Fall/Winter 2006 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

C L A S S I C S
Virginity Revisited
Configurations of the Unpossessed Body
Edited by Bonnie MacLachlan and Judith Fletcher
STUDIES IN GENDER, PHOENIX SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUMES
From Classical Antiquity to the present, virginity
has been closely allied with power: as someone who
chooses a life of celibacy retains mastery over his
or her body. Sexual potency withheld becomes an
energy-reservoir that can ensure independence and
enhance self-esteem, but it can also be harnessed by
public institutions and redirected for the common
good. This was the founding principle of the Vestal
Virgins of Rome and later in the monastic orders
of the middle ages. Mythical accounts of goddesses
and heroines who possessed the ability to recover
their virginity after sexual experience demonstrate a
belief that virginity is paradoxically connected both
with social autonomy and the ability to serve the
human community.
Virginity Revisited is a collection of essays that
examines virginity not as a physical reality but as a
cultural artefact. By situating the topic of virginity
within a range of historical ‘moments’ and using a
variety of methodologies, Virginity Revisited illuminates
how chastity provided a certain agency,
autonomy, and power to women. This is a study of
the positive and negative features of sexual renunciation,
from ancient Greek divinities and mythical
women, in Rome’s Vestal Virgins, in the Christian
martyrs and Mariology in the Medieval and early
Modern period, and in Grace Marks, the heroine
of Margaret Atwood’s novel Alias Grace.
Bonnie MacLachlan is a professor in the Department
of Classics at the University of Western Ontario.
Judith Fletcher is an associate professor in the
Department of Classics at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Mortuary Landscapes of
North Africa
Edited by David L. Stone and Lea M. Stirling
PHOENIX SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUMES
Cemetery and landscape studies have been hallmarks
of North African archaeology for more than one
hundred years. Mortuary Landscapes of North Africa
is the first book to combine these two fields by considering
North African cemeteries within the context
of their wider landscapes. This unique perspective
allows for new interpretations of notions of identity,
community, imperial influence, and sacred space.
Based on a wealth of material research from current
fieldwork, this collection of essays investigates
how North African funerary monuments acted as
regional boundaries, markers of identity and status,
and barometers of cultural change. The essays cover
a broad range in terms of space and time – from
southern Libya to eastern Algeria, and from the
seventh century BCE to the seventh century CE. A
comprehensive introduction explains the importance
of the ‘landscape perspective’ that these studies bring
to North African funerary monuments, while individual
case-studies address such topics as the African
way of death among the Garamantes, the ritual
reasons for the location of certain Early Christian
tombs, Punic burials, Roman cupula tombs, and the
effects of rapid state formation and imperial incorporation
on tomb builders. Unique in both scope
and perspective, this volume will prove invaluable to
a cross-section of archaeological scholars.
David L. Stone is an assistant professor in the
Department of Classics at Florida State University.
Lea M. Stirling is an associate professor in the
Department of Classics at the University of
Manitoba and holds a Canada Research Chair in
Roman Archaeology.
Approx. 220 pp / 6 x 9 / December 2006
Cloth ISBN 0-8020-9013-3 / 978-0-8020-9013-3
£35.00 $55.00 E
Approx. 270 pp / 6 x 9 / November 2006
45 half tones
Cloth ISBN 0-8020-9083-4 / 978-08020-9083-6
£48.00 $75.00 E
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