Overview
Title: Power, Royal Agency, and Elite Women in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds
Guest Editors: Dr. Sheila Ager; Dr. Monica D’Agostini; Dr. Alex McAuley
Publication: The Ancient History Bulletin 38.3–4 (Special Issue)
Date: 2024
Publisher / Host Institution: St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN)
Identifiers: ISSN 0835-3638; eISSN 1700-3334
Resources:
Summary
This special issue of The Ancient History Bulletin presents selected work from the project Power, Royal Agency, and Elite Women in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds (PRAEW), whose sessions ran from September 2021 to May 2022. Conceived as a “distributed conference,” the project brought scholars together in a sustained, global conversation on elite women and power across the Hellenistic period and into the Roman world.
The contributions share a common aim: to move beyond description toward clearer conceptualization of “power” and “agency” as they apply to royal and elite women. Rather than treating female authority as inherently exceptional or purely contingent, this volume explores how women’s influence functioned within broader political and social structures, and how it was articulated across genres, institutions, and historical contexts.
Table of Contents
Preface — 77
Alex McAuley, Archein and/or Archesthai: Exploring Ancient Approaches to Female Agency — 79
Elizabeth Carney, How Did the Agency of Royal Women Work? — 97
Edward M. Anson, Olympias and the Prostasia — 109
Frances Pownall, In a Man’s World: The Royal Agency of Phila of Macedon — 120
Gillian Ramsey Neugebauer, Defining Woman-power among the Second Century Seleukids and Ptolemies — 137
Catherine Lorber, Prestige or Power? Cleopatra I, II, and III — 154
Caitlin Gillespie, Agrippina’s Arrogant Fertility: Pregnancy and Power in Tacitus’ Annals — 189
Sabine Müller, Macedonian Elite Women, War, and Stratagems: Views from Polyainos — 207
About the Guest Editors
This special issue is guest edited by Sheila Ager (University of Waterloo), Monica D’Agostini (Università degli Studi di Bergamo), and Alex McAuley (University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau).
Bibliographic Data
- Journal: The Ancient History Bulletin
- Volume / Issue: 38.3–4 (2024)
- Special Issue Title: Power, Royal Agency, and Elite Women in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds
- Format: Special issue (guest edited)
- ISSN: 0835-3638
- eISSN: 1700-3334