Religious scholars, classicists, and historians reflect on ancient conceptions of gender, with an emphasis on how constructions of gender can be understood to intersect with religious discourses in antiquity, particularly in rhetorical representation and modes of argument. Their topics include Greek androgyny, the Roman imperial politics of masculinity, and the Roman invention of the tribas, the rhetoric of magic in early Christian discourses; masculinity and empire in Mark's gospel and Xenophon's An Ephesian Tale; the adultery type-scene and the Acts of Andrew; preliminary notes on queer theory and rabbinic literature; and the cult of Paideia in Lucian's Alexander. The Society of Biblical Literature publishes the paper edition; the cloth edition was published by Brill in 2007. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)