Women at War in the Classical World by Paul Chrystal

Paul Chrystal's Women at War in the Classical World is a useful overview of how women experienced warfare in the Classical World. He emphasizes that no matter where and when the warfare has occured, women were, and are, always involved. Chrystal primarily discusses the women involved in the wars and traditions of warfare of Greece and Rome, though he does address women of other ancient cultures in the introduction.

The book is usefully divided by time period and geographic location, with relatively short chapters focused on one topic or a few related topics. This makes it an effective introduction for students of the Classical World on a topic that is little handled in most textbooks of the period.

read full review @ UNRV

‘Sex and the Constitution’

Geoffrey R. Stone, author of Sex & the Constitution, guest blogs at the Washington Post, discussing the attitude of Ancient Greeks to sex:

I thought it might it interesting in this piece to elaborate a bit on that observation and to give you at least a glimpse of that world. The following is a brief excerpt from the chapter in “Sex and the Constitution” on “The Ancient World” 

From the sixth to the fourth century B.C., Greek culture attained its most impressive achievements in literature, philosophy, politics, science and the arts. The Greeks of this era generally eschewed the legal enforcement of moral or religious notions of “right sexual conduct.” Classical Greek morality and law focused not on sexual sin, but on whether an individual’s conduct was harmful to others. To the ancient Greeks, eros was a primal force that permeated all facets of life.

read entire blog post here @ the Washington Post

About the Book:

Beginning his volume in the ancient and medieval worlds, Geoffrey R. Stone demonstrates how the Founding Fathers, deeply influenced by their philosophical forebears, saw traditional Christianity as an impediment to the pursuit of happiness and to the quest for human progress. Acutely aware of the need to separate politics from the divisive forces of religion, the Founding Fathers crafted a constitution that expressed the fundamental values of the Enlightenment.