Lucia Floridi (Università di Bologna)
University of Pavia – Cremona – Milano
18 March 2025
In Grecia si riteneva che a inventare il genere pornografico fosse stata una donna: Astianassa, ancella di Elena, la bellissima seduttrice responsabile della guerra di Troia. E donne sarebbero state le più note maestre d’amore, come Filenide di Samo, autrice di un manuale erotico scabroso e famigerato. Eppure, c’era chi sosteneva che Filenide fosse una donna onesta, e che il vero autore del manuale che circolava sotto il suo nome fosse Policrate. D’altro canto, non tutti erano disposti a credere che Panfila, vissuta probabilmente in età neroniana, fosse davvero l’autrice delle molte opere storiografiche ed erudite che le erano attribuite. Ad averle scritte sarebbe stato piuttosto suo marito, o forse suo padre.
Attraverso una rassegna di vere e false voci femminili nella Grecia antica si rifletterà su quali temi fossero ritenuti appannaggio delle donne, e su pregiudizi di genere forse ancora oggi non del tutto superati.
In Greece it was believed that it was a woman who invented the pornographic genre: Astianassa, handmaiden of Helen, the beautiful seductress responsible for the Trojan War. And women would have been the most notorious masters of love, such as Philenides of Samos, author of a scabrous and infamous erotic manual. Yet, there were those who claimed that Philenides was an honest woman, and that the real author of the manual circulating under her name was Polycrates. On the other hand, not everyone was willing to believe that Panfila, who probably lived in the Neronian age, was really the author of the many historiographical and erudite works attributed to her. Rather, it would have been her husband, or perhaps her father, who had written them.
Through a review of true and false female voices in ancient Greece, we will reflect on what themes were considered the preserve of women, and on gender prejudices that are perhaps still not entirely overcome today.
The seminar will be held on Tuesday, March 18, at 4 p.m. in the Robertini Lecture Hall of the Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage.
It will also be possible to attend the event remotely by requesting the link at mariajennifer.falcone@unipv.it.