NO WOMAN NO WAR: WOMEN'S

PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT

GREEK WARFARE*

By

p a s i l o m a n

Greek women's participation in warfare, as opposed to women as

victims ofwar, has received surprisingly little attention from classicists

and ancient historians. Some scholars, such as Schaps,

1

Barry,

2

and

Graf,

3

have discussed certain individual aspects ofwomen's role in war.

The topic, however, has yet to be covered fully. Furthermore, previous

work on this issue has tended to undervalue the role and e€ectiveness of

women's participation in war. This article will demonstrate that Greek

women ful®lled valuable tasks in times of war, both at home and on

foreign campaigns. Before exploring the various ways in which women

helped their men in war e€orts, however, a briefstudy ofwomen's

general attitude towards war ± or the literary image given in this regard ±

will act as an introduction.

What we know about Greek women's attitude towards war comes

mostly through male writers. We do, however, possess some writings by

Greek women, which give an indication ofhow ± at least some ± women

felt about war and soldiers. The texts being referred to here are a few

poems by Hellenistic women poets, namely Anyte and Nossis.

Two ofthe extant poems by Anyte deal with heroic death on the

battle®eld:

Death took you in your prime [. . .]

dying, you brought dark griefto your mother Pheidia.

But the poem on this stone above you sings

of how you died doing battle for your beloved fatherland.

4

Greece & Rome, Vol. 51, No. 1, April 2004

* An earlier version ofthis paper was presented at the Annual Meeting ofPostgraduates in

Ancient History (AMPAH), on 15

th

March 2003 at the University of Nottingham. I am grateful for

the numerous helpful comments made by the participants at the event. Many thanks also for Jim

Roy and the editors of Greece and Rome for reading and commenting on various drafts of this article.

Any mistakes that may remain are, ofcourse, mine alone.

1

D. M. Schaps, `The Women ofGreece in Wartime', Class. Phil. 77 (1982), 193±213.

2

W. D. Barry, `RoofTiles and Urban Violence in the Ancient World', GRBS 37 (1996), 55±74.

3

F. Graf, `Women, War, and Warlike Divinities', ZPE 55 (1984), 245±54.

4

Anyte, 5 [Snyder] = Anth. Pal. 7.724, translation by J. M. Snyder, The Woman and the Lyre.

Women writers in Classical Greece and Rome (Carbondale and Edwardsville, 1989).

The Lydian dust holds this Amyntor, son ofPhilip,

who touched iron-hard battle with his hands many times.

Nor did grievous sickness send him to the House ofNight,

but he perished holding his round shield over his

comrade-in-arms.

5

It is clear that the author ofthe two poems quoted above thought highly

ofmen who were willing to sacri®ce their lives for their country. In a

third poem Anyte depicts an epitaph erected to a horse that had died in a

battle.

6

All ofthese three poems separately, and especially taken

together, give the indication that Anyte glori®ed war.

Nossis, the second Hellenistic woman poet known to have written

about war, was equally full of admiration for men who fought bravely:

The Bruttian men cast these shields o€ their doomed shoulders,

struck by the hands ofswift-®ghting Locrians.

They celebrate their courage, resting in the temples ofthe gods,

nor do they miss the arms ofthe cowards whom they left.

7

The image given by the two woman poets is a fairly traditional one; they

approve ofbravery in war and are supportive oftheir men's military

actions, thus they seem to approve ofwar itself, but there is no

suggestion that women would take any active part in warfare themselves.

The same message can be seen in much better known texts ± written by

men ± about women's attitude towards war.

For example, ifthere is any truth in Herodotus's account ofthe

stoning ofLycides, who supported a peace settlement in 479 bce, and

the consequent lynching ofhis family by Athenian women, it would

appear that women were not paci®st by nature; on the contrary, they

were capable ofvoicing strong support for war.

8

In general, women are

often reported mourning the defeat or celebrating the victory with their

men, as opposed to being grateful for peace per se, indicating that they

had supported their men's action all along.

9

Aristophanes's comedy Lysistrata has been used as a tool in various

anti-war debates, as its central character Lysistrata and her fellow Greek

women have been seen as paci®sts and anti-war protesters.

10

Yet, it can

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

35

5

Anyte, 6 [Snyder] = Anth. Pal. 7.232, translation by J. M. Snyder (n. 4).

6

Anyte, 8 [Snyder] = Anth. Pal. 7.208.

7

Nossis, 11 [Snyder] = Anth. Pal. 6.132, translation by J. M. Snyder (n. 4).

8

Herodotus, 9.5.

9

E.g. Herodotus, 5.87; Xenophon, Hellenica 6.4.16; cf. Schaps (n. 1), 196.

10

Most recently this idea was used by the humanitarian movement `Lysistrata Project', famous

for its readings of Aristophanes's Lysistrata around the world on 3

rd

March 2003 in an attempt to

stop the invasion ofIraq. For the `Lysistrata Project', visit http://www.lysistrataproject.com.

be justi®ably argued that Aristophanes's female characters are not, in

fact, paci®sts per se. They did, ofcourse, want the war to be stopped, but

this was not for humanitarian or ideological reasons. What drove

Lysistrata to initiate the sex strike, with the view that this would force

the men to end the war, was her wish to bring her husband back home.

She, like her female friends, missed her husband, felt lonely and

unimportant, and most ofall she was sexually unsatis®ed.

11

Indeed,

such was the sexual desire amongst the women that when Lysistrata

introduced the idea ofblackmailing their husbands to bring about peace

by abstaining from sex, a number of them initially refused, arguing that

they preferred to let the war carry on than to become celibate.

12

So

much for paci®sm, then. Clearly Aristophanes's female characters did

not object to war in principle; they were simply sick and tired ofbeing

ignored by their men.

In any case, it is questionable whether Aristophanes's Lysistrata can

be used as a guide on Greek women's attitude towards war. After all, its

characters and events are ®ctional. The women in Aristophanes's

Lysistrata are, however, worthy ofa further note because oftheir

transgressive nature. They break barriers by taking direct action in the

male sphere of(military-) politics. They even seize, and then hold the

Acropolis by force.

13

Given the ®ctional nature ofits characters and

events, this play will not be discussed further here.

Ancient authors often portray Spartan women as ®ercely patriotic and

admirers ofbravery on the battle®elds. Plutarch, for example, recalls a

story ofa Spartan mother who sent all her ®ve sons to war. Afterwards,

she is said to have waited anxiously for news of the battle. When

someone ®nally returned from the battle®eld and told her that she had

lost all her sons, she yelled angrily at the messenger that this was not the

news she had been waiting for: she wanted to know who had won the

battle. She calmed down once informed that Sparta had won; this

apparently also made her accept the loss ofher sons without grief.

14

According to Plutarch, the physical training that Spartan girls and

women underwent was designed to prepare them to defend themselves,

their children, and their country.

15

Yet, it appears that they were not, in

fact, trained to ®ght actual battles, nor are they indeed ever portrayed as

taking part in military campaigns.

16

But, there was a group ofwomen

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

36

11

Aristophanes, Lysistrata 99±118.

12

Aristophanes, Lysistrata 124±36.

13

Aristophanes, Lysistrata e.g. 240f., 452, 676.

14

Plutarch, Moralia 241c7.

15

Plutarch, Moralia 227d12.

16

S. B. Pomeroy, Spartan Women (New York, 2002), 16.

that the Greeks widely believed to have broken the martial mould: the

Amazons.

17

However, a sceptical modern scholar cannot take the

Amazons seriously as historical ®gures; they belong to the realm of

legends and ®ction.

Admittedly, there are a few modern scholars who believe in the

Amazons, or at least in the possibility that other similar tribe(s) with

warrior women would have existed, making it possible ± in their eyes ±

that the Amazon myth is based on reality.

18

These scholars, however,

have yet to come up with evidence that would prove beyond doubt that

Amazons or anything remotely similar really ever existed. Most scholars

are cautious about making any claims for the historicity of such warrior

women.

19

In fact, some doubt concerning the Amazons existed already

in Antiquity. Plutarch lists a number ofscholars who did not believe in

the Amazons.

20

Strabo claims that these stories are `beyond belief'.

21

And the fact that Arrian felt the need to justify his belief that the

Amazons had once existed, though no longer in his own time, also

implies that some doubt concerning the existence ofthe Amazons was

present already in Antiquity.

22

Although the Amazons almost certainly never existed, they were,

nevertheless, an important part ofancient beliefand the myths were very

popular in Antiquity, especially in Classical Athens.

23

It is, therefore,

worth exploring brie¯y why the Greeks kept repeating various stories

about the Amazons, ifno such tribe ofwarrior women ever existed.

Clearly, as Blundell has argued, one ofthe reasons why the Amazons

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

37

17

On the Amazons see, for example, Herodotus, 4.110±17; Arrian, Anabasis 4.15, 7.13;

Xenophon, Anabasis, 4.4.16; Diodorus, 17.77.1±3; Curtius, 6.5.24±32; Aristophanes, Lysistrata,

678±9. For a good modern overview ofthe Amazon myth, as well as the reasons behind its immense

popularity in Classical Athens, see S. Blundell, Women in Ancient Greece (London, 1995), 58±62.

18

In 1997, Davis-Kimball wrote a short article in which she claims that such a tribe existed in c.

200 bce±200 ce, near the area ofthe modern-day Russian town Pokrovka, close to the Kazakhstan

border. Davis-Kimball based her argument on burial ®nds (swords, daggers etc.) and the bowed

legs ofa 13- or 14-year-old girl, which according to her proves she rode horses (J. Davis-Kimball,

`Warrior Women ofthe Eurasian Steppes', Archaeology 50 (1997), 44±8). Yet, the weapons could

have been placed in the female graves for some unknown ritual purpose, as Davis-Kimball admits

some scholars believe (47). The other evidence ± which she incidentally holds as the ®rmest proof±

that ofthe bowed legs ofa young girl, seems rather ¯imsy too. Are we really to believe that not only

women but also girls as young as 13 fought in battles on horseback simply because one girl evidently

had bowed legs? Even ifthe legs ofthat one girl were bowed because she rode horses, it does not by

any means prove that she actually took part in warfare.

19

W. B. Tyrrell, Amazons. A Study in Athenian Mythmaking (Baltimore and London, 1984),

23-5.

20

Plutarch, Alexander 46.

21

Strabo, 11.5.3.

22

Arrian, Anabasis 7.13.

23

The Amazons were a source ofinspiration and a common theme not only for literary authors

(poets, orators, geographers, and historians), but also for sculptors, painters, and other artists

(Blundell (n. 17), 61). Most famously they appear on the West-side metopes of the Athenian

Parthenon on the Acropolis (Tyrrell (n. 19), 19±21).

myth was such a favoured topic among Greek authors and artists was

the fact that they were used as an archetype of the defeated barbarian.

24

The answer must also lie in the complete role reversal of`Amazon

society', and what that was able to teach the Greeks. Being everything

that the Greek women were not supposed to be, the Amazons, who were

beaten by Greek men, acted as `negative role models'.

25

So, among other

things, the Amazon myth helped to reinforce the ideology that in a

civilized Greek society women were expected to marry and let their men

do the politics and the ®ghting.

26

We have seen that the prevalent literary image ofGreek women

represents them as patriotic, but largely passive, supporters oftheir

men's military actions. In what follows, however, it will be demonstrated

that the Greek women actually had many active roles in warfare. The

discussion is divided into two parts: the ®rst part will illustrate that

Greek women often participated in defending their cities and commu-

nities; the second part challenges the widespread modern assumption

that women had no role in foreign military campaigns.

Women at Home

When Greek cities faced an imminent attack or were under a siege,

women often provided invaluable moral support and encouragement to

the men defending their homes.

27

Indeed, surely the mere fact that the

men had their mothers, sisters, wives, lovers, and daughters in the cities

actually motivated them to ®ght. Occasionally the military leaders made

the threat posed to the families explicit, as they spurred their soldiers to

®ght. For example, Lyciscus, the Acarnanian envoy at Sparta in 211

bce, spoke to his soldiers thus: `So the Romans are carrying o€ the

women and children to su€er, ofcourse, what those must su€er who fall

into the hands ofaliens.'

28

In addition to wanting to save one's family,

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

38

24

Blundell (n. 17), 62. For the Greeks defeating the Amazons, see for example Homer, lliad

6.186.

25

Blundell (n. 17), 62.

26

Much more could be said ofthe Amazons myth(s) as they are multi-layered ± in addition to

things military, they deal with religious, ethnic, gender, and marital aspects of life ± and therefore

there will have been many di€erent reasons for the Greeks to use the stories, but these other aspects

are not ofimmediate interest for the current study. On these various topics, see more in Tyrrell

(n. 19), 125±8 and Blundell (n. 17), 61±2.

27

Schaps (n. 1), 211.

28

Polybius, 9.39.3: translation by W. R. Paton (London, 1923); cf. Polybius, 3.109.7; Thucy-

dides, 7.68.

every soldier, no doubt, wanted to appear brave and successful in the

eyes of his wife and/or mistress(es). Consider, for example, the words of

Archidamus, the son ofAgesilaus, the Spartan king: `Fellow citizens, let

us now prove ourselves brave men and thus be able to look people in the

face . . . let us cease to feel shame before our wives and children and

elders and strangers, in whose eyes we used once to be the most highly

honoured ofall the Greeks.'

29

Spartan women, of course, were infamous for their lack of tolerance

for cowardly men, whether husbands or sons.

30

They are said to have

sent letters to their sons ®ghting in the battle®elds, encouraging them to

be brave or die.

31

Plutarch reports that a Spartan mother gave her son

two alternatives as he left for war: he could return home with the shield

she gave him, or he could return home on the shield, that is, dead.

32

Some Spartan mothers are even reported to have killed their sons ifthey

were suspected to be cowards, for example, if they returned home alive

after a Spartan defeat, which, of course, showed that they did not ®ght

until the end but retreated instead.

33

Enjoying the support of one's family must have been important for

Greek soldiers, but they would have doubtless required some reassur-

ance that the gods were on their side too, or at least not against them. It

is worth asking, therefore, what role women played in rituals surround-

ing warfare. Given that women conducted many important religious

duties in general, it is very surprising that the evidence, as studied and

presented by Graf, does not indicate that women had any role in the

rituals surrounding warfare: `They [women] did not participate in the

prayers and sacri®ces before and during the departure of the army.'

34

Yet, stories of female involvement in warfare were, at the very least, used

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

39

29

Xenophon, Hellenica 7.1.30: translation by C. L. Brownson (London, 1921). According to

Xenophon, Archidamus spoke these words while leading the Spartans against the Arcadians in 368,

hence this does not re¯ect on town defence per se. However, despite this or indeed because ofit, this

example just highlights the motivational factor of women; their in¯uence was felt even on foreign

campaigns, never mind at home. On fear of appearing cowardly, see also, for example, Homer, Iliad

6.440f.

30

On this subject, see Pomeroy (n. 16), 8, 57±60, 152 with n. 40.

31

Plutarch, Moralia 241a3, 241d10±11.

32

Plutarch, Moralia 241f16. For many more similar quotes on Spartan women see Plutarch,

Moralia 240±241a20. Persian women are also said to have hated cowards; they allegedly demanded

that Cyrus' soldiers be brave and ®ght instead ofretreat (Plutarch, Moralia 246).

33

Plutarch, Moralia 241b5; Pomeroy (n. 16), 156 n. 64.

34

Graf(n. 3), 245. However, Athenaeus does recall a story ofCorinthian prostitutes taking part

in religious petitions and supplications in order to prevent Persian invasion (Athenaeus, 13.573c).

Perhaps we ought not to be too categorical, therefore, in denying any female involvement in rituals

surrounding warfare.

in explaining the origins ofvarious cults.

35

Since Graf's article on

women, religion, and warfare is thorough and on the whole convincing,

I have only one general remark to add to conclusions given there. As is

well known, women had important religious roles in the everyday life of

a Greek polis; for the peace of mind of the soldiers, therefore, it must

have been important to know that women continued to take care ofthese

responsibilities, even ifthey had nothing directly to do with war. For the

current debate it may be worth highlighting that the religious roles

reserved for women included many tasks surrounding funerals and the

cult ofthe tomb.

36

War, obviously, produces numerous bodies to be

buried. How far the Greeks were able to follow the funeral rituals at

times ofcrisis is not known, but every e€ort to this end would certainly

have been made.

37

Giving moral and spiritual support was important, yet women were

involved in ancient warfare in many other ways too. It was relatively

common, for instance, for women to aid the armies indirectly by helping

to ®nance them. Women are seen donating money and jewellery for the

common good. This would mostly have been on a voluntary basis.

38

There were times, however, when women were compelled to contribute

to war ®nancially. This was the case, for example, in 146/5 bce, when

Diaeus, leader ofthe Achaean League, ordered all the wealthy

Achaeans, women included, to ®nance the Achaean War against

Sparta and Rome.

39

It could also be a woman who forced other

people to pay the armies; the wife of Nabis, the Spartan king, for

example, was infamous for her cruelty in collecting money.

40

The wives,

sisters, and daughters ofexiled men often lost their property to the

opposition and thus unwittingly ®nanced warfare.

41

Women would, no doubt, have been responsible for much of the food

production for the armies; this was probably the case on foreign

campaigns, but certainly so when defending a siege of a city or a

village.

42

When most ofthe Plataeans, for instance, ¯ed to Athens

during the Peloponnesian War, 400 men stayed to withstand the

siege, and 110 women were left to cook for them. The Spartan

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

40

35

Graf, (n. 3), 245€.; cf. D. Ogden, Greek Bastardy in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods

(Oxford, 1996), 134±5.

36

R. Garland, Religion and the Greeks (London, 1994), 68, 73, cf. 30, 35.

37

Polyaenus, 8.70 for Cyrenean women burying the war dead.

38

E.g. Polybius, 1.72.5; cf. Diodorus, 32.9 on Carthaginian women's jewellery.

39

Polybius, 38.15.6€.

40

Polybius, 18.17; cf. Diodorus, 22.5.5.

41

E.g. Polybius, 24.7.3.

42

Barry (n. 2), 68; contra on foreign wars Schaps (n. 1), 208.

women, too, are witnessed distributing food and drinks for their men in

war. And Polyaneus recalls Cyrenean women preparing food for their

city's defenders.

43

Preparing food is obviously not a military task as

such. Yet, ensuring supplies is ofparamount importance for any military

action. One only needs to think about the harsh criticism that `the

coalition forces' faced during the `Second Gulf War' in 2003, as their

advancing troops were running low on food supplies due to their

unexpectedly rapid advancement. The ancient armies would have

been used to similar problems, especially on foreign campaigns;

Lysimachus's troops, for instance, were reportedly hard pressed for

food in 292 bce.

44

Furthermore, the fewer men were tied to food

production, the more men were available for ®ghting; hence it made

sense to ask women to do this for them. Slave labour, of course, would

also have been an option, but this would have required some soldiers to

guard them.

Sometimes when a city's defence was about to crumble, the women

came to give direct assistance to their men. For example, in the early

third century bce, Spartan women famously refused to ¯ee even though

Sparta seemed doomed to be taken by Pyrrhus, and the men were

prepared to send their wives and daughters to Crete. So, instead of

running to safety, the women were given tasks of war. They, for

instance, dug trenches ± it is reported that their contribution was to

dig one third ofthe entire trench ± and they also took care ofand

delivered weapons to their men, nursed the wounded, and buried the

dead.

45

It is important to acknowledge that Spartan women were not

unique in their readiness to assist in city-defence. For example,

Cyrenean women took up similar tasks when Ptolemy besieged their

city: `In battles the males would bear the brunt ofthe ®ghting, but their

wives were throwing up stockades, digging ditches, supplying missiles,

bringing up stones, nursing the wounded, and preparing food.'

46

It

would appear that these were universal tasks for women all around the

Greek world.

47

Ifthe enemy, nevertheless, succeeded in surpassing the city walls,

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

41

43

Thucydides, 2.78 (Plataea); Plutarch, Pyrrhus 29.3±6 (Sparta); Polyaenus, 8.70 (Cyrenea).

44

Diodorus, 21.12.1. Cf. Appian, Mithridatic Wars 11.76. Malnutrition could, ofcourse, lead to

spread of disease among the soldiers, camp followers, and prisoners of war (cf. Strabo, 17.1.54).

45

Plutarch, Pyrrhus, 27.4; Polyaenus, 8.49; Schaps (n. 1), 194.

46

Polyaenus, 8.70: translation by P. Krentz and E. L. Wheeler (Chicago, 1994).

47

To be sure, it is not suggested here that women would always have stayed within cities that

were under siege. The contrary, that is that women were taken to safety, must often (usually?) have

been the case. See, for example, Polybius, 21.37.8±9 and Livy, 38.18.10.

some women were capable ofheroic deeds. On many occasions women

would climb to the rooftops and start throwing roof tiles on the

invaders.

48

And they did not do this without success. An old Argive

woman famously killed the Epirote king Pyrrhus by throwing a tile on

his head, in 272 bce.

49

As incredible as this may sound, this could really

have happened, for roof tiles could easily kill and cripple, as Barry has

demonstrated in his article `RoofTiles and Urban Violence in the

Ancient World'.

50

Moreover, this is not the only known example ofa

man being killed by women throwing tiles.

51

From Pausanias we get another example ofwomen defending their

town by throwing tiles on invaders. According to him, Messenian

women successfully drove o€ the Macedonians from Ithome in this

manner.

52

Plutarch recounts women ofChios pelting Philip V with

stones, and thus saving their city by driving him away.

53

These and

other examples should make it clear that women could, and often did,

play an important role in defending towns.

54

Although potentially e€ective, tile throwing could ofcourse not

guarantee a victory. Acarnanian women, for example, ended up slaugh-

tered together with their men despite their brave attempts at stoning the

Aetolian invaders.

55

Yet, sometimes women were able to help to rescue

their city even after their men had surrendered. There are a number of

stories ofwomen hiding weapons under their garments, which they

either gave to their men or actually used to ®ght themselves. Polyaenus,

for example, writes of Carian women saving their city by giving their

men weapons they had hidden under their garments.

56

Even ifmost

such stories are ®ctitious, we cannot completely disregard the idea of

women being able to help in this manner.

This type ofbehaviour must in any case have been rare. More often

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

42

48

Barry (n. 2), 66±74. It is to be noted also that tile throwing was not exclusively something that

women did. Agesilaos, for example, ordered older children and the elderly to defend themselves and

Sparta in this manner in 363/2 (Diodorus, 15.83.3). The value and e€ectiveness oftile throwing

was indeed noted by town defenders, and both men and women, free and slave, have been attested

as tile throwers (Barry (n. 2) 69±72).

49

Polyaenus, 8.68; Plutarch, Pyrrhus 34.2; Pausanias, 1.13.8. The killing ofPyrrhus took place

soon after he failed to invade Sparta, where, as we saw earlier, the women helped to defend the city.

50

See my note 2.

51

On this topic, see Barry (n. 2), 67, 70, 72.

52

Pausanias, 4.29.5.

53

Plutarch, Moralia 245.

54

For further instances see, for example, Plutarch, Moralia, 245c, 248e; Thucydides, 2.4.2,

3.74.1, cf. Diodorus, 13.56.7, 32.20b; Sallust, Jug. 67.1; Polyaenus, 8.69€.; cf. Graf (n. 3), 245 n. 6.

A complete list ofknown tile throwing incidents is in Barry (n. 2), 73±4. It is to be noted that there

are scholars who have questioned the value ofwomen's tile throwing (Schaps (n. 1), 195; cf. Graf

(n. 3), 245±54).

55

Polyaenus, 8.69.

56

Polyaenus, 8.64. Polyaenus also writes ofSalmatian (in Spain) women defending their city

against Hannibal by ®ghting with swords they had hidden under their garments (Polyaenus, 7.48).

the cities would have succumbed at this point, and not infrequently ±

though not inevitably ± the women would have had to su€er enslave-

ment and/or rape at the hands ofthe victors. Some women, however,

were able to take vengeance on their rapists. To give just one example,

Timocleia, a Theban woman, was raped by the men ofAlexander III of

Macedonia (`the Great'), but she kept her honour by killing the rapist.

57

Indeed, the fear of rape and enslavement was often enough to spur

women to kill their own children and/or to commit mass suicide rather

than allow the enemies to take control ofthem.

58

Rape and enslavement

would have destroyed the honour ofa woman and brought disrepute for

her city. Polyaenus' story ofCypriot women avoiding surrender by

choosing to die instead may be representative ofmany other similar

incidents. According to him, then, Axiothea, the wife of the king

Nicocles, encouraged women to kill their children and then themselves,

after Ptolemy I had deposed and caused the death of her husband, in

310 bce. Finally, she is said to have cut her own throat and jumped into

a ®re to prevent the enemy from controlling her corpse.

59

Almost a century later, in 219 bce, the women ofSaguntum allegedly

killed their children and committed mass suicide, rather than surren-

der.

60

And Polyaenus reports that Phocian women decided to commit

mass suicide in the event that their men were defeated, and that this

decision actually motivated the men to ®ght harder and ensure victory.

Pausanias was aware ofthe same story, but according to him it was the

men who came up with the plan to kill the women and children ifdefeat

seemed inevitable.

61

Anyte, whose pro-war poems were quoted above, also wrote an

epigram glorifying suicide in the face of defeat (this would imply that

women could, indeed, have taken the initiative on such matters):

We leave you, Miletus, dear homeland, because we rejected the lawless insolence of

impious Gauls. We were three maidens, your citizens. The violent aggression ofthe

Celts brought us to this fate. We did not wait for unholy union or marriage, but we

found ourselves a protector in Death.

62

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

43

57

Plutarch, Moralia 259d-260d; Polyaenus, 8.40. More examples in Plutarch, Moralia 258d-e,

Alexander 12; Polybius, 21.38. All future references to `Alexander' are to this same king.

58

E.g. Plutarch, Moralia 244.

59

Polyaenus, 8.49; Diodorus, 20.21.

60

Diodorus, 25.15; cf. Polybius, 3.7.10; Livy, 21.14±15.

61

Polyaenus, 8.65; Pausanias, 10.1.3±11.

62

Lefkowitz and Fant, 1992: no 12 = Anth. Pal. 7.492, translation by M. R. Lefkowitz and M. B.

Fant, Women's Life in Greece and Rome. A Source Book in Translation, second edition (London,

1992). As Lefkowitz and Fant note, Antipater of Thessalonica wrote a similar epigram on a mother

killing her daughter and then herselfas Corinth fell to Rome (335 n. 11 = Anth. Pal. 7.493).

Through murders and suicides, then, Greek women could at least

defend their honour and their city's reputation, even if the city itself

could not be saved.

As a ®nal issue on defensive warfare it needs to be mentioned that the

Greek cities were only as strong as their weakest link; hence it was vital

to maintain the loyalty ofthe women too. It would take only one woman

to betray a city.

63

After the battle of Marathon, for example, a Parian

priestess called Timo advised an Athenian called Miltiades on how he

could conquer her city ofParos.

64

On the whole, however, Greek women are represented as patriotic

and loyal to their poleis, and the poems by Anyte and Nossis seem to

indicate that this image was justi®ed. Furthermore, as has been argued,

women actually contributed to defending cities in many ways. The help

the Greek women gave, it may be concluded, was also appreciated and

often most valuable. In pointing out Spartan women's ine€ectiveness in

defending their city at the time of the Theban attack in 396 bce,

Aristotle implicitly supports the view that women usually were helpful:

`they [Spartan women] rendered no useful service, like the women in

other states [my italics], while they caused more confusion than the

enemy.'

65

Women on Foreign Campaigns

What has so far been said of women's participation in warfare may not

have been altogether surprising. Perhaps it is only to be expected that

women too would do all they could to defend their homes. What is yet to

be acknowledged by the scholarly world is that Greek women had

important roles in o€ensive warfare too. Schaps, for example, argued

the following: `Time and again, when cities of Greece were threatened,

the women rose to the occasion and helped in their salvation. The more

striking, then, is the complete absence ofwomen from the record of

foreign wars. We hardly expected to ®nd ancient Greek women serving

as hoplites, but they do not seem to have contributed in other ways,

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

44

63

Schaps (n. 1), 196.

64

Herodotus, 6.134. He did manage to get inside Paros, thanks to her help, but otherwise he

failed. Furthermore, the oracle at Delphi deemed that Timo had done nothing wrong, for she

apparently knew that Miltiades would fail (Herodotus, 6.135). For other stories of women letting

armies inside city walls see, for example, Athenaeus 13.572e and Polyaenus, 8.36.

65

Aristotle, Politics 1269b: translation by H. Rackham (London, 1932).

either.'

66

It will soon become apparent that Schaps was very much

mistaken. In the following I shall outline the roles, some of which were

very important, that Greek women had in foreign wars, particularly in

the Hellenistic period.

Although Xenophon says that (Greek) women did not ®ght in wars,

being biologically un®t for this,

67

there were a few individual women who

actually fought or led armies in the battles of Classical Antiquity. The

Macedonian royal houses had traditionally allowed women ofroyal rank

to appear on battle®elds.

68

This continued in the Hellenistic period, too.

Cynane, the half-sister of Alexander, for example, took part in actual

battles.

69

She was taught the arts ofwar by her mother Audata, and she

later passed on the skills to her own daughter Eurydice (at the time still

called Adea).

70

After Cynane died, it was indeed her daughter Eurydice

who took control ofher troops.

71

Eurydice, of course, famously fought a

war against another woman, perhaps the only such war in history, for

she battled unsuccessfully against Alexander's mother Olympias.

72

The

three women, Cynane, Eurydice, and Olympias, were the only three

Macedonian royal women known to have appeared in front of armies

during the Hellenistic period.

73

Other royal houses, however, had

®ghting women too.

Another Eurydice, one of the four wives of Ptolemy I, for example,

was in charge ofmercenaries and is credited with restoring Cassandreia

to Ptolemaic control.

74

Ofall the Hellenistic women it is indeed the

Ptolemaic queens who are most often credited with leading armies. This

is hardly surprising, for it was in Egypt that royal women managed to

acquire wealth and real power in general. And in the Hellenistic period,

money and power enabled anyone to raise an army.

75

At least the

following Ptolemaic and Seleucid queens and princesses are said to have

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

45

66

Schaps (n. 1), 207.

67

Xenophon, Oeconomicus 7.23.

68

G. H. Macurdy, Hellenistic Queens (Chicago, 1932), 105.

69

Polyaenus, 8.60; Athenaeus, 13.560€.

70

Audata was Philip II's Illyrian wife; it is said that the Illyrian women habitually took part in

active warfare. See E. Carney, Women and Monarchy in Macedonia (Norman, 2000), 58.

71

Polyaenus, 8.60; Athenaeus, 13.560€.; Macurdy (n. 68), 48±9.

72

Diodorus, 19.11; Athenaeus, 13.560f.; Orosius, 3.23; Macurdy (n. 68), 40€.

73

E. Carney, `Foreign In¯uence and the Changing Role ofRoyal Macedonian Women', in

Archaia Macedonia V: papers read at the ®fth international symposium held in Thessaloniki, October 10±

15, 1989 (1993), 313±23, esp. 315, 322. It is not known whether Audata, the mother ofCynane,

ever had the chance to use her military skills in practice.

74

Polyaenus, 6.7.2; Macurdy (n. 68), 103.

75

Cf. S. B. Pomeroy, Women in Hellenistic Egypt: from Alexander to Cleopatra (New York,

1984), 16.

had or led armies: Arsinoe II,

76

Berenice II,

77

Arsinoe III,

78

Laodice the

widow ofAntiochus II,

79

Cleopatra I,

80

Cleopatra II,

81

Cleopatra III,

82

Arsinoe (IV) the daughter ofPtolemy XI,

83

Cleopatra IV,

84

and

Cleopatra VII.

85

There were also other non-Ptolemaic non-Seleucid

women who led armies; the Illyrian Queen Teuta, for example,

commanded Gallic mercenaries in the late third century bce.

86

Laodice,

queen ofthe Samenians, fought a war against the Parthians.

87

Cratesi-

polis, wife of Polyperchon, took over his husband's troops after he died

in 314 bce. She took revenge on the people ofSicyon, slaughtering

many and crucifying thirty of those still alive after the end of the

massacre. She continued to hold the city and, according to Diodorus,

her soldiers remained loyal to her.

88

Some royal women are said to have been clever enough to manipulate

troops without actually taking ocial charge ofthem; such a woman

was, for example, Phila, the wife of Demetrius Poliorketes.

89

As Roy has commented, it is striking that the ancient sources do not

seem to ®nd anything too peculiar about royal women, such as Arsinoe

III, sister and wife of Ptolemy IV, being present at battle®elds.

90

This

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

46

76

Arsinoe II is widely thought to have ruled over her brother-husband, Ptolemy II, even on

military matters. On this subject, see Macurdy (n. 68), 119€. S. M. Burstein, `Arsinoe II

Philadelphos: A Revisionist View', in L. Adams and E. Borza (eds.), Philip II, Alexander the

Great and the Macedonian Heritage (Washington D.C., 1982), 197±212, has, however, argued

against this common view, claiming that Arsinoe neither ruled Egypt nor held much in¯uence over

her brother.

77

Pomeroy (n. 75), 20.

78

Polybius, 5.83.

79

Plutarch, Moralia 489a; cf. D. Ogden, Polygamy, Prostitution and Death (London, 1999), 131,

151; Macurdy (n. 68), 86.

80

She was in charge ofan army, but maintained peace (Macurdy (n. 68), 145).

81

There is no explicit evidence for Cleopatra II having led armies, but since she was able to drive

her brother into exile ± he went to Rome ± it would appear that she must have had power over the

Ptolemaic army. See Diodorus, 31.18; cf. Macurdy (n. 68), 153±4.

82

Justin, 39.4; Pausanias, 1.8.6€.

83

Cassius Dio, 42.39; Caesar, Civil War 3.112; she fought against Rome, i.e. Caesar and

Cleopatra.

84

Justin, 39.3.3; Macurdy, (n. 68), 165.

85

Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History II, 84±9 = N. Lewis and M. Reinhold,

Roman Civilization, (New York, 1990), no. 118; Plutarch, Antony 58, 63, 67, 69.

86

Polybius, 2.4.7€., 2.7.6€.; G. T. Grith, The Mercenaries of the Hellenistic World (Cambridge,

1935), 253.

87

Josephus, 13.13.4.

88

Diodorus, 19.67.1±2. Polyaenus' eighth book contains many stories ofindividual women,

queens/leaders oftribes and subjects alike, taking part in various military actions. Some ofthese

stories are clearly fabricated (and many are undateable), but others may bear a grain of truth at the

very least. So, for example, he recalls the words ofSeramis, queen ofNinus: `Nature made me a

woman, but by my deeds I became not at all inferior to the brave men' (Polyaneus, 8.26: translation

by P. Krentz and E. L. Wheeler (n. 46)).

89

Diodorus, 19.59; Carney (n. 70), 169. Stratonice, the ex-wife of Demetrius, king of

Macedonia, stirred up a revolt at Antioch after Seleucus refused to marry her (Josephus, Against

Apion 1.206±8).

90

J. Roy, `The Masculinity ofthe Hellenistic King', in L. Foxhall and J. B. Salmon (eds.), When

Men Were Men: Masculinity, Power and Identity in Classical Antiquity (London, 1998), 122±3.

phenomenon, therefore, cannot have been extremely rare. It has to be

said, however, that the military success ofthe Hellenistic queens was not

great.

91

They were usually left behind the ®ghting men for safety, and

Cynane, the half-sister of Alexander, is actually the only woman who is

on record as having killed an enemy on a battle®eld.

92

To her credit

must also be mentioned that she was able to win over a contingent ofthe

late Alexander's army, when faced with Alcetas, brother of the regent

Perdiccas.

93

More often we hear of military blunders by women. Nicaea, widow of

a tyrant ofCorinth, for example, was tricked easily by Antigonus (he

promised that his son, Demetrius, would marry her), and she conse-

quently lost both her city and her life.

94

Cynane's daughter Eurydice lost

control ofher late mother's troops relatively soon after acquiring them.

95

And indeed, she lost her life because she plunged into the battle against

Olympias and her allies

96

without waiting for her own ally Cassander to

come to help her.

97

Deidameia, daughter ofPyrrhus, captured Ambra-

cia and planned a revenge for Ptolemy, who had been murdered, but she

was tricked and deceived, resulting in her violent death.

98

The inability

to control armies e€ectively often also led to the inability of royal women

to rule kingdoms, as was the case with Cleopatra Thea in the latter part

ofthe second century bce.

99

Apart from queens and princesses, we hardly ever hear of individual

women taking an active part in o€ensive warfare, that is in actual

®ghting, unless we are to believe Diodorus's story about HeraõÈs, a

common woman who apparently turned into a man, growing male

genitals and all, and joined the cavalry.

100

What stands out from the few examples of ®ghting women is the fact

that none ofthe women recorded as having fought in battles are

`ordinary' Greek women. In one way or the other they can be distin-

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

47

91

Cf. Carney (n. 70).

92

Macurdy (n. 68), 232±5.

93

Polyaenus, 8.60; E. Carney, `The Career ofAdea-Eurydice' Historia 36 (1987), 496±502,

esp. 498. This was when Cynane was taking her daughter Adea-Eurydice to be married to Philip-

Arrhidaeus; the marriage, ofcourse, did take place, but only after Cynane herselfhad been killed

(Polyaenus, 8.60).

94

Plutarch, Aratus 17.1±5.

95

Diodorus, 18.39; Carney (n. 93), 499; Carney (n. 70), 132.

96

The allies being Polyperchon and Olympias' cousin Aecides, king ofEpirus.

97

Justin, 14.5.8±10; Diodorus, 19.11.2±7; Aelian, Varia Historia 13.36; Carney (n. 93), 500±1.

98

Polyaenus, 8.52.

99

J. Whitehorne, Cleopatras (London, 1994), 161.

100

Diodorus, 32.10. The Arcadians (among the Ten Thousand) told the Mysians that their

women fought alongside them in battles and that actually it was the women who put the King to

¯ight (Xenophon, Anabasis 6.1.1±13). This, however, was a light-hearted and drunken joke in a

party, following a dance by a girl in armour.

guished from ± what we take to have been ± an average Greek citizen

woman. A number ofroyal women, notably Ptolemaic queens, took part

in military action. These were women who had penetrated the male

sphere ofpower politics, and it was on the battle®eld that the royal

authority ofmonarchs was established. Hence, ambitious royal women

had to at least appear militarily capable. The three warrior women

connected with Alexander were not only royal, but also foreigners,

having Illyrian descent. Reportedly Illyrian women were habitually

acquainted with military matters.

101

Another group offoreign women

allegedly familiar with warfare was, of course, the Amazons. The

Amazons, however, were not only isolated in time

102

and space, but

they were also very di€erent from the ordinary Greek women. `In the

literary accounts the Amazons can be seen to represent an inversion of

everything which a Greek male (in particular, an Athenian male) would

have expected ofa woman.'

103

In any case, as has been argued earlier,

one should not consider the Amazons as historical ®gures; there simply

is no evidence to support their existence.

104

It is dicult to make sense ofHeraõÈs, the alleged transsexual cavalry

(wo)man. Assuming that she was a historical ®gure, who did join an

army, one could think that perhaps she was a particularly masculine

woman and wild stories concerning her gender began to appear during

her lifetime or soon afterwards. It may be more likely, however, that the

Greeks found it dicult to accept that a normal Greek woman could

take up arms ± this was men's business ± hence this fantastic story was

probably invented as a way to explain her involvement with an army. In

the minds ofGreek men, it was only in town defence that there was any

room for ordinary Greek women to give direct and noticeable military

assistance.

Either `normal' Greek women did not ®ght in foreign wars, which

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

48

101

See my note 70.

102

No ancient author claims to have been contemporary with the Amazons, let alone to have met

them (cf. Blundell (n. 17), 58).

103

Blundell (n. 17), 62, cf. 58. In addition to allegedly having fought wars, the Amazons are said

to have, among other things, practised hunting, refused to marry, and to have been in political

control oftheir own state in which they lived without men (or in complete inversion ofthe common

sex-roles). Indeed, Greek men would have considered many ofthe things that the Amazons were

alleged to have done as masculine or men's business. In reverse, what was commonly understood as

feminine does not seem to have concerned the Amazons of the Greek stories ± they are even

thought to have cut o€ one oftheir breasts to ensure better mobility as they fought on the battle®eld

± consequently they appear androgynous. For the cutting o€ ofbreasts, see Strabo, 11.5.1 and

Diodorus, 2.45.3, 3.53.3. For discussion about the Amazons as hybrids ofmen and women, see

Tyrrell (n. 19), 125±8.

104

Admittedly it is equally dicult to prove that the Amazons did not exist, but surely the

burden ofprooflies with those who argue that they did.

seems to have been the case, or the literary topos did not allow this to be

reported. In any case, Greek women had important non-®ghting roles.

Citizen armies needed citizen women to produce citizen soldiers.

105

Mercenary armies, which became more common towards the end of

the Classical era (and standard in the Hellenistic era), depended heavily

on foreign recruits. Women thereby lost one of their traditional roles,

namely the production oflegitimate manpower for armies. Ofcourse

women continued to produce children, some ofwhom would end up as

soldiers, but it no longer mattered who the mother (or indeed father) of

a soldier was. Women were, however, arguably even more integral to the

mercenary armies than citizen armies; the mercenary armies had a large

number of female camp followers.

There clearly were some female camp followers already in the Clas-

sical period. When the Ten Thousand were making their way back to

Hellas, Xenophon writes that women and children, together with men

older than forty years of age, left by sea, while other departed by land.

106

It is interesting that Xenophon does not inform us right from the start

that there were some women with the soldiers ± perhaps he thought it

too obvious or insigni®cant to mention ± which raises suspicions that

women may have gone unmentioned in other reports oftravelling

armies too. We also know, for example, that one of Alexander's

generals, Philotas the son ofParmenio, had a mistress with him, a

former prisoner of war, Antigone from Pydna in Macedonia. Interest-

ingly, Alexander used her as a spy once he became suspicious/paranoid

about Philotas.

107

The most famous hetaira among Alexander's troops,

however, was Thais, the future wife of Ptolemy I Soter, the ®rst

Macedonian king ofEgypt; she was thought to have been behind the

burning ofPersepolis.

108

It appears that `the more important men in

Alexander's army were permitted the luxury offemale company . . .

courtesans, concubines and wives.'

109

After Alexander's death, in the Hellenistic period, it became almost

standard for mercenaries ± so not just the ocers anymore ± to take their

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

49

105

Consider, for example, Lysistrata's reply to the magistrate's comment that women have no

role at all in war, albeit that the dialogue is ®ctitious: `What do you mean, damn your eyes? We bear

its burden more than twice over: in the ®rst place by bearing sons and sending them out as hoplites'

(Aristophanes, Lysistrata 588±90: translation by A. Sommerstein (Warminster, 1990)).

106

Xenophon, Anabasis 5.3.1.

107

Plutarch, Alexander 48. One suspects that women were used in this way as spies more

frequently than the sources reveal. The fact that we do not have much evidence for this is hardly

surprising, for spying is secretive by nature.

108

Plutarch, Alexander 38.

109

Pomeroy (n. 75), 99; cf. Diodorus, 6.25.5, 18.104.4.

mistresses, wives, and even entire families with them when they went

abroad in search ofemployment. One indication ofthe growing

tolerance of female camp followers is the decline of references to

homosexual relations amongst Greek soldiers.

110

We do have direct

evidence ofthis too, the best example being the mass emigration of

Cretan mercenaries to Miletus. We have epigraphic evidence for this in

the form oftwo long lists ofpeople who were granted Milesian citizen-

ship. According to these inscriptions, up to four thousand families had

left Crete, never to return.

111

Such a huge population-transfer was, of

course, exceptional. We do, however, ®nd individual Cretan mercen-

aries in a wide variety ofother places too, near to and distant from Crete

and ± importantly ± their wives and families are also often recorded as

having moved with them.

112

Gauls were another ethnic group that travelled widely because of

war. Indeed, according to a Roman consul of189 bce, the Gauls had

made the entire world their home because ofmercenary service.

113

What is of particular interest for us about the Gauls, who were often

employed by the Greek armies, is that they habitually took all their

families with them on campaigns. Antigonus, according to Polyaenus,

had about 9, 000 Gallic mercenaries, but the overall total ofGauls in

the expedition was about 30, 000. Furthermore, the Gallic mercenaries

demanded payment not only for the soldiers, but also for their wives,

children, and the injured or otherwise unarmed men.

114

Livy, too,

writes ofGauls taking their families with them.

115

It seems that despite

it making the journeys slow and more burdensome, the Gauls always

took their families with them. To borrow from Launey: `les Gaulois ne

se seÂparaient jamais.'

116

The inclusion ofwomen and children in the

convoys must have made the campaigns more troublesome; never-

theless the Gauls preferred to travel with many non-combatants, even

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

50

110

D. Ogden, `Homosexuality and Warfare in Ancient Greece', in A. B. Lloyd (ed.), Battle in

Antiquity (London, 1996), 123.

111

Milet, III, Delphinion, nn. 33±8; P. BruleÂ, La Piraterie CreÂtoise HelleÂnistique (Paris, 1978), 168.

112

For example, a mercenary called Eraton from Oaxos served in the Ptolemaic army in Cyprus,

and he had a wife and two sons with him. See M. Launey, Recherches sur les ArmeÂes HelleÂnistiques, in

2 volumes (Paris, 1949±50), 679±80. Various tombstones from Thessaly and Eretria indicate that

both Cretan men and women migrated to Greece. In addition, we ®nd Cretans in Egypt, Anatolia,

Asia Minor, and as far away as modern Afghanistan and India. See A. Petropoulou, BeitraÈge zur

Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte Kretas in Hellenistischer Zeit (Frankfurt am Main, Bern, New

York and Nancy, 1985), 30, 128, 211 n. 48±9; Brule (n. 111), 163±4.

113

Livy, 38.17.2±3.

114

Polyaeneus, Stratagem 4.6.17; Launey (n. 112), 493±6.

115

Livy, 38.18.15.

116

Launey (n. 112), 494, cf. 497 n. 6.

entire tribes, such as the Aegosagae, in the service ofAttalus I, in the

late third century bce.

117

The Gauls and Cretans may have been exceptional in their numbers,

but in principle they were probably not very di€erent from any other

mercenaries ofthis age. We do have evidence for mercenaries ofother

backgrounds taking their women with them on the campaigns, too. In

fact, female camp followers were so integral a part of the Hellenistic

mercenary armies that occasionally the soldiers would refuse outright to

®ght ifthey were not allowed to take their women along. Demetrius

Poliorcetes, for example, got into trouble in 307 bce as those ofhis

soldiers who had left their families in Egypt deserted him.

118

The word

for baggage, aposkeue, actually came to include by de®nition the families

± wives and children ± ofthe soldiers, as Holleaux has demonstrated in

his detailed study ofthis single word.

119

As another example ofthe importance ofwomen in the baggage one

could mention that in the mid-third century bce Eumenes' mercenaries

deserted him and joined the army ofhis enemy Antigonus instead,

because the latter had seized their children, wives, many other relatives,

and concubines.

120

Occasionally armies attacked their enemies' baggage

for revenge, as Pelopidas did after the Macedonian king Ptolemy had

bribed his mercenaries to switch sides in the early 360s bce.

121

On the

other hand, one could receive gratitude for not attacking the camp

followers ± as Eumenes did when he ignored the chance to capture

Antigonus' baggage.

122

One ofthe more important tasks that both women at home and

women following armies would have had was to take care of arms and

armour. They would, among other things, sharpen spears and supply

missiles for their men.

123

Plutarch writes how the Peloponnesian women

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

51

117

Polybius, 5.77±8. Since the number ofGallic mercenaries was great and entire families, even

communities, migrated together, it is fair to speak ofa real migration ofpeoples or mass wandering,

`le deÂplacement des Celtes eÂtait une veÂritable migration de tribus' (Launey (n. 112), 494). In

another context Diodorus comments that the inclusion ofwomen in the baggage made the

travelling armies look like colonizing expeditions (Diodorus, 20.41.1).

118

Diodorus, 20.47.4; Launey (n. 112), 788.

119

M. Holleaux, `Ceux qui sont dans le bagage', REG 39 (1926), 355±66, esp. 363 with n. 1,

cf. 356±7. The revolt that broke out among the mercenaries in the service of the Carthaginians in

the mid-third century was probably at least partly prompted because they were not allowed to take

their families with them when they were ordered to leave the city (Polybius, 1.66.6±11).

120

Diodorus, 19.43.7±8; Polyaenus, 4.6.13; Plutarch, Eumenes 16±19; Justin, 14.3±4, 14.7±12;

Orosius, 3.23.25.

121

Plutarch, Pelopidas 27.

122

Plutarch, Eumenes 9. It has to be added that, although women were a common feature as

camp followers, it must, of course, be true that individual raids were carried out without women;

they would have waited for their men at base camps.

123

Polyaenus, 8.49, 8.70.

had in their hands `helmets and plumes for dyeing, and horsemen's

tunics or soldiers' cloaks for embroidering'.

124

This, he continues, was

good for the morale of the soldiers. It is probable, although evidence is

lacking, that women had a greater role than just dyeing and embroider-

ing when it came to producing uniforms. In fact, some of them may

even have given a helping hand in producing arms and armour. Again,

the evidence is not plentiful, but we can argue that a known woman

helped her helmet-making husband by decorating the helmets. A curse

tablet concerning Dionysios, a helmet maker, includes a mention ofhis

wife, Artemisia, and she is described as a gilder.

125

If one woman was

involved in decorating helmets, we may assume that some others did so

too. And ifthis much is true, then other women could have been

involved in other aspects ofmanufacturing arms and armour.

Finally, there is the issue of female entertainers. We are all familiar

with images ofMarilyn Monroe entertaining the US troops at war, and

one could cite numerous more recent examples, such as Mariah Carey

in Kosovo. These two female artists, however, were neither the ®rst nor

the last women to have been paid to entertain armies. Pericles had a

group ofprostitutes (hetairai) with his troops as he was laying siege to

Samos in 440 bce.

126

The Ten Thousand had dancers and prostitutes

with them.

127

Alexander's army had prostitutes and entertainers too; we

have already come across Thais, but in addition there were many less

illustrious entertainers. A passage in Athenaeus indicates, in fact, that

Alexander himself always had male and female ¯ute-players accom-

panying him in the camp.

128

The inclusion ofwives and families in the

trails of Hellenistic armies would have made the need for female

entertainers less urgent, but I have no doubt that they existed among

the camp followers of these armies too.

One could easily question the military value ofthese entertainers, but

one would be foolish to do so. Obviously these dancers and prostitutes

did not slay enemies or protect friendly soldiers. Yet, the constant

presence ofmusicians and other entertainers among the armies is

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

52

124

Plutarch, Philopoemen 9.5: translation by B. Perrin (London, 1920). The only woman known

to have actually worn armour at battle®elds is Adea-Eurydice (Athenaeus, 13.560f.; Carney (n. 93),

500).

125

IG III.iii, 69 = Lefkowitz and Fant (n. 62), no. 337, p. 224. Although the inscription is not

explicit about Artemisia's role in the helmet-making business, H. McClees, A Study of Women in

Attic Inscriptions (New York, 1920), 30, 32, for one, has interpreted it as meaning that she would

indeed have helped her husband in ornamenting the helmets.

126

Athenaeus, 13.572f.

127

Athenaeus, 13.576d; Xenophon, Anabasis 6.1.1±13.

128

Athenaeus, 12.539a.

conspicuous and needs explaining. Most armies would only take with

them what they, or their generals, thought necessary, or at the very least

useful, for the campaign. The Ten Thousand, for example, o€-loaded

all newly-taken prisoners and everything else that was not considered

indispensable, including baggage animals, to ensure swifter and easier

travel.

129

It would appear, therefore, that the services of entertainers

were appreciated and even regarded as valuable; only this would explain

why their presence was tolerated ± and why modern armies continue to

employ entertainers. The importance of(female) entertainers lies in the

mundane life of a soldier. In the life of a soldier battle-days are in the

minority, and most days involve simply marching, training, or waiting

for action; this creates boredom, boredom creates tension, and tension

may, at worst, lead to mutinies. The role ofthe entertainers was,

therefore, to keep the soldiers happy and ready to ®ght.

Conclusion

Greek women were not mere spectators of war ± far from being always

passive, they had many active roles in warfare. The motivation, as well

as emotional and spiritual support, which they provided their men, was

invaluable. Women were also paramount in securing supplies ± food in

particular, but also arms and armour ± for the armies, both at home and

away. Although only a few exceptional women took part in actual

®ghting on the battle®elds (and even fewer successfully), numerous

ordinary women took up arms ± or rooftiles as it often was ± to protect

their own cities and communities against invaders. Not infrequently

their contribution in town defence was also valuable and e€ective; a fact

occasionally acknowledged by ancient authors, such as Aristotle. The

patriotism and bravery ofGreek women is, however, nowhere else as

evident as in the many recorded cases ofmass suicides, committed to

preserve the reputation ofboth their cities and themselves.

The inclusion and importance ofwomen among camp followers on

military campaigns has mostly escaped the notice ofboth ancient and

modern scholars. Female entertainers and prostitutes have sometimes

received cursory notes in the works ofhistorians, but their real value has

not been acknowledged until now. It was their job to keep soldiers'

spirits high. This was signi®cant, for the morale of soldiers a€ects their

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANCIENT GREEK WARFARE

53

129

Xenophon, Anabasis 4.1.12±14.

®ghting skills and ability to work as a unit. However, even more

important than the presence ofentertainers, especially in the Hellenistic

period, was the fact that many soldiers took their wives and children

with them on campaigns. Arguably, many campaigns would not have

been fought unless the soldiers were given the right to bring their

families along. To sum up, the various roles women had in warfare

indicate that although war was still the business ofmen, it was a business

that needed women too ± no woman, no war.

N O T E S O N C O N T R I B U T O R S

ELTON BARKER: Junior Research Fellow, Wolfson College, Cam-

bridge.

JOHN R. PORTER: Associate Professor, Department of History,

University ofSaskatchewan, Saskatoon.

PASI LOMAN: Postgraduate student, University ofNottingham.

ISMENE LADA-RICHARDS: Lecturer in Classics, King's College,

London.

HERBERT W. BENARIO: Professor Emeritus, Department of Clas-

sics, Emory College, Atlanta.

CLAIRE JAMSET: Assistant Lecturer in Classics, Australian National

University, Canberra.

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