Gender and immortality : heroines in ancient Greek myth and cult / Deborah Lyons.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lyons, Deborah, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek literature--History and criticism.

Greek literature.

Women and literature--Greece.

Women and literature.

Greece.

Immortality in literature.

Women--Mythology--Greece.

Women.

Women--Mythology.

Sex role in literature.

Heroines in literature.

Mythology, Greek.

Cults--Greece.

Cults.

Greece--Religion.

Religion.

Physical Description:

xvii, 269 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [1997]

Summary:

In Gender and Immortality, Deborah Lyons argues for the heroine as a distinct category in ancient Greek religious ideology and daily practice. The heroine, she believes, must be located within a network of relations between male and female, mortal and immortal. Using evidence ranging from Homeric epic to Attic vase painting to ancient travel writing, she attempts to reintegrate the feminine into our picture of Greek notions of the hero. According to Lyons, heroines differ from male heroes in several crucial ways, among which is the ability to cross the boundaries between mortal and immortal. The author further shows that attention to heroines clarifies fundamental Greek ideas of mortal/immortal relationships.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [237]-253) and indexes.

ISBN:

0691011001

OCLC:

34651599