2020 Chapters (Layout Features)

How to tell “moving” stories of female captivity in the ancient wrld

Morris, Ellen F.

The theft of women and children from their communities of origin has happened in every corner of the world throughout time. In Aegean and Near Eastern societies during the Bronze and Iron Ages, such seizures are well documented and underly iconic episodes in myth, scripture, and origin stories. Historians have recently begun to investigate the fates of such women and children, both as victims and as agents of cultural change. Captives often served to ratchet up social stratification, to introduce new technologies and traditions to their host societies, and to make it possible, ironically, for war to turn to peace. As Catherine Cameron notes, however, archaeologists have so far largely failed to appreciate the phenomenon – much less the potential that its recognition has to introduce further complexity to our understandings of the past. Drawing insight from cross-cultural studies of captivity, from ancient literature, and from American captivity narratives, this article examines archaeological case studies from the Aegean, the Levant, and Egypt that may aid archaeologists and historians in their attempts to tell “moving” tales about the forcible transfer of women in antiquity.