ABSTRACT
Thus, Josephus declared, 'Religion governs all our actions and occupations and speech; none of these things did our lawgiver leave unexamined or indeterminate.' The historian concluded his description of the allembracing character of Jewish religious law in the life of Hellenistic Palestine with the statement: '. . . even our womenfolk and dependants would tell you that piety must be the motive for all our occupations' (Con. Ap. H:164f.). The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which women were permitted to give public expression, through participation in the nation's religion, ritual and cult, to the piety which governed their lives. In order to gain the fullest appreciation of their role in the religion of Hellenistic Palestine (c. 300 BC-c. AD 200), however, we must first pause and briefly trace the history of their involvement in the centuries which preceded the period under consideration.
