Women's Religions in the Greco-roman World. A Sourcebook.

Oxford University Press, Oxford (....), 2004. XXVIII,487p. Paperback. Upper corner front cover slightly bumped. 'This is a substantially expanded and completely revised edition of a book originally published in 1988 as Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics. 'For scholars and students alike, Ross S. Kraemer's Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook is a welcome contribution primarily to the study of women's roles in Hellenistic Judaism and emergent Christianity, and only secondarily to the study of women's roles in the Greek and Roman polytheistic traditions. (...) 'Women's Religions' selects primary sources (both edited portions of long works and shorter writings in full) from the fourth century B.C.E. to the fifth century C.E. that pertain to women's religiosity in the above traditions or that provide elements of the broader social context for women in Judaism, Christianity, and related traditions bearing a biblical imprint (e.g., God-fearing proselytes). The collection contains a wide range of literary, epigraphic, and papyrological sources in Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Coptic, with two selections from sources dating earlier than the fourth century B.C.E., the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and a selection from Euripides' Bacchae. (...) The translations are in current idiomatic English and are taken from reliable translation sources, with several selections translated by Kraemer herself. (...) 'Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World' is not a well-balanced sourcebook overall for women's Greek and Roman religions in the Greco-Roman world, but Sections One (Observances, Rituals), Three (Religious Office), and Six (The Feminine Divine) are a fine place to start for such study. However, this collection is a very impressive resource throughout for the study of women and their religious roles in Hellenistic Judaism, God-fearing syncretism, and emergent Christianity.' (KATHY L. GACA in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005.04.09).