In Death Not Divided
Gender, Family, and State on Classical Athenian Grave Stelae
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4534325 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ruth E Leader (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 101 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 683-699 |
| Publication date | 1997-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/506830 |
| OpenAlex | W2316588022 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 18 |
This article focuses on the Attic grave stelae of the late fifth and fourth centuries B. C. as a source for understanding the construction of gender in Classical Athenian society. After a discussion of the nature of the Athenian cemetery and the stelae as artistic productions, selected images on stelae of single-sex and mixed-sex (family) groups, and accompanying inscriptions, are analyzed. The varied strategies of gender representation on them are shown to be linked to the differing models of gender relations appropriate to the Athenian state (polis) and the family (oikos). While on both types of stelae the commemoration of women typically invoked relationships with male members of their family, on the single-sex type this is done covertly, through allusions to dowry in the representation of jewelry, or verbally through epitaphs, preserving an image of women's separation from men. On stelae showing males and females, male family members are represented overtly in the visual sphere of women. Men's importance as members of the family unit is asserted on stelae depicting family groups, but not on stelae depicting only males, which assert their civic role. In conclusion, the tension between polis and oikos implicit in these representations of gender relations is related to the wider problem of the unstable division between state and family in the space of the cemetery and in the grave stelae as monuments
Art · Dowry · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Mathematics
Ancient Identities
Painting, Ethics, and Aesthetics in Rome
Mezar ve Via
Gods around the Grave
Beyond Individual Lives
Studying Gender in Classical Antiquity
O elogio das mulheres em contextos funerários da Atenas Clássica
Housewives, Hetairai, and the Ambiguity of Genre in Attic Vase Painting
Mutilation and metaphor
Os fragmentos atenienses de Simônides. Um estudo das fontes epigráficas anteriores a 480 a. C
O espaço funerário
A sociological analysis of moves in the formation of Iranian epitaphs
Mortality, Money, and Commemoration
Public memorials, private virtues
Women Dedicators on the Athenian Acropolis and their Role in Family Festivals
Transformations in San Diego County Gravestones and Cemeteries
The Fabric of the City
In cold blood
| Citations per year | 0.78 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2003 - 2022 (20) |
| Highly cited | No |