Marginals of the Ancient Period

Ancient Greece of the Classical period during the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. was never what one might call a peaceful land. The ancient world was a difficult place to live, and without aid services, anyone unable or unwilling to adapt and provide for themselves their families would not survive long. The lives of refugees while in exile are very poorly documented by contemporary authors. As the first volume of the book series "The Marginals of the Ancient Period", this book examines various classes of information (epigraphic, historical and anecdotal) in order to draw a general picture of how refugees displaced by war chose their destinations, how they were provided for in their temporary homes and how refugee and host populations negotiated the tricky business of living together, while living apart. Using modern frameworks for refugee studies, it will be possible to discuss the experience of refugees and refugee policy in the Classical period in comparison to the modern Western world.

Literature of captivity with fictional representations of slavery is ubiquitous in Greek and Latin novels of the Roman Empire period, typically in the shadow of major protagonists and their heroic narratives. This volume through an interdisciplinary academic lens analyzes multiple ancient texts and narratives of the literary theory, in dialog with medieval and colonial accounts of contemporary slavery. It has been attempted to stress the unique cultural, mythical, philosophical and historical contexts of the ancient literature. The exploration of new reading methodologies has been prioritized that take account of the reception of the literary contexts for their characters. With a fresh perspective, the ancient novels suggest new reading approaches of an integrating study of the literature of slavery resonating across world literature.

A woman in the Classical Greece of the fifth century moved through several pre-defined stages in her life. Each stage was signified biologically by a loss of blood from the woman and by social rituals which serve to highlight the transition into a new stage. The goddess Artemis seems to be active at each of these stages of a woman's development. This volume investigates the positioning and placement of women, both real and mythical, as they progress through these stages. Although it usually seems that the role of women was entirely prescribed by men, with a modern perspective it becomes evident that women who grow and move towards motherhood are active, at some level, in the debate about their role in society, a debate which took place through myths and rituals.