This thesis examines the portrayal of women in the Histories of Herod at us against the
backdrop of two influences, Greek mythology, and the social customs and thought
pertaining to women in ancient Greek society. Herodotus' Histories are particularly
wide-ranging and, unlike Thucydides' later account of the Peloponnesian War, not
confined to the exclusively political and military spheres. As a result. Herodotus'
female characters appear naturally in the course of the stories he is telling, stories he
has found as the result of his inquiries. Since his researches are so wide-ranging, the
information so acquired comes from many and varied sources, both chronologically
and geographically. In the course of placing the information he has gathered before
his readers or audience, Herodotus has to present it in terms that can be understood
and readily assimilated by those receiving it. It is my contention that in order to
achieve this end he naturally moulds his stories according to two systems of
information with which he and his audience are familiar, that of mythology and that
of the social practices and attitudes of his time concerning women, and that these two
systems of information act as a backdrop against which the stories he has collected are
viewed.
When dealing with information from societies very different from the Greek, Herodotus frequently has occasion to define such information in terms of its
alterity or 'otherness' in comparison with what for him and his audience is accepted
practice. In this way he is able to render strange, alien and foreign customs
comprehensible for his audience by expressing them in terms of what they are not and
for this purpose he uses Greek societal norms as his reference point. Conversely, he
is also able to render stories from foreign lands familiar by recasting his tales using mythological elements well known to his audience, elements which would enjoy
instant recognition in the minds of those receiving the information he is imparting.
For ease in examining the social context against which Herodotus is telling his
stories concerning women, his female characters have been assigned to the categories
of daughter, sister, wife and mother, and in each chapter the customs, attitudes and
beliefs pertaining to such categories in both societal and mythological terms have
been laid out before examining the characters in each category in the text. There is a
final category of Women in Power since the women in this category are an excellent
example of alterity in relation to Greek thought and practice. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/5452 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Delany, Ann Moreton. |
| Contributors | Mackay, E. A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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