Women's virginity held tremendous significance in early Christianity and the Mediterranean world. Early Christian thinkers developed diverse definitions of virginity and understood its bodily aspects in surprising, often nonanatomical ways. Eventually Christians took part in a cross-cultural shift toward viewing virginity as something that could be perceived in women's sex organs. Treating virginity as anatomical brought both benefits and costs. By charting this change and situating it in the larger landscape of ancient thought, Virgin Territory illuminates unrecognized differences among early Christian sources and historicizes problematic ideas about women's bodies that still persist today.

About the Author
Julia Kelto Lillis is Assistant Professor of Early Church History at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.

Reviews
"An exciting and essential addition to the ever-growing body of scholarship on the body in antiquity." * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
"Lillis offers a sophisticated study that enhances historians' sensitivity to an intellectual history of virginity." * Plekos *
"This book is consummately well conceived, researched, written and produced."
* THE CLASSICAL REVIEW *
"Lillis's sophisticated treatment of this important subject will no doubt be useful to scholars exploring topics of sex, gender, the body, and late antique piety."
* Catholic Historical Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780520389014
Author Julia Kelto Lillis
Format Hardback
Page Count 290
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 499g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 25mm