L.'s introduction lays out the subject and purpose of her study clearly and succinctly. She proposes to ‘bring the tools of anthropology to an examination of the relationship between women, men, and gifts in Greek myth and literature’ with a view to broadening ‘our understanding of the gender ideology – as well as some of the central texts – of archaic and classical Greece’ (p. 6). She is particularly interested in the tension between women as objects and agents of exchange as well as that between the ideal of autarkeia and the ever-present need to import wives from outside the home. These tensions make women and gifts ‘a particularly deadly combination’ in the Greek imagination (p. 1). L. does not, however, set out to present a diachronic study of how gender was negotiated in reality, but rather a synchronic exploration of some persistent ideologies of gender as they appear in Greek mythology (p. 3).
In Chapter 1, ‘Gender and Exchange’, L. introduces ‘the methodological and conceptual underpinnings’ of her study, which are derived from a sampling of anthropological case studies (pp. 8–9). From this cross-cultural perspective she sketches in broad terms the ideological implications of marriage practices, the status of women, the gendering of labour and wealth, and the rules governing how that wealth should (or should not) be exchanged and by whom. The following chapters apply these anthropological models to Greek mythology. Chapter 2, ‘Marriage and the Circulation of Women’, sets the stage. Here L. considers the licit and illicit products and paths of exchange between men and women. In Chapter 3, ‘Women in Homeric Exchange’, she reviews the difficulties associated with women as commodities through the progressive breakdown of reciprocity in the Iliad. Chapter 4, ‘Women and Exchange in the Odyssey: from Gift to Givers’, explores the anxieties apparent in the Odyssey when women do play an active part in gift exchange. Chapter 5, ‘Tragic Gifts’, expands on the discussion of the Odyssey by demonstrating the consistent failure of exchanges between women and men (particularly wives and husbands) in tragedy. But the apprehension L. sees in male/female exchange is not total. In her final chapter, ‘A Family Romance’, she examines an exception to the rule, the relationship between brother and sister, in which the ‘model of reciprocity … appears … positive, even optimistic’ (p. 110).
L.'s examination of individual literary texts benefits significantly from her discussion and application of traditional models of anthropological analysis. For example, the crisis of reciprocity that moves the narrative of the Iliad gains depth through L.'s adaptation of Sahlin's definitions of generalised, balanced and negative reciprocity (pp. 12–13 and 57–63). By categorising certain kinds of gifts as ‘male’ or ‘female’ according to anthropological norms (pp. 16–19 and 25–9), L. can demonstrate that although Odysseus himself is frequently benefited by women when given appropriate, ‘female’ gifts (particularly objects of clothing), several peripheral male characters come to horrible ends when the gendered protocol of exchange is transgressed (pp. 66–75). A similar sensitivity to the gendered division of labour (pp. 14–15) reveals how completely Hesiod has suppressed the domestic productivity of women (pp. 37–45), whose very presence questions and threatens his cherished ideal of autarkeia (pp. 46–52). Such cross-cultural precepts also underscore the extent to which tragic representations of male/female exchange in the Agamemnon and Trachiniai are pervaded by an inversion and perversion of the accepted rules (pp. 78–86). The thorough application of anthropology sets L.'s study apart from other recent treatments of women and exchange, as she herself remarks (p. 2), and constitutes one of the work's most notable contributions to the field.
L.'s use of anthropology is not without problems, however. The modern case studies adduced encompass entire cultural systems and are consequently based on a wide range of evidence. Her own analysis of ancient Greece is largely (though not completely) restricted to literary texts about mythology. Mythology can tell us a great deal about ideology, but not without extensive supporting evidence. When L.'s discussion moves beyond the texts and speaks rather to Greek society at large, her own much narrower focus proves insufficient. I tread lightly here. L. does not claim to present a full historical picture (p. 3). Nevertheless, several of her arguments could benefit from a deeper engagement with a broader range of more quotidian sources. Her contention that Greek wives felt like foreigners within their own homes is a case in point (pp. 87–90). L. cites several women from the tragic stage who express the sentiment or have it said of them, but like many mythical heroines, each is also an actual immigrant to the land she now inhabits. Alcestis has relocated from nearby Iolcos, while Clytemnestra, Deianeira, Medea and Procne are from much further afield. Only in the case of Medea is this fact noted (p. 88). The exceptional circumstances of the mythic stories muddy the ideological waters. Some additional evidence from outside mythology would go a long way to proving a feeling of alienation in the everyday lives of those whose ideologies L. hopes to illuminate.
L.'s last chapter is, in this reviewer's opinion, her weakest. Her examination of gift exchange between siblings prompts the conclusion that brothers and sisters enjoyed a strong and uniquely positive relationship (pp. 91–2, 100 and 110). Here too there is need for a broader base of source material, but in this case even the mythological evidence must be stretched to substantiate her claim. Antigone famously makes the case for the high valuation of siblings (pp. 92–4). Eriphyle (p. 91; see also pp. 30–3) and Althaia (p. 98) act on a similar instinct when they place the interests of their brothers above husbands and children. But such stories hardly point to a relationship whose ‘outcome is usually positive’ (p. 91). Indeed, allowing natal bonds to override those formed through marriage (with or without gifts) can prove as deadly as any of L.'s other male/female exchanges. Examples that hint at an idealised ‘sibling romance’ are equally ambiguous. Hippolytus may choose a kind of sister (Artemis) over marriage (Aphrodite), but the family in question is now metaphorical at best (p. 104). The myth of Electra and Orestes displaces marriage with sibling affection only if Electra's marriage to Pylades is discounted as ‘belong[ing] to the world of heroic genealogy’ (p. 106). At the same time, L. must seek out much later authorities to support her conclusion. Amphitryon is compelled to avenge Alcmene's brother before their marriage (pp. 98–9). Priam is saved by his sister after Heracles' sack of Troy (p. 101; see also pp. 63–4). Yet neither story is attested before the imperial period and so cannot properly inform the ideologies of archaic and classical Greece.
There is a small number of missing or incorrect references to classical texts: Xenophon's Oikonomikos (p. 47), Plato's Charmides (p. 51), Aristotle's Poetics (p. 92) and Euripides' Iphigeneia among the Taurians (p. 109). On occasion L. fails to italicise foreign words or titles (pp. 64, 108, 114 n. 11 and 117 n. 63). More distracting is L.'s use of multiple conventions for parenthetical citations. Titles are frequently abbreviated (Od. 19.525 [p. 23]), but just as often they are spelled out (Odyssey 11.427–34 [p. 86]). Sometimes a comma is placed between the abbreviated name of an author and the title (Aesch., Eumenides 1018 [p. 88]), sometimes not (Eur. Alkestis 532–33 [p. 88]). None of these variations will confuse nor do they (or the other errata) substantively detract from L.'s astute and rewarding application of anthropology to the presentation of women in Greek mythology.
