Daughters of Gaia

"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." "Bella Vivante explores women's lives in four ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. While the experiences of women in these cultures were certainly very different from those of women today, she argues, a tendency to focus too much on negative or restrictive images has provided readers with a rather incomplete picture of their lives. Looking at this important era from a female-oriented perspective, she widens the perceptual lens, thus enabling readers to see the empowered aspect of women's activities in balance with the various limits imposed on their societal participation." "Beginning with powerful images of goddesses and of women's roles in the religious sphere, Daughters of Gaia details the foundations for women's activities in other social realms. While these four Mediterranean civilizations were distinctive, they also influenced each other through various forms of contact - trade, colonization, and war. Noting, as Vivante does, both the similarities and the differences permits richer comparisons and promotes a deeper understanding of the lives of women in the ancient Mediterranean world."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.