Remijsen Sofie, Icks Martijn, Dirven Lucinda (eds.) The Public Lives of Ancient Women 500 BCE-650 CE

Brill, 2023. — 336 p. — (Mnemosyne, Supplements 468; Mnemosyne, Supplements, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity 468).Building on the important work by Emily A. Hemelrijk, this volume endeavours to bring ancient women out of the domestic sphere and to examine their presence and activities in the public domain, for example as rulers, patrons, priestesses, wives, athletes and pilgrims. Covering the period 500 BCE to 650 CE and ranging across the Mediterranean and beyond, it fruitfully employs a great variety of source types and thematic approaches to argue that women in the ancient world were active in many parts of the public domain, including the civic, the religious and at times even the political and military spheres.Contributors are: Josine H. Blok, Lucinda Dirven, Anique Hamelink, Martijn Icks, Lien Foubert, Sanne Klaver, Onno M. van Nijf, Sofie Remijsen, Evelien J.J. Roels, Janric van Rookhuijzen, Emila Salerno, Daniëlle Slootjes, Rolf Strootman, Marlena Whiting.Lucinda Dirven, Ph.D, is professor by special appointment in Ancient religions at the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen. She works on religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, especially in the Roman Near East.Martijn Icks, Ph.D. is a Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Amsterdam. He has published on Roman emperors and their representation, on the reception of Classical culture and on character assassination as a cross-cultural phenomenon.Sofie Remijsen, Ph.D is a Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Amsterdam. She has published on various aspects of social and cultural history in the Mediterranean, including sport and festivals. Currently she is leading a project on Lived Time in Late-Antique Egypt.