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Document Details : Title: Feasts, Citizens, and Cultic Democracy in Classical Athens Author(s): EVANS, N.A. Journal: Ancient Society Volume: 34 Date: 2004 Pages: 1-25 DOI: 10.2143/AS.34.0.505233 Abstract : A recent disagreement about the experience of women in classical Greece illustrates well how scholars have been unable to reach a consensus about the larger social meaning of one religious custom, the custom of thusia. The significant point of contention that has arisen between British and French scholars concerns the role that gender played in the distribution of, and access to, meat. The French side argues that women and non-citizens are seen to be on the outside of the politico-religious community with little access to the meat consued at public feasts; men feared the loss of political power that could follow if women were allowed access to the tools of sacrifice. on the British side of the debate, the presence of women is not so categorically excluded, and the 'theology of sacrifice' is seen as 'a domestic understanding of the world and not a political one'. |
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