No abstract

This paper offers a case study of some of the Cycladic Islands examining connectivity and insularity between 1000 – 500 BCE. In the Cyclades, evidence of interaction with areas outside of the archipelago and of intra-island connectivity is observable on many of the islands. It will be argued that environmental factors, predominantly low rainfall, may be at least part of the explanation for the adoption of a strategy of reaching out beyond an island’s shores. Cycladic islanders plausibly sought to develop strong networks of affiliation with trading partners from other regions perhaps to serve as buffer zones to rely on during periods of poor food productivity. Compared to Cycladic material, the archaeological evidence of Cretan items found outside Crete is not as robust.  This paper speculatively suggests that Cretans, living in a more fertile environment, did not feel the same need as Cycladic islanders to establish networks of affiliation for purposes of food security.

'Hades Takes a Bride' with a quotation from the New Yorker hints that some patriarchal structures are replicated in the contemporary United States. The study of early Christian Rome reveals how similar narratives can be deployed in different patriarchal contexts. W. explores the narrative that centres a living virgin who has committed herself to Christ, with the deferral of the consummation until after her worldly death. Parents may still react with grief, but the narrative allows virginal Christian women a means to navigate their social liminality by suggesting they are further down the path of conventional social success than might be assumed. Ambrose's writings on virginity are a significant component of W.'s study. As the case studies of the Christian women unfold, it becomes clear that Ambrose provides the most apposite model for comparison with the ideas explored in the ancient Greek context. While other Christian writers are noted throughout, it is clear that many early Christian writers are concerned with the topic of virginity though they agree upon little. Ambrose's critique of Vestal virginity in imperial Rome (p. 135) serves to reveal a motivation for the structure of W.'s monograph: the bridal metaphor is not the only way to navigate the challenges of virginal liminality, but it is not deployed in an overt fashion in early imperial Rome. An important difference in the function of the bridal metaphor is the situation of the bride. In ancient Greece, the bridal metaphor applies in cases where a young woman dies prior to fulfilling one of the crucial social steps of marriage or bearing children. For a Greek woman to attain an Otherworldly bridegroom, she must carry her liminal status across the threshold to death. For an Early Christian woman the challenge of attaining an Otherworldly bridegroom is combined with the continuation of the woman's life as a dedicated virgin. This is an engaging monograph, with much cogent argumentation. The relegation of much of the Greek and Latin to the chapter endnotes may be a frustrating feature for scholars looking to delve into the nuances of diction and phrasing, but this also seems to be largely in keeping with the current style of the publisher Routledge. There are certainly some connections between the bridal metaphor in ancient Greece and early Christian Rome, but the lasting impression is one of the tired ubiquity of patriarchal markers that limit women's ambitions and successes to such narrow parameters that death is sometimes made preferable to life. By allowing these cases to stand as discrete rather than interrelated, W. positions readers to appreciate how the details can change, but the dangers of virginity as liminality remain the same.