INTRODUCTION

Over the past few decades, scholars have increasingly turned their attention to discussing the lives and activities of women in antiquity.2 This kind of ancient history aims to look beyond the world of politics and warfare, with which ancient historians have traditionally been preoccupied, so as to investigate the activities and lives of ordinary women who could not hold political office or perform military feats.3 In this volume, we intend to turn the question around and ask whether ancient women were more involved in these traditionally male areas of culture than has previously been thought.