Lesbian Historic Motif Project: #71 Rehak 2002 “Imag(in)ing a Women’s World in Bronze Age Greece: The Frescoes from Xeste 3 at Akrotiri, Thera”

Rehak works on reconstructing (or at least plausibly imagining) female-centered aspects of Cretan society based on a series of frescoes from one particular site on the island of Thera. Aegean art of this era (ca. 1700-1100 BCE) does not portray images of sexual intercourse or even displays of affection or intimacy (whether between members of the opposite or same sex). But the activities depicted for women in these paintings do indicate a homosocial environment and show rites of passage at different stages of a woman’s life, an interpretation aided by fixed artistic conventions for portraying different sexes and ages.

The series of paintings focuses around the gathering of saffron crocuses. Both male and female figures are present, but generally in sex-segregated groupings and with women portrayed as larger and more central to the important activities. The majority of the article reviews the various scenes and figures in detail. Rehak also considers medicinal uses of saffron and how they may be depicted in some of the paintings. The author seems to be on solid ground in establishing the depiction of a gender-segregated society in which women are shown in higher-status contexts. However his conclusion that in such a context, “it would be surprising indeed if these...women did not express their care and attention for each other erotically” is given little additional support other than a later association of floral landscapes with sexuality. More importantly (to me) seems the evidence that gender segregation did not automatically imply lesser status for women.