‘Now I still honour you ... the first honours are yours’: Women’s public and private epigraphic texts from Classical Greece

The male dominance of Classical Greek society in politics and the arts leaves women normally defined as of little consequence relative to their male contemporaries. In addition, Ancient Greek male authors present women as defining themselves as inconsequential, a point we should question. This paper reviews epigraphic texts written by or for women such as public inscriptions, epitaphs and private messages to the gods. The public texts demonstrate that some women took control of their public image through their public texts. Although private texts take up themes concerned with the traditional role of women as mothers, wives or lovers, they also provide evidence for female agency in addressing these concerns.