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The Reality of Women in the Universe of the Ancient Novel
Edited by María Paz López Martínez, Carlos Sánchez-Moreno Ellart and Ana Belén Zaera García
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 40] 2023
► pp. 127–148

Chapter 8
Warrior women

Between reality and fiction in the papyri of Greek novels

| Universidad de Alicante
| Universidad de Murcia

Women are especially attractive characters in the Greek novels. Some are queens or strategists who even lead armies while some influential women commanded the building of public works and exercised matriarchy. We center on five women engaged in the action described in six papyri. They are powerful, warrior women, involved in their homeland’s political affairs: Parthenope, Themisto, Calligone, Antheia and Thalassia.

Keywords: papyrological fragments, lost Greek novels, powerful women, warrior women, Parthenope, Themisto, Calligone, Antheia and Thalassia
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Material aspects
  • 3.The Samian Parthenope
  • 4.The Pontic Calligone and her encounter with the Amazon Themisto
  • 5.The Islanders Antheia and Thalassía: The novel of Antheia
  • 6.Literary models and realia
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
Published online: 1 December 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.08lop
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