Gender and *class in Athenian material and theater culture

This dissertation examines the social dimension of the representation of women in Athenian culture and drama. In moving beyond models of alterity, it argues that the representation of gender was part of a larger social discourse that had as much to do with class relations as with the sex/gender system in Athens. The increasing prominence of women in drama throughout the fifth century is related to growing class antagonism.;Part I addresses a peculiarity in the history of Attic iconography. Archaic and Early Classical vase painting present a vast repertoire of elite activities centered on the Athenian male aristocrat. In the Classical period, however, there is a marked increase in the representation of women engaged in elite activities; funerary sculpture exhibits similarities in its use of female subjects. Against traditional stylistic and gender analyses, this part argues that images of women served as symbols with which to promote economic and civic distinctions between male citizens of different social classes.;Part II explores the representation of women in Athenian drama and literature. Against more recent alterity models, this part proposes a displacement model, which integrates different and opposing views held by the heterogeneous theater audience. It examines tragic choruses and gynecocracy comedies as two examples of displacement. Disempowered female choruses in Euripides could critique the dangerous activities of the elite characters on account of their lack of political authority; Old Comedy similarly puts women to political and economic use. A survey of the rhetoric of gender in fifth-century Athenian sources demonstrates how the category of the feminine helped to define other social categories.;Part III draws upon the discussion of gender in art, drama and literature in a study of scenes of human sacrifice in tragedy. Through a close analysis of the representation of human sacrifice, the victims are shown to offer an expression of class conflict in Athens through their simultaneous symbolization of the wealthy elite and the expendable lower classes. In the conclusion, a comparison between the rhetoric of sacrificial victims and Athenian liturgists further demonstrates the Attic tendency to displace class issues onto gender.