Research on women in antiquity and anthropological studies of the contemporary Mediterranean world reveal that generally Mediterranean women were most active and most powerful within the domestic realm. However, there is considerable evidence to show that some took on more public roles during the Late Republic. The sayings source Q witnesses to a community in which women may have been active both within and without the household. By pairing examples of women's and men's actions, Q indicates that women and men were the recipients of its rhetoric. The breaking apart of families, to which Q also testifies, is evidence that social hierarchies were being challenged. Both factors support the thesis that the Q people were involved in a wider social phenomenon of the Hellenistic world which offered more opportunities for women to participate publicly.
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