Telling the Girls from the Boys and Children: Interpreting Παȋδεϛ in the Sexual Violence of Populace-Ravaging Ancient Warfare

In andrapodizing or populace-ravaging ancient warfare, important Greek evidence discloses norms of martial rape meted out to girls and women in the attacked communities. This practice is unambiguously communicated when the sexually assaulted girls are designated in a female-specific way (e.g., as daughters) and they are said to be not yet ready for marriage. My main concern here is to clarify a presently ambiguous area in this regard. I show the critical import of recognizing when παȋδεϛ καί γυναȋκεϛ means that "girls and women" are subjected to this martial sexual aggression, not, as hitherto understood, "(boy and girl) children and women" or "women" alone with the παȋδεϛ set aside unscathed.