Oriental Women

Pollard's 1907 study argues that a civilization's treatment of women reveals its true level of cultural advancement, then applies this thesis across the ancient Near East. He begins with Hebrew society, tracing the influence of figures like Sarah, Rebekah, Ruth, and Esther, while acknowledging the scandal of Jezebel as an aberration. The text then moves through Babylon and Assyria, where the goddess Ishtar held sway, noting the paradoxical isolation of elite women alongside the freedom of commoners. Egyptian women emerge as uniquely empowered, participating in religious worship and managing household affairs alongside their husbands. Written with the confidence of Edwardian scholarship, Pollard measures each civilization against his index of civilization, finding much to admire in ancient Hebrew family life while critiquing the restrictions of other cultures. The result is a fascinating period document that reveals as much about early twentieth-century assumptions about the Orient as it does about the ancient worlds it describes.