Author: Jody Ellyn Cundy, Department of Classics, University of Toronto

Abstract: »This article considers the vocabulary of sexual violence in the Periegesis Hellados. The vocabulary of sexual assault in the Periegesis encompasses the related noun and verb pairings ἁρπαγή and ἁρπάζω, αἰσχύνη and αἰσχύνω, βία and βιάζω, and ὕβρις, ὑβρίζω. All denote ‘rape’ defined as ‘nonconsensual sex’ (though matters of consent are sometimes ambiguous), but they are not used interchangeably in the text. Several patterns emerge from this analysis: first, the language of violence and sacrilege correlates with suffering in Pausanias’ usage, so the more explicitly violent and transgressive the sexual assault, the more likely it is that aspects of the victim’s experience and agency will be included in the account. Second, racial formation is a key operator in the narratives of sexual assault, so Greek stereotypes about barbarian alterity are amplified in the representations of rape in Pausanias’ text.« (Source: Mnemosyne)

Contents:

	Abstract
	1 Introduction
	2 Defining Rape
	3 Rape(?) in Myth: ἁρπαγή and ἁρπάζω
	4 Rape(?) and Shame: αἰσχύνη and αἰσχύνω
	5 Rape and Violence: βία and βιάζω
	6 Rape as Sacrilege: ὕβρις and ὑβρίζω
	7 Rape and Race: φύσις τῶν ἀστέγων βαρβάρων
	8 Conclusion

Wikipedia: Ancient history: Ancient Greece / Greece in the Roman era | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape | Travel: Travel literature / Pausanias (geographer), Description of Greece