The Locrian Maidens : Love and Death in Greek Italy - James Redfield

The Locrian Maidens

Love and Death in Greek Italy

By: James Redfield

Hardcover | 16 February 2004

At a Glance

Hardcover


RRP $190.00

$121.75

36%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $30.44 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 5 to 10 business days

When will this arrive by?
Enter delivery postcode to estimate

Athens dominates textbook accounts of ancient Greece. But was it, for the Greeks themselves, a model city-state or a creative, even a corrupt, departure from the model? Or was there a model? This book reveals Epizephyrian Locri--a Greek colony on the Adriatic coast of Italy--as a third way in Greek culture, neither Athens nor Sparta. Drawing on a wide range of literary and archaeological evidence, James Redfield offers a fascinating account of this poorly understood Greek city-state, and in particular the distinctive role of women and marriage therein.


Redfield devotes much of the book to placing Locri within a more general account of Greek culture, particularly with the institution of marriage in relation to private property, sexual identity, and the fate of the soul. He begins by considering the annual practice of sending two maidens from old-world Locris, the putative place of origin of the Italian Locrians, to serve in the temple of Athena at Ilion, finding here some key themes of Locrian culture. He goes on to provide a richly detailed overview of the Italian city; in a set of iconographic essays he suggests that marriage was seen in Locri as a life transformation akin to the eternal bliss hoped for after death.


Nothing less than a general reevaluation of classical Greek society in both its political and theological dimensions, The Locrian Maidens is must reading for students and scholars of classics, while remaining accessible and of particular interest to those in women's studies and to anyone seeking a broader understanding of ancient Greece.

Industry Reviews
"The Locrian Maidens actually uncovers something new in the heavily trodden terrain of the classics, and in today's academy that amounts to a rara avis."--Tom Meaney, New Criterion "In this engrossing report on a quarter century of work, James Redfield reconstructs the distinctive culture of Epizephyrian Locri from rubble, rumors, and art to offer an unsuspected model of Greek social organization... The book shows a rare combination of rigorous documentation and theoretical imagination... This is a book of great learning and great charm."--Frederick T. Griffiths, New England Classical Journal

More in Ancient History to the Year 500

Ancient Egypt : The Definitive Visual History - DK

RRP $59.99

$41.25

31%
OFF
The End of Everything : How Wars Descend into Annihilation - Victor D Hanson
World History : From the Ancient World to the Information Age - DK
Discourses and Selected Writings : Penguin Classics - Epictetus
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - Bettany Hughes
Rubicon : The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic - Tom Holland
The Histories : Penguin Classics - Herodotus

RRP $24.99

$18.95

24%
OFF
Ghost Empire - Richard Fidler

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$31.75

SPQR : A History of Ancient Rome - Mary Beard

RRP $27.99

$22.95

18%
OFF
Ancient Rome : The Definitive Visual History - DK

RRP $65.00

$44.25

32%
OFF
Hellenistic Astrology : The Study of Fate and Fortune - Chris Brennan
How the World Made the West : A 4,000-Year History - Josephine Quinn
Papyrus : THE MILLION-COPY GLOBAL BESTSELLER - Irene Vallejo