https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/403 Entrées d’index fr 0 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/399 The famous dedication by Xenokrateia to the river god Kephisos and other divinities not far from the city of Athens in c. 400 BC (NM 2756; IG I3 987; IG II2 4547) is a rare example of a sizeable, public ego-document by a citizen woman. Close reading of the iconography of the votive relief, of the dedicatory epigram and the inscribed offering list, and comparison with other private foundations allow reconstructing Xenokrateia’s sense of her identity and the religious, intellectual and economic competences she must have had to bring this dedication about. As a literate, self-confident and pious Athenian citizen, mother, widow and heiress, she spent on estimation several hundred drachmas on her dedication, pace the law quoted at Is. 10.10. The plot of land involved was either her own property or a place already sacred to Kephisos and the Nymphs, to which she added her own dedication. For the latter possibility, a double relief dedicated by Kephisodotos to the hero Echelos and other deities (NM 1783) provides additional evidence. Xenokrateia’s dedication is exceptional for the detailed, qualitative analysis it allows, but it is not exceptional in quantitative terms: numerous dedications by women show them using similar competences. This approach to the evidence, initiated in recent scholarship, may open new windows on women’s agency in classical Athens. mar., 14 juin 2022 08:42:24 +0200 jeu., 16 mars 2023 10:02:52 +0100 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/399 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/636 This essay argues that character development and self-understanding in Menander’s recognition plots are reserved for men characters: women characters show resolve, but do not develop. Menander’s recognition plot is thus gendered – most observably in Sikyonioi, the only play to show recognitions of an unrelated man and woman in the same play. In this play, a young woman, Philoumene (kidnapped at an early age), finds her father, while a mercenary soldier, Stratophanes, also discovers his true natal family and new role as an Athenian citizen; they marry, and Stratophanes’ brother Moschion loses out. Philoumene protects her respectability, but is otherwise passive and never gains control over her own body. Once recognized by her father, she is engaged to Stratophanes, and her adventure ends. Stratophanes, by contrast, must overcome threats to his finances, identity, and love affair, developing into a responsible citizen. For him, the recognition plot is an adventure that does not end when he finds his parents. Sikyonioi also demonstrates that not everyone wins in the recognition plot: Moschion loses sexual object, sense of self, and status a sole heir. He is forced to develop through the limitations on his privilege. Moreover, the erotic competition highlights the passivity of Philoumene, who is not active participant in a love triangle, but prize. Because Sikyonioi highlights both gender disparity in the recognition plot and the positive and negative repercussions of the plot for male rivals, it is a crucial locus for anyone interested in gender relations in Menander. mar., 14 juin 2022 08:59:29 +0200 jeu., 16 mars 2023 09:06:15 +0100 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/636