Thetis

• But my work as a scholar of ancient Greek literature has shown me how much harder it was to be a mother in antiquity.
• Thanks in part to their connection to the life cycle, women in ancient Greece were both symbols of mortality and a force to humanize heroes.

Historical lives

• What we know of women’s lives in ancient Greece is generally not good.
• We have uncertain evidence for what lives were like after marriage.
• Most historians agree that child loss was common enough in antiquity to be an expectation rather than a surprise.
• As a parent, however, I am less convinced that high rates of loss led parents to be more distant.

Women in stories

• When people think of the field I study, epic poetry, I suspect they generally think of violent male heroes and victimized women.
• While this image is certainly not wrong, it overlooks other ways that women, and mothers in particular, were crucial to the world of Greek poetry and myth.
• During his brief visit to speak with the dead, he learns that his mother, Anticleia, died of a broken heart over his long absence.
• Heroic mothers helped ancient Greeks define themselves and understand their place in the world, almost always to their own detriment.