Re: MIAS GUNAIKOS (in Kenya)

From: Carl William Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 17 1998 - 13:43:24 EST


For what it's worth, I think it ought to be said that polygamy is NOT a
standard practice in Greek or Roman society, although there's plenty of
evidence of mistresses and adultery; but there is no officially sanctioned
polygamy.

I recall there was a discussion of this phrase two or more years ago, and
at that time somebody (it may have been myself, I don't remember)
mentioned that in Latin the word UNIVIRA is a word of high praise for a
Roman woman: it means precisely GUNH hENOS ANDROS--a woman who even though
entitled to remarry after a husband's death has deliberately not done so.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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