Women in Greco-Roman Jewish Novels (300 BCE-100 CE)

Abstract

My dissertation analyzes the portrayal of women in Jewish novels of the Greco-Roman period (300 BCE-100CE): Greek Esther, Judith, Susanna, and Aseneth. During the Greco-Roman period, the female heroine frequently became the focus in Jewish novels. This innovation coincides with a concern over maintaining Jewishness. Several areas surrounding the maintenance of social identity appear in the Jewish novels, including dietary restrictions and the preservation of the family. Although a great deal of literature exists regarding the above texts, there are currently no systematic examinations of the portrayal of women’s Jewishness in regards to the Jewish novels. My dissertation examines the portrayal of women in the Jewish novels through a literary critical approach and questions how their representation can inform scholarship on how authors depicted Jewishness during this period. This dissertation treats the Jewish novels collectively and contributes to the scholarly discussion with a systematic examination of depictions of Jewish women in these texts. Following a brief introduction in Chapter 1, where I provide an overview and assessment of earlier treatments on the Jewish novels and the topics of women and Jewishness, Chapters 2 through 5 examine the portrayal of women in the Jewish novels. These chapters are organized around four distinct aspects of Jewishness which center on the representation of the female protagonists and their relationships in the narratives: 1) the representation of women’s sexuality, 2) the preservation of foodways, 3) kinship ties, and 4) the role of the protagonist in their Jewish community. In Chapter 6, I use a comparative approach to examine the depiction of women’s Jewishness in the novels, which demonstrates women’s active roles in maintaining and defining Jewishness. Chapter 7 concludes the dissertation with a summary and recommendations for future work.