in women’s roles in the period of Eurydice, wife of Amyntas III (c.393-370), when there was an absence of adult royal males. Gillian Ramsey Neugebauer continues Carney’s theme of dynasty with the Ptolemaic and Seleucid women, and argues against impressions of women engaging in armies and directing battles as transgressing gender expectations: rather, they were participants in a “royal culture of militarism” (Neugebauer 213). A contrasting view is present in Mary T. Boatwright’s astute analysis of Julio-Claudian women and other elites: while many imperial women maintained positive reputations for acting on behalf of their husbands or other family members, non-imperial women like Munatia Plancina were interpreted as transgressive for their actions in military situations. These women demonstrate that war profoundly affected everyone in Roman society.

Part four includes violent imagery and texts and requires a trigger warning. Cinzia Bearzot’s insightful comparison of sources on “manlike” Spartan women concludes that their training in athletics made them more capable of contributing to the polis and protecting its values; meditating on the frequent absences of men from Sparta, Bearzot emphasizes the loneliness the women must have felt. Aside from fear, emotions are not otherwise a focal point in the volume. Franca Landucci connects female camp followers and Greek mercenaries; her explication of a third-century inscription from Pergamum concerning Eumenes I and the families of his mercenaries is especially noteworthy. Chapters by Kathy L. Gaca and Elinor Cosgrave use similar methodologies to discuss the critical topic of martial rape as a weapon of war. Gaca writes diachronically, extending the argument to modernity and connecting historiography and morality; Cosgrave concentrates on texts and images from the late Roman Republic and early empire that depict sexual violence against women. Elizabeth M. Greene builds on her own scholarship, using epigraphic evidence and military diplomas in particular to consider the origins and identities of the wives of Roman auxiliary soldiers; the question of what constitutes “local” is central to the argument of this outstanding chapter.

Kathryn A. Langenfeld closes the section with an innovative chapter on women’s contributions to intelligence operations. In this understudied area, gender stereotypes and misogynistic worldviews become advantageous: women are assumed to be apolitical, so “their presence was thought unlikely to hinder free-flowing talk or call attention to secretive operations. Their reputation as natural gossips also made them ideal informants in many cases” (Langenfeld 352). Centering on fourth-century Rome, Langenfeld illuminates a world of secret missives, encrypted messages, and female networks in a period of contested dynastic succession and civil war.

Part five is limited to literary texts. Contributions offer close readings that evince women’s often objectionable presence in martial spheres, and reveal authorial biases and narrative aims. Müller offers two chapters, one on objections to women in war in Greek historiography, and the other on Diodorus Siculus. The first contribution categorizes objections as either ideological, centering on constructions of gender identity, or practical, such as the lack of training or the danger of getting captured. The chapter on Diodorus argues that references to women’s roles in wartime serve as part of his ethical didacticism. Johannes Heinrichs complements Müller’s catalogue with a study of Herodotus. Artemisia is the focus, and Heinrichs identifies two Artemisias: Herodotus’ literary invention and a historical personality. Frances Pownall uses Artemisia as an entry point into a discussion of negative stereotypes about women, particularly those who led armies; Pownall continues Müller’s analysis of Greek historiography and Carney’s discussion of Hellenistic royal women. Pownall concludes that narratives of Cynnane, Adea Eurydice, and Olympias perhaps inspired the Roman stereotype of the dux femina.

Kathryn Welch and Lewis Webb consolidate and build on their own recent studies in a discussion of Roman women and civil war, focusing on Livy’s constructed debate over the Lex Oppia. They encourage readers to see aspects of comedy and connect the speech of Valerius to that of the historical Hortensia. Jacqueline Fabre-Serris continues the discussion of Livy, and centers on three episodes in the Punic wars that involve female captives and their conquerors. Fabre-Serris, like Welch and Webb, identifies theatrical moments, and sees tragedy as the inspiration for Sophonisba’s meeting with Masinissa (Fabre-Serris 501). Fabio Tanga turns to Plutarch and provides a helpful catalogue of women’s appearances in war scenarios in the Parallel Lives and Moralia. Caryn A. Reeder’s chapter on Josephus recognizes the minimal roles played by women: women are primarily “pathetic victims of wartime violence” used by Josephus to aid in his construction of Jewish masculinity (Reeder 561).

Elina Pyy’s concentrated tour de force on women and war in Roman epic captures central themes of the volume. Select episodes from Virgil, Lucan, Statius, Silius Italicus, and Valerius Flaccus are used to identify stereotypical roles for women and relate them to cultural identities and Roman ideas and ideals. “Transgressive queens” like Virgil’s warmongering Dido and Amata are significant for their close association to war rather than peace; “manly matrons” like Pompey’s wife in Lucan’s Pharsalia prove that “manliness” could manifest in a state of mind rather than action; “warrior women” like the Lemnians threaten institutions of family and state. Paradoxically, Pyy concludes, women often end up the most memorable characters in Roman epic: in a genre both patriotic and masculine, “the ideas that define both masculinity and Romanness are constructed through female exempla” (Pyy 555).

In the afterward, Georgia Tsouvala and Lee L. Brice offer a valuable summation. They articulate the diversity and complexity of women’s roles in ancient warfare, as well as the commemoration of women. Logistical topics like women’s financial support, and the social, emotional, and economic impact of military service on women are among the topics ripe for further study. I expect many of their suggestions will bear fruit.

Authors and titles

Part 1: Introduction

1. Some Preliminary Thoughts about Women and War in Ancient Times (Elizabeth D. Carney and Sabine Müller)

Part 2: Goddesses, Myth, Amazons, and War

2. Greek Goddesses Associated with War: from the Heights of Olympus to Troy and Marathon (Tanja S. Scheer)
3. The Amazons: from History to Myth (Walter Duvall Penrose, Jr.)
4. Scythia (Sergey A. Yatsenko)
5. Greek Women at War in Archaic and Classical Sculpture (Olga Palagia)
6. Women, Female Deities, and War in Roman Art (Rachel M. Kousser)
7. Bellona: Roman Goddess of War (Meghan Poplacean)

Part 3: Royal Women and War

8. Women and Warfare in Ancient Mesopotamia (Sarah C. Melville)
9. Framing War and Women in Ancient Egypt and Nubia (Uroš Matić_
10. Argead Women and War (Elizabeth D. Carney)
11. Ptolemaic and Seleucid Royal Women (Gillian Ramsey Neugebauer)
12. Julio-Claudian Women, War, and the Military (Mary T. Boatwright)

Part 4: Women and Armies in War

13. Spartan Women at War (Cinzia Bearzot)
14. Women and Greek Mercenaries (Franca Landucci)
15. The Historicity and Import of Martial Rape against Girls and Women in Civilian-Assault Warfare for Conquest (Kathy L. Gaca)
16. Sexual Violence against Women in the Process of Captive-Taking in the Late Roman Republic and Early Empire (Elinor Cosgrave)
17. Origins and Identities of the Wives of Roman Auxiliary Soldiers (Elizabeth M. Greene)
18. Shorthand Girls and Secret Missives: Women’s Contributions to Late Roman Intelligence Operations (Kathryn A. Langenfeld)

Part 5: Representations of Women in Texts about War

19. Objections to Women and War in Greek Historiography (Sabine Müller)
20. Women and War in Herodotus — with the Focus on Artemisia of Halicarnassus (Johannes Heinrichs)
21. Objections to Women and War in Antiquity: the Case of Hellenistic Royal Women (Frances Pownall)
22. Women and War in Diodorus of Sicily (Sabine Müller)
23. Nothing to Do with the Lex Oppia: Roman Women, Civil War, and the Discourse of Saving the City (Kathryn Welch and Lewis Webb)
24. Livy’s Ideological Constructions of Gender Relations, Ethnicity, and Political Alliances, and Their Limits (Jacqueline Fabre-Serris)
25. Women and War in Plutarch (Fabio Tanga)
26. Women and War in Roman Epic (Elina Pyy)
27. Women and War in Josephus (Caryn A. Reeder)

Part 6: Afterword

28. Women and Armed Conflict: Never Just a Man’s World (Georgia Tsouvala and Lee L. Brice)

Notes

[1] E.g. L. L. Brice and E. M. Greene, eds. (2024) Women and the Army in the Roman Empire. Cambridge; C. Rosillo-López and S. Lacorte, eds. (2024) Cives Romanae. Roman Women as Citizens During the Republic. Zaragoza; C. Steel and L. Webb, eds. (2026) Women, Wealth and Power in the Roman Republic. Cambridge.