Ancient Women in Modern Media

While the role of women in western society has changed since the time of the great classical eras of Greece and Rome, the heroines of ancient myth remain just as potent to modern audiences as they were for their original creators. Regardless of genre or medium, these women of antiquity retain their power to reinforce, challenge, or outright shatter popular beliefs about the attributes, limitations, and social roles of women. This collection of eight essays examines the legacy of the heroines of antiquity in a variety of contexts, from the page to the stage to the screen, in order to understand why Helen of Troy, the Amazons, and their fellow ladies of myth have remained such vital figures today, and how they have evolved to retain and increase their stature.

The contributors to this volume adopt an array of perspectives in order to do justice to the rich legacy of mythic women. These authors hail from three different continents and specialize in multiple disciplines, including Classical Studies, English, and Gender Studies. These diverse approaches make this book applicable to scholars with a wide variety of skills and interests, and ensure the topic a multifaceted treatment in the tradition of the humanities.


Krishni Burns received her Bachelor’s degree in Classics from Oberlin College and her PhD in Roman Social History from the University at Buffalo. She currently teaches in the Department of Anthropology and Classical Studies at the University of Akron. Her main scholarly interests are women’s lives in Republican Rome, Roman mystery cults and myth in the classical tradition. Her interest in the reception of classical women in modern popular culture dates back to her childhood spent in the fiction section of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

William Duffy is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Humanities, and Classics at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and coordinator of the UTSA Digital Humanities Initiative. Dr Duffy received his PhD in Classics from the University at Buffalo, with a specialization in Greek literature. His research focuses on the reception of ancient heroic myth in antiquity and the modern world, and his work has appeared in Classical World, Oral Tradition, and The International Journal of Comic Art.

"The book, especially part one, will give a refreshing slant on ancient mythic women, [...] [and] offers an alternative and extra dimension to how ancient mythic women are received, particularly in part two, in modern media such as comic books and young adult literature. For others, it will no doubt be a valuable addition to the literature on the reception of antiquity in modern culture. Most importantly, though, it provides a window through which young adults can be introduced to the ancient world on terms with which they are comfortable."

Paul Chrystal Classics for All, 23.05.2017

Dawn Adrienne

Krishni Burns

Joel Christensen

Luiz Guilherme Couto Pereira

W. S. S. Duffy

Jennifer Krantz

Buy This Book

ISBN: 1-4438-8021-3

ISBN13: 978-1-4438-8021-3

Release Date: 9th February 2016

Pages: 145

Price: £41.99

-
+