A woman's virginity is granted almost ubiquitous significance in patriarchal societies, positioned as a natural state that will be left behind as she fulfils her social obligations to marry and bear children. The essence of the construct is the equation of virginity with a state of liminality. W.'s study explores how women and their families understood the challenges of that liminality.
This monograph is an extension of W.'s 2017 dissertation. It combines the study of two discrete historical periods and cultures – ancient Greece and early Christian Rome – and will be of interest to scholars seeking to appreciate better the connections often drawn between virgins and brides in the context of the ancient world. Ostensibly a bride is a palpable signifier of the tipping point of the liminal situation, waking as a virgin and falling asleep as a wife. W. builds the discussion of the bridal metaphor through an examination of case studies. The core thesis – that virginal women have not fulfilled societal expectations, but can overcome that failure by acquiring a divine groom – is compelling.
This monograph is structured in two parts, navigating the perception of the virgin women in Part 1 and the perception of their parents in Part 2. This structure emphasises the parallels between the two contexts, although this is not necessarily part of W.'s broader aims: ‘I do not propose a genealogical relationship between the two metaphors’ (p. 7). It is worth noting that each case stands on its own merits due to W.'s methodology. A focus on an anthropological approach allows W. to sidestep some of the inevitable challenges when navigating women's experiences mediated through male-authored sources. W. sets up the framework in Part 1, drawing attention to the societal pressures that young Greek women faced to succeed within the narrow scope of marriage and childbirth and the understandable fears associated with the narratives for both of these markers of adulthood. An important example of W.'s approach is to apply modern terminology to ensure an interpretation that is not beholden to the rhetorical or explanatory frameworks of the sources. One salient example is the discussion of conversion disorder as a way of meaningfully deepening the ancient concept of hysteria (pp. 24ff.). This approach assumes that despite shifts in language, human experience is fundamentally similar across time. While some may quibble with this, it is nevertheless refreshing to encounter an interpretation that extends upon the classical fascination with M. Douglas's seminal Purity and Danger (1st ed. 1966). The anthropological approach is more apparent in the case study of ancient Greece, but once established, it influences the early Christian study.
In a more daring assertion, W. proposes to examine virginity more in terms of the social implications of virginity than the religious ones (p. 4). Inevitably, however, a discussion of the religious context is important, especially as the early Christian fathers seek to define the significance or challenges of vows of chastity in terms of doctrine. In pursuit of the bridal metaphor, early Christian scholars may find their interest piqued to return to the writings of others beside Ambrose to consider comparanda.
As a bride of Hades, a Greek virgin is transformed into a Persephone. W. argues that this transformation tempers the dual blow of parental grief and the failure of their daughter to fulfil social expectations. A union with Hades replaces the mortal marriage. There is an emphasis on Persephone's childlessness with Hades that W. draws attention to on a number of occasions (pp. 44, 47), but this is somewhat problematic if we broaden the scope slightly to allow for the connection of Persephone/Demeter as the mother of Dionysus.
W.'s consideration of the Greek parent's perspective centres on a range of categories that delineate and draw attention to the ambiguity inherent in liminality, such as whether the death happened ‘at or just before marriage, death instead of marriage, or marriage turned into funeral’ (p. 99). This sets up a promising set of states that are then filtered through two ideas, the ‘bride in death’ (p. 100) and the ‘bride of death’ (p. 111). Embedded in this section is a consideration of the history of scholarship on the death of maidens, which will be useful orientation for students. The decision to end the chapter ‘Hades Takes a Bride’ with a quotation from the New Yorker hints that some patriarchal structures are replicated in the contemporary United States.
The study of early Christian Rome reveals how similar narratives can be deployed in different patriarchal contexts. W. explores the narrative that centres a living virgin who has committed herself to Christ, with the deferral of the consummation until after her worldly death. Parents may still react with grief, but the narrative allows virginal Christian women a means to navigate their social liminality by suggesting they are further down the path of conventional social success than might be assumed.
Ambrose's writings on virginity are a significant component of W.'s study. As the case studies of the Christian women unfold, it becomes clear that Ambrose provides the most apposite model for comparison with the ideas explored in the ancient Greek context. While other Christian writers are noted throughout, it is clear that many early Christian writers are concerned with the topic of virginity though they agree upon little. Ambrose's critique of Vestal virginity in imperial Rome (p. 135) serves to reveal a motivation for the structure of W.'s monograph: the bridal metaphor is not the only way to navigate the challenges of virginal liminality, but it is not deployed in an overt fashion in early imperial Rome.
An important difference in the function of the bridal metaphor is the situation of the bride. In ancient Greece, the bridal metaphor applies in cases where a young woman dies prior to fulfilling one of the crucial social steps of marriage or bearing children. For a Greek woman to attain an Otherworldly bridegroom, she must carry her liminal status across the threshold to death. For an Early Christian woman the challenge of attaining an Otherworldly bridegroom is combined with the continuation of the woman's life as a dedicated virgin.
This is an engaging monograph, with much cogent argumentation. The relegation of much of the Greek and Latin to the chapter endnotes may be a frustrating feature for scholars looking to delve into the nuances of diction and phrasing, but this also seems to be largely in keeping with the current style of the publisher Routledge. There are certainly some connections between the bridal metaphor in ancient Greece and early Christian Rome, but the lasting impression is one of the tired ubiquity of patriarchal markers that limit women's ambitions and successes to such narrow parameters that death is sometimes made preferable to life. By allowing these cases to stand as discrete rather than interrelated, W. positions readers to appreciate how the details can change, but the dangers of virginity as liminality remain the same.
