Illustration: Copilot Dear souls of grace and depth, Many of you may find yourselves wondering: “In this age, in this century, what place does such a text—one that reaches back into the ancient—truly have?” Perhaps my words carry the dust of the past. Perhaps they call forth echoes from eras we would rather not remember. And yet, despite all our proud modernity, I believe the role assigned to women today differs far less from that of ancient times than we like to imagine. And