Questioning masculine domination through abduction scenes on archaeological material in the Classical Period

Ancient Greek mythology and literature consists of many events that can be explained as "rape". In these myths, the sexual desire of gods and goddesses often results in abduction. These scenes have been defined in the literature as rape, pursuit or abduction. All these expressions have found a place in the artistic representation. The main discussion of this study is the relationship between visual representation and gender in ancient Greek societies. The main question of this thesis whether we can assume the sexual violence was accepted as normal in the Aegean world in antiquity in terms of the concept of sexuality accepted today. In my thesis, I benefit from the approaches of postmodern feminist theory to sexuality, representation and gender, social anthropology, psychology and media studies in the evaluation of these material data. The material is interpreted by studies on the relationship between identity, gender and representation in modern literature. At the same time, Greek mythology and literature will be included. The relationship between sexuality, gender and representation has been the subject of many studies. This thesis will analyze the archaeological material in the lights of contemporary theoretical debates. In addition, it aims to be a critical study on how the historical context affect our view of the past while trying to understand, define and interpret the past from the perspective of today. This thesis includes the methods of gender archeology and feminist archeology studies developed within post processual archaeology in the broadest sense. In my study, which is a compilation based on published material, I will discuss the subject by prioritizing the archaeological material. The main contribution of this study is to examine scenes defined as rape, abduction or pursuit more comprehensively in the context of representation and gender.