TY - CHAP
T1 - Editor's Introduction
T2 - 'Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience 800-1200'
AU - Garland, Lynda
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Byzantine society was unquestionably patriarchal. Nevertheless, as in all medieval cultures attitudes towards women were ambivalent. It can be argued that women were a marginalized group, in theory an inferior sex, and conventionally were supposed to be seldom seen and never heard in public. They were debarred from all priestly functions and denied the power of giving instruction in church. Nevertheless the church acknowledged that women were spiritually equal to men and there were many well-known early Christian female martyrs. Women founded monasteries, their relics might perform miraculous cures and some achieved sainthood. The Theotokos (the 'Mother of God') was always a central figure in the devotion of both men and women and was seen as the mediator between mankind and Christ.
AB - Byzantine society was unquestionably patriarchal. Nevertheless, as in all medieval cultures attitudes towards women were ambivalent. It can be argued that women were a marginalized group, in theory an inferior sex, and conventionally were supposed to be seldom seen and never heard in public. They were debarred from all priestly functions and denied the power of giving instruction in church. Nevertheless the church acknowledged that women were spiritually equal to men and there were many well-known early Christian female martyrs. Women founded monasteries, their relics might perform miraculous cures and some achieved sainthood. The Theotokos (the 'Mother of God') was always a central figure in the devotion of both men and women and was seen as the mediator between mankind and Christ.
KW - Classical Greek and Roman History
UR - http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=8324&edition_id=9670
UR - http://books.google.com.au/books?id=T4eMlP3nV4YC&lpg=PP1&pg=PR13
UR - http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an40308427
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9780754657378
T3 - Publications of the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College London
SP - xiii-xix
BT - Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience 800-1200
A2 - Garland, Lynda
PB - Ashgate Publishing
CY - Aldershot, United Kingdom
ER -