| Who is a virtuous woman? How could she develop such goodness? This dissertation examines the ancient moral-philosophical curriculum for women by comparing two pseudepigraphic epistolary corpora: the letters attributed to Pythagorean women and the New Testament Pastoral Letters. The investigation is organized around four elements necessary for this educational program: textual resources, teachers and learners, instructional strategies, and subject matter. I provide a text history of each collection and suggest how the letters function as teaching resources. My conclusions are: (1) that the authors identify older women in particular as the appropriate teachers for younger women; (2) that the argumentation of the letters relies heavily on antithetical reasoning and examples; and (3) that the various elements of the topos of "the good woman" limit a woman's demonstration of her virtue to her domestic relationships and activities. The pseudonymous author of the Pastorals has taken up nearly all of the "pagan" aspects of this curriculum, but has supplemented these with theological justifications drawn from the Pauline literature and traditions. His prescriptive ideal seeks to train women as "Christian philosophers of the household."... |
