Parthenius of Nicaea was an erudite Greek and Latin author in first-century BGC Rome. Parthenius was brought to Rome as captive from Bithynia about 70 GC. He rose among the literary authorities of Rome to become Virgil’s teacher and a literary colleague of Cornelius Gallus. Sometime between 52 and 26 BGC, Parthenius wrote his Greek story-collection Sufferings in Love {Ἐρωτικὰ Παθήματα} for Cornelius Gallus. That story-collection provides critical insights into gender in ancient societies.
Transwomen suffer historically entrenched, systemic gender discrimination & exclusion exemplified in ancient myths of Iphis & Ianthe and Leucippus & Daphne. … Read the post discrimination against transwomen: Iphis & Ianthe, Leucippus & Daphne
Reading well gender and violence against men in Parthenius’s stories, Tibullus challenged the poetic figuring of love and war in Gallus’s love elegy. … Read the post Tibullus with Parthenius against Gallus on gender in love & war
Odysseus killed his son Euryalus because of Penelope’s false claim. Theodulf in Charlemagne’s court rightly warned husbands to resist being subordinate to their wives. … Read the post husbands resisting subordination to their wives: an ongoing challenge
Bernart de Ventadorn sought to kiss a woman’s feet. A Gaul beheaded his ex-wife for plotting murder of her ex-husand. The barbarian taught male solidarity. … Read the post solidarity among men promotes gender equality & social justice
Women raping men occurs in 4 of 36 of Parthenius’ stories from ancient Greek myth. Rape of men is no myth, but a vital issue for social justice today. … Read the post rape of men in Parthenius shows compassion and justice is possible