Date of Award
2022
Document Type
Honors Thesis (Open Access)
Department
Colby College. Classics Dept.
Advisor(s)
Kerill O'Neill
Second Advisor
Kassandra Miller
Abstract
Male authors have long waged a multifront campaign against female independence. In this thesis, I focus on two specific fronts: literary and medical texts of the Classical Greek period. This thesis intends to explore the varying strategies in a selection of works, employed to reinforce prescribed gender norms. I approach this with a feminist lens to critique attempts made by elite educated Greek men to define what a woman ought to be like. I do not, however, explore every single tactic a medical and literary writer has applied to uphold patriarchal norms. My two body chapters revolve respectively around two texts: the Hippocratic Corpus and Euripides’ Medea. I, of course, draw upon scholarly sources to strengthen my argument, and I also include other Medea texts from the Classical period to illustrate the consistent anxiety toward an autonomous, active woman.
Keywords
Classical Greek Medicine and Magic, Gender Studies, Medea, The Hippocratics
Recommended Citation
Montello, Leah K., "The Multifront Battle Waged Against Female Autonomy: A Comparative Study of Ancient Medical and Literary Texts" (2022). Honors Theses. Paper 1393.https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/1393
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Medical Humanities Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons