The Discourse of Marriage in the Greco-Roman World

by Jeffrey Beneker (Editor), Georgia Tsouvala (Editor)

Overview

The famous polymath Plutarch often discussed the relationship between spouses in his works, including Marriage Advice, Dialogue on Love, and many of the Parallel Lives. In this collection, leading scholars explore the marital views expressed in Plutarch's works and the art, philosophy, and literature produced by his contemporaries and predecessors.
Through aesthetically informed and sensitive modes of analysis, these contributors examine a wealth of representations—including violence in weddings and spousal devotion after death. The Discourse of Marriage in the Greco-Roman World demonstrates the varying conceptions of an institution that was central to ancient social and political life—and remains prominent in the modern world. This volume will contribute to scholars' understanding of the era and fascinate anyone interested in historic depictions of marriage and the role and status of women in the late Hellenistic and early Imperial periods.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299328405
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Series:	Wisconsin Studies in Classics
Edition description:	1
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jeffrey Beneker is a professor of classics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the coeditor and translator of The Rhetorical Exercises of Nikephoros Basilakes: Progymnasmata from Twelfth-Century Byzantium. Georgia Tsouvala is an associate professor of history at Illinois State University and the coauthor of Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Editions and Abbreviations ix

Introduction: The Discourse of Marriage and Its Context Georgia Tsouvala 3

Wedding Connections in Greek and Roman Art Rebecca H. Sinos 20

Violence in the Roman Wedding Karen Klaiber Hersch 68

Plutarch's Marriage Advice and the Tradition of the Poetic Epithalamium Paolo Di Meo 94

Epicurus on Marriage Geert Roskam 119

The Impossible Feminism of "Seneca, On Marriage": Style and the Woman in Jerome, Against Jovinian 1 Alex Dressler 142

Marriage and Animal Exemplarity in Plutarch Katarzyna Jazdzewska 178

Death Is Not the End: Spousal Devotion in Plutarch's Portraits of Camma, Porcia, and Cornelia Jeffrey Beneker 199

Erotic Desire and the Desire to Marry in the Ancient Greek Novels Silvia Montiglio 219

Contributors 245

Index 249

Index Locorum 259

Editorial Reviews

A highly original group of essays. The authors (as well as the editors) have splendidly accomplished their goal of documenting how close study of the language and iconography, and careful scrutiny of artistic and literary qualities and allusions, illuminate evolving attitudes about marriage. They have made a major contribution to the study of marriage in Greco-Roman antiquity.”—Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland, College Park


“Illuminating. Presents a good mixture of work by an international array of senior and midcareer scholars.”—Sarah B. Pomeroy, Hunter College and the Graduate School of the City of New York

From the Publisher