Articles about ancient Greek women in Russian journals of the mid-nineteenth century

Interest in the issue of the status of women in ancient Greece became a noticeable phenomenon in Russian journals of the mid-nineteenth century, starting with publications in 1850 in the journals Domestic Notes and The Library for Reading. The study of the characteristic features of the image of ancient Greek women in the articles by P.V. Tikhonovich and by Ordynsky aims to clarify and supplement the ideas about the interpretations of the history and culture of ancient Greece in two popular Russian journals that had a noticeable impact on readers and the content of discussions about antiquity in Russian periodicals. The analysis of the publications about ancient Greek women leads to the conclusion that ancient texts were used by the authors as historical sources for reconstructing the way of life and customs of the distant past and a subject of study for a narrow circle of specialists, rather than as beautiful masterpieces of literature and must-reads to any educated person. Two approaches are found in the authors’ attitudes to the audience. Translations of little-known fragments from the writings of ancient Greek writers and reflections on the incompleteness and inconsistency of the source base for reconstructing a reliable picture of the life of ancient Greek women are addressed to a few experts, while a simplified and reductive narrative about the situation of women in ancient Greece is addressed to the mass reader. The authors contrapose their narratives about Greek women to the archaeological novel by J. J. Barthelemy and, in particular, the “professorial” novel by W. A. Becker deeming them unsuitable for solving educational tasks. The former did not fully reflect the level of scientific knowledge about Hellas and idealized the ancient Greeks, while the latter was replete with scientific comments incomprehensible to the majority of readers. Based on a similar set of classical texts, Ordynsky and Tikhonovich presented readers with strikingly different answers to the question of the status of women in ancient Greece. The presence of a discussion undoubtedly gave relevance to antiquity, involving new journals with their authors and readers into debate.