Byzantine primary sources portray women as both public and secluded figures. Scholars have suggested that idealized stereotypes of secluded chaste women or fluctuations in the actual practice of secluding women could explain the discrepancy. Neither of these theories satisfactorily explains the contradictions. This study determines that by tracing the practice of secluding women in the gynaeceum, or women's quarters, from its origins in the ancient Greek world through to the Byzantine period, the dichotomy can be solved. By studying the ancient gynaeceum it is determined that wealthier women were secluded, but they could leave their homes for certain acceptable reasons.
Added by: Kahena | Karma: 11526.37 | Fiction literature | 15 February 2011
3
Death of the Party
Britt Barlow is certain her media mogul brother-in-law Jeremiah Addison's fatal tumble a year ago was no accident -- especially since she herself discovered, and disposed of, the trip wire someone had strung across the stairs. Now she's bringing all who were in attendance that weekend back to Golden Silk -- Addison's luxurious secluded island estate -- and inviting two extra guests, Annie and Max Darling, to help uncover a killer.
