311.html

GRS 311: Sex & Gender in Ancient Greece & Rome

Illinois Wesleyan University
Fall, 2005

http://titan.iwu.edu/~classics/GRS311.html

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Instructor: Professor Nancy Sultan
Buck Memorial Library 206
Tel: 556-3173
Office Hours: M & W 2-4 and by appointment

Description: This course examines issues of sex, sexuality, and gender in the ancient societies of Greece and Rome through the study of literature, art, and science. We will investigate the representation of gender cross-culturally over time to learn what we know, and what we can’t know, about the lives of the ancient men and women, their interaction, communication and their roles in culture and society. The final project is an annotated scrapbook/album that is presented to the class for peer review. CHC, W Flag

Required Texts: Since translations vary widely, please use only the editions listed below:

M. Skinner, Sexuality in Greek & Roman Culture (Blackwell, 2005)(=Skinner)
Aristophanes, Lysistrata, trans. J. Henderson (Focus Classical Library 1988)
Plato, Symposium, trans. A. Nehamas (Hackett 1977)
The Essential Homer, trans. S. Lombardo (intro. Murnaghan) Hackett, 2000 (=EH)
The Games of Venus, ed. P. Bing & R. Cohen (Routledge, 1991)(=GV)
Sexuality & Gender in the Classical World, ed. L. McClure. (Blackwell, 2002) (=McClure)
Women's Life in Greece & Rome: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed., ed. M. Lefkowitz & M. Fant (Johns Hopkins 1992) (=WLGR)(notice the link: portions of this book are available on-line)

E-Resources:
Syllabus
IWU Greek & Roman Studies
Perseus Digital Library
Diotima (Gender in Antiquity)

Evaluation: 3 take-home essay exams 20% each; annotated album/
scrapbook 25%; class participation (includes reading quizzes and an oral presentation) 15%

Ground Rules: To receive full the 15% for participation you must attend class, participate in discussion regularly, prepare your oral presentation, and perform well on reading quizzes. You are allowed to miss three classes gratis. Late papers are docked one letter grade for each day late. To maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect, civility, and professionalism in my classroom, I do not allow hats, food, cell phones, or suggestive clothing.

Grades: I always think in terms of a letter grade first and then assign an appropriate numerical equivalent My scale is: 100-93=A, 92-90=A-, 89-87=B+, 86-83=B, etc. Grades in this course are subjective and reflect the student’s whole effort, including improvements, over the course of the semester.

Organization: Reading assignments are to be completed before the next class. Monday is often lecture day, Friday, discussion and student presentations. Students will present once during class, and will also present their album/scrapbook projects to the class before they are displayed during the final exam period. One film, Euripides' Medea, is required. The other films are for extra credit and fun.

Exams: There are three take-home essay exams, which you will have two weeks to complete. These are open-book, and should be referenced as a research paper following MLA guidelines (with in-notes and "works cited" page). Plagiarism will result in an "F" for that exam.

Oral Presentation: Early in the term, you will pull out of a hat an "infamous couple," whose lives you will research and present to the class.

Album/Scrapbook Project: Through words, pictures, and objects, you will illustrate how Greek and Roman concepts of gender have shaped our contemporary views. Click on the link for the instructions and open it in Word.

Extra-Credit: Several films with content related to the class will be shown during the term. Attendance and participation in the discussion afterward will give you extra credit toward your class participation grade. If you can't attend and want the credit, watch the video on reserve and write a 500-word response explaining important connections between ancient concepts of sexuality and gender and those represented in the film.

E-Reserves (=ER) See also the Select Bibliography

Evans, J. K. "Parent & Child: The Enigma of Roman Childhood," in War, Women and Children in Ancient Rome. Routledge, 1991.

Ortner, S. "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?" in Women, Culture, and Society, ed. M. Rosaldo & L. Lamphere. Stanford, 1974.

Pelling, C. "Anything Truth can do, we can do better: the Cleopatra legend," in Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, ed. S. Walker & P. Higgs. British Museum, 2001.

Rodgers, S. "Women's Space in a Men's House: The British House of Commons," in Women & Space: Ground Rules & Society Maps, ed. S. Ardener. Oxford, 1993.

Sultan, N. "Private Speech, Public Pain: The Power of Women's Laments in Ancient Greek Poetry & Tragedy," in Rediscovering the Muses: Women's Musical Traditions, ed. K. Marshall. Northeastern, 1993.

Schedule of Meetings
Reading assignments should be completed by the next class meeting. Please take notes and come to class prepared with 3 DISCUSSION TOPICS. Some assignments are links that must be accessed using the on-line syllabus. Follow all links to complete the assigments.

Week 1
Aug. 29: Introduction to the Course

Assignment: read 1) the myth of Tiresias, 2) S. Ortner, "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?" (e-reserve), 3) Skinner, Introduction, pp. 1-20.

Sept. 2: The bisexuality of Tiresias; the complexities of defining gender; Homer & Hesiod on Women

Assignment for next Friday: read 1) Skinner, pp. 21-44, 2) WLGR, pp. 23-27 (nos. 54-58), 3) Homer, Iliad Book 1 and Odyssey Book 1 (in EH). Jot down all sexuality and gender cues present in the opening books of both epics.

Week 2
Sept. 5: LABOR DAY--NO CLASS

Sept. 9: Sexuality and Gender in Homeric myth & culture

Assignment: Iliad, Books 2, 3; Odyssey Book 4. Pay close attention to Helen; define her character; observe and note the construction of masculinity in the epics.

Week 3
Sept. 12: (Exam I handed out)

Assignment: Iliad Books 6, 9, 14; Odyssey Books 5, 6, 10. Take notes on: the relationship between Hector, his mother Hecuba, and Andromache in Iliad 6; How Achilles and his comrades interact in Iliad 9; the relationship between Hera & Zeus in Iliad 14; Odysseus' relationships with Calypso, Nausicaa, and Circe in Odyssey 5, 6. 10. Pay attention to verbal and non-verbal (body language) communication.

Week 4
Sept. 19: "Homosexuality or 'Male Bonding'?" in Homeric epic.

Assignment: Homer, Iliad, Books 23, 24; Odyssey, Book 8; Sultan, N., "Private Speech, Public Pain: The Power of Women's Laments in Ancient Greek Poetry & Tragedy," (e-reserve)

Sept. 23: Gendered expressions of Grief

Assignment: Skinner, pp. 45-78; GV, pp. 62-65 (Alkman Partheneion); pp. 71-81 (Sappho); pp. 93-104 (Theognis); pp. 135-139 (Callimachus), pp. 141-149 (Theocritus, poem 1)

Week 5
Sept. 26:    Exam I Due

Sex, gender, & eroticism in Archaic Lyric Poetry

Assignment: King, H. "Bound to Bleed: Artemis & Greek Women," in McClure; WLGR, pp. 226-230, nos. 339, 340; pp. 233-243, nos. 343-349.

Sept. 30: The Womb

Assignment: WLGR, pp. 172-175, no.229; pp. 278-287, nos. 393-406; pp. 294-300, nos. 414-439.

Week 6
LIVE THEATRE: Oct. 5-9 ISU presents ANNA IN THE TROPICS by Nilo Cruz. Extra Credit opportunity. Set in Tampa, Fl in 1929, a story of Cuban cigar factory workers who become intimate with Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina— impotence, marital infidelity, runaway wife. Shows nightly at 7:30 and 2:00 matinee on Oct 9.

Oct. 3: Gender & Religion

Assignment: WLGR, pp. 10-15, nos. 28-35; pp. 27-31, nos. 59-68; Zeitlin, F. "Playing the Other: Theater, Theatricality, and the Feminine in Greek Drama," in McClure.

THURS. Oct. 6 FLIM: Euripides' MEDEA. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 1990. Starring Dame Judith Anderson & Zoe Caldwell. Beckman Aud., Ames Library 7:30-9:30 pm.

This film is required viewing; it's on reserve for anyone who can't make it on Thursday. Take notes as you watch, noting how the playwright Euripides interprets the role of the characters Medea, Jason, Creon, and the Nurse. Define Medea's powers. As a witch, does Medea have more, less, or the same powers a normal mortal woman might have in her situation? To what extent does Medea's magical powers effect the outcome of the play? What resourses are available to her? To Jason? To Creon? Explain.

Oct. 7: Gender in Greek Drama

Assignment: Read Skinner, pp. 112-147.

Week 7
Oct. 10: Witchy Women: Euripides' Medea

Assignment: Aristophanes' Lysistrata. See the STRUCTURE of the comedy (in Word)

WEDS. Oct 12 FILM: STAGE BEAUTY, 2004, starring Billy Crudup as "the most beautiful woman on (the 17th century) London stage" who must deal with King Charles II's decree that women may now act, and men can no longer play women's parts in plays. Beckman Aud., Ames, 7:30-9:30.

Oct. 14: Gender in Greek Comedy

Assignment: Dover, K. "Classical Greek Attitudes to Sexual Behavior," in McClure.

Week 8
Oct. 17: (Exam 2 handed out)

Is Lysistrata a model of feminism? What do Athenian women want? What is Aristophanes' message for war-weary Athens?

Assignment for Monday: Plato, Symposium. Use STUDY GUIDE (in Word);

Oct. 21: FALL BREAK DAY--NO CLASS

Week 9
Oct. 24 What defines "true love?" Plato's Symposium

Assignment: Skinner, pp. 79-111

Thurs Oct. 27. FILM: HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH. John Cameron Mitchell's 2001 rock-opera about the frustrated musical career of a transsexual East German singer/songwriter. Soundtrack includes a song based on Aristophanes' story in Plato's Symposium. Beckman Auditorium, Ames, 7:30-9:30

Oct. 28: Plato's Symposium: "homosexuality," pederasty, and the erotic

Week 10
Oct. 31: Exam 2 Due

Marriage, Prostitution, and Athenian Law

Assignment: WLGR pp. 196-203, #267; 163-64, #208; Rodgers, S.,"Women's Space in a Men's House: The British House of Commons" (e-reserve)

Nov. 4: Gendered Space, Then & Now

Assignment: Skinner, pp. 148-211

Week 11

Nov. 7: Pater Familias, Mater Familias, and the meaning of "gender" in Rome

Assignment: Pelling, C. "Anything Truth can do, we can do better: the Cleopatra Legend" (e-reserve); Finley, MI. "The Silent Women of Rome," in McClure, pp. 147-160

WEDS. Nov. 9 FILM: CLEOPATRA, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (1963). Beckman Auditorium, Ames, 7:30-9:30

Nov. 11: Women, Politics, and Power: Cleopatra vs. "Silent" Women

Assignment: GV pp. 197-202, pp. 204-205, nos. 41-42, p. 208, no. 51 (Catullus); pp. 2 25-231 (Horace); p. 243 (Sulpicia); pp. 245-258 (Propertius); pp. 263-275 (Ovid)

Week 12
Nov. 14: Erotic Roman Verse

Assignment: WLGR pp. 94-128, nos. 107-159.

Nov. 18: Gender and Roman Law

Assignment: WLGR pp. 230-233, nos. 341, 342; pp. 243-272, nos. 350-382

Week 13
Nov. 21: (Exam 3 handed out)

Medicine & Anatomy: Hippocrates, Galen, Soranus

Assignment for Monday: Skinner, pp. 212-254; Joshel, SR "The Body Female and the Body Politc: Livy's Lucretia and Vergina," in McClure, pp. 163-187

Nov. 25: THANKSGIVING

Week 14
Nov. 28: Rome, the "Venereal" City

Assignment: Evans, J.K, "Parent & Child: The Enigma of Roman Childhood" (e-reserve)

Dec. 2: Children in Roman Society

Assignment: WLGR pp. 208-224, nos. 283-337.

Week 15
Dec. 5: Exam 3 Due

Occupations

Assignment: Skinner, pp. 255-289; WLGR pp. 287-309. nos.407-440; pp. 307-334, nos.441-452

Dec. 9: Sex, Paganism and Christianity

Dec 15, 8-10 am Album/Scrapbook Presentations & Display (no extensions!)