The Literary Horizon: Portrait of a Priestess, The Darker Sex

This week’s Literary Horizon centers around women throughout history.

Portrait of a Priestess by Joan Breton Connelly

In this sumptuously illustrated book, Joan Breton Connelly gives us the first comprehensive cultural history of priestesses in the ancient Greek world. Connelly presents the fullest and most vivid picture yet of how priestesses lived and worked, from the most famous and sacred of them–the Delphic Oracle and the priestess of Athena Polias–to basket bearers and handmaidens. Along the way, she challenges long-held beliefs to show that priestesses played far more significant public roles in ancient Greece than previously acknowledged.

Connelly builds this history through a pioneering examination of archaeological evidence in the broader context of literary sources, inscriptions, sculpture, and vase painting. Ranging from southern Italy to Asia Minor, and from the late Bronze Age to the fifth century A.D., she brings the priestesses to life–their social origins, how they progressed through many sacred roles on the path to priesthood, and even how they dressed. She sheds light on the rituals they performed, the political power they wielded, their systems of patronage and compensation, and how they were honored, including in death. Connelly shows that understanding the complexity of priestesses’ lives requires us to look past the simple lines we draw today between public and private, sacred and secular.

The remarkable picture that emerges reveals that women in religious office were not as secluded and marginalized as we have thought–that religious office was one arena in ancient Greece where women enjoyed privileges and authority comparable to that of men. Connelly concludes by examining women’s roles in early Christianity, taking on the larger issue of the exclusion of women from the Christian priesthood. This paperback edition includes additional maps and a glossary for student use.

via Amazon

I’ve mentioned before that, as a little girl, I was inspired by women of myth, especially Egyptian myth and Greek myth. Those both led to an interest in both ancient cultures, although Egypt often won out. Still, I have a fondness for Ancient Greece that’s still with me. I’ve always been interested by the role women played in pre-Christian religions, and that’s exactly what Portrait of a Priestess sets out to do.

The New York Times quite likes it, although it mentions a need for maps and a glossary. The New York Times reviewed the hardback, which was released in 2007. Recently, a paperback with those additions was released, which is why I consider it eligible for the Literary Horizon. I hope the additions make it more accessible. My Greek is a little rusty, you might say. Still, it’s a remarkably interesting topic and Connelly seems to be quite passionate about it–I look forward to reading this greatly.

The paperback edition of Portrait of a Priestess was released on October 3.

The Darker Sex: Tales of the Supernatural and Macabre by Victorian Women Writers edited by Mike Ashley

Ghosts, precognition, suicide and the afterlife are all themes in these thrilling stories by Britain and America’s greatest Victorian women, proving their talent for creating dark, sensational, and horrifying tales of the supernatural. This anthology showcases some of the best and most representative work by female writers during this period, including Emily Brontë, Mary Braddon, George Eliot and Edith Nesbit, as well as Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Riddell, Louisa Baldwin, Mary Penn, Violet Quirk, and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. Editor Mike Ashley provides valuable insight into the authors’ lives. Each story still has the ability to shock and frighten and show how Victorian women perfected and developed the Gothic genre.

via Amazon

I don’t read a lot of Victorian writers, and I don’t often go in for short stories, but I’m always trying to widen my horizons. This sounds like a perfect read for October, or a nice gift for friends with a flair for the macabre. I’m easily spooked, but I think I could deal with the horror if its short stories. A note–Brontë’s story is the shortest in the collection.

Despite the fact that The Darker Sex has been released for a while, I could barely find reviews for it. Once again, I must rely on the one that brought it to my attention- Publishers Weekly, which praises Ashley’s usual editing and the better of the stories. It sounds, to be honest, exactly as advertised.

The Darker Sex was released on September 2, instead of the January date Publishers Weekly notes.