Panthea’s Sisters: Negotiating East-West Polarities through Gender in Xenophon

Abstract

This paper 1 examines Xenophon's destabilizing of gender polarities in his depiction in the Hellenica of Mania of Dardanus, a widow who rules on behalf of the satrap Pharnabazus in the Persian-controlled Troad. One of the historian's strategies is to shift the attitudes of readers by modeling the response of an authoritative character within the text, and another is to evoke traditional stereotypes associated with Eastern widow rulers, only to upturn them. I argue that Xenophon's gender destabilization in the Eastern context goes hand in hand with his problematizing of the associated Greek binary conception of East/West.

Creating and Contesting Kyniska: The Reception of the First Female Olympic Victor

“…9.7), but it is unclear whether she is an active mediator in this case. See also Baragwanath (2015: 176) for Sparta as ‘other’ in gender relations and thus a useful comparison with Persia for Greek writers. It may be no coincidence that this discussion of Kyniska and manliness follows a comparison between the Persian king and Agesilaos (Xen.…”