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The research explores how women in late antique Egypt used social capital to navigate and influence patriarchal structures.

April 22, 2026Open Access

Violence and social competition in late antique Egypt: Women as victims and adjudicators

Key Points

The research explores how women in late antique Egypt used social capital to navigate and influence patriarchal structures.
Analyzes legal petitions from women invoking violence in late antique Egypt.
Utilizes Pierre Bourdieu’s model of capital to assess social contexts and dynamics.
High-status women were found to negotiate patriarchal systems using their social capital.
The study reveals a nuanced view of women's agency, contradicting the idea that they always resist gender hierarchies.

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article uses Pierre Bourdieu’s model of capital to examine the social contexts of women’s legal petitions that invoke episodes of violence in late antique Egypt. Challenging notions of victimhood and that women’s agency must always be seen within a paradigm of challenging gendered hierarchies, it argues that high(er) status women used their capital to negotiate patriarchal systems, rather than try to subvert them. It therefore offers a more nuanced understanding of women's agency in late antiquity and the intersectional nature of power.

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