Graduation Year

2026

Date of Submission

4-2026

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

Reader 1

Shane Bjornlie

Abstract

This thesis examines representations of women from early Greek history to early medieval history, focusing on how authors draw on a tradition of gender reversal as a rhetorical strategy to denigrate women in positions of power. By gender reversal, I refer to the attribution of behaviors or psychological traits – culturally coded as masculine or feminine – to the opposite sex. Through this framework, ancient historians employ masculinizing rhetoric to describe women of authority, while simultaneously portraying the men around them as weakened or emasculated. Engaging with modern scholarship on gender and historiography, this paper demonstrates how such portrayals reflect broader cultural anxieties about female power. Ultimately, this thesis argues that these narratives function less as objective histories and more as ideological tools that define and constrain acceptable expressions of female authority, shaping both ancient and enduring perceptions of gender and power.

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This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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