Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia

by Zainab Bahrani

Overview

Representations of sexual difference (whether visual or textual) have become an area of much theoretical concern and investigation in recent feminist scholarship. Yet although a wide range of relevant evidence survives from the ancient Near East, it has been exceptional for those studying women in the ancient world to stray outside the traditional bounds of Greece and Rome.
Women of Babylon is a much-needed historical/art historical study that investigates the concepts of femininity which prevailed in Assyro-Babylonian society. Zainab Bahrani's detailed analysis of how the culture of ancient Mesopotamia defined sexuality and gender roles both in, and through, representation is enhanced by a rich selection of visual material extending from 6500 BC - 1891 AD. Professor Bahrani also investigates the ways in which women of the ancient Near East have been perceived in classical scholarship up to the nineteenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134601400
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/07/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Bahrani, Zainab

Table of Contents

Introduction; Chapter 1 Women/Sex/Gender; Chapter 2 Envisioning Difference; Chapter 3 The Metaphorics of the Body; Chapter 4 That Obscure Object of Desire; Chapter 5 Priestess and Princess; Chapter 6 A Woman’s Place; Chapter 7 Ishtar; Chapter 8 Babylonian Women in the Orientalist Imagination;

Editorial Reviews

'Women of Babylon is a sophisticated, stimulating and provocative study ... A brief review cannot do justice to the depth of Bahrani's analyses and the richness of her insights ... This is a landmark study.' - Journal of the American Oriental Society

From the Publisher