Foreword. Female amicitia: usefulness, sympathy and empathy
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Abstract
This dossier examines female amicitia in Greco-Roman antiquity with the aim of challenging the historiographical cliché of inherent enmity between women, and highlighting, instead, their collaborative ties. This prejudice has multiple origins, among which Cicero's work De amicitia is one of the most notable examples, because it has been cited and repeated by numerous authors over the centuries. The arpinate identified as sincere friendships only those in which there were bonds of empathy, sympathy and utility; but, in his view, those bonds could only be established between men of the elites. However, based on an analysis of the sources, the articles in this volume argue that women in antiquity established friendships of varying degrees, both among themselves and with men, and with different objectives, in which one or more of these bonds can be seen, albeit adapted to their own needs and social constraints. This publication invites us to reconsider female friendship as a complex, diverse phenomenon that is fundamental to understanding social interaction in the ancient world.
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