Women, gender and ANE scholarship is one of the most exciting topics for those interested in gender studies. Studying this topic in depht is as rewarding as it is frustrating. Exciting because from myth to sacred poetry, there were goddesses who served as models of wholeness for normal women, as well as we have real accounts from clay tablets showing dowries for the bride-to-be which could return to herself only in case she got the divorce or lost her husband, law suits involving the protection of women and children and even a royal mail requiring that the names of widows and children of soldiers fallen in battle be dutifully written up so that they can be accounted and cared for by the king. Frustrating because we need to re-interpret extant texts in the light of new scholarship. But questions on the role of women in Mesopotamian society is highly relevant because because we will be able to get a glimpse of "what women wanted" and really achieved at the dawn of history in the West.

It is therefore intention of this forum to discuss Women´s Issues and illustrate findings with examples from factual sources and myth, whenever possible.