Sexuality and Gender in the Ancient World
CLCS 237 · Fall 2003 · Tentative Syllabus

What does it mean to be male, female, masculine, feminine, man, woman, boy, girl? What can we discover about you from the way(s) you have sex, and with whom? How are all these things related to life, love, power? These are just some of the questions that CLCS 237 will consider -- first with reference to the peoples of ancient Greece and Rome, but also (eventually) with reference to ourselves. We will look at a number of ancient texts in modern English translation, and perhaps some films too, for relevant cultural materials. Classes will consist of a combination of lecture and discussion; nightly assignments will focus principally on readings.

This is a tentative syllabus, and subject to revision by the instructor at any time. This version updated Thursday 031016, at 7:30 pm. Check frequently for further revisions. (Be sure, when you do check, that you click 'refresh' [or 'command+reload', if you use Netscape] on your internet browser, so that you get the latest version; otherwise, your computer may display a cached, and now obsolete, version.)

URGENT WARNING! READ THIS NOW!

In the course of this semester, we are going to be discussing issues of sexual behavior in very frank (and sometimes vernacular) terms; in the interests of intellectual exploration -- not of prurience -- we will also be viewing images and films that may also include graphic nudity, sexual acts of a wide variety, and/or violence. If any of this offends, disturbs, shocks, or insults you, or makes you in any other way uncomfortable, you should drop the course immediately. Your not dropping the course will signify that you are comfortable in such an environment, and that you intend to participate in such an intellectual exploration.

ALSO, PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

  • Because this course has never before been taught in this format, this semester's syllabus will be to a certain extent experimental. We will use the books ordered for the course, and adhere to the reading schedule as much as that is feasible; but the instructor reserves the right to maintain as much flexibility as he deems necessary for the success of the course. In that very tentative spirit, the following provisional schedule is offered. Changes will be announced in class as soon as they are decided upon.
  • The COURSE POLICY SHEET constitutes an extension of this syllabus. You are responsible for all the information contained in both documents, so please read both of them immediately, carefully, and completely.
  • I am aware that many of you have already read the Odyssey before now. The fact that I am setting substantial reading assignments in it means that I nonetheless want you to read it again, this semester, and carefully. I guarantee that you will see new things in the poem each time you re-read it. (I should know -- I re-read it all the time!) I urge you to take written notes on your reading -- this will focus your attention as well as provide you with a record of the interesting and important things you are encountering in the text. It will also provide you with ideas and questions to bring to our in-class discussions. (This habit of note-taking as you read would, in fact, be an excellent one for you to inculcate in all your college courses. Your notes need not be elaborate, nor even in complete sentences, but they ought to be clear enough for you to understand them several months from now. That will be the deciding factor in enhancing their shelf-life as a record of your intellectual activity in a given semester. I can guarantee you that you'll enjoy reading them ten years from now.)

    Schedule of Topics & Assignments

    Part I. Introductory
    Weeks 1-2. Gender Theory.
    I may assign you some book chapters and/or journal articles to read, but the first thing I would like you to make some progress in reading is the Odyssey of Homer. This is a sizeable poem, arguably one of the greatest (the greatest?) work of Western literature, and will take you some time to digest, even if you read very quickly. So, for our class meeting on Tuesday 2 September, please make sure you have read -- carefully and completely -- books 1-8 of the Odyssey, in the Lombardo translation (see below).

    Please continue to check here, frequently, for further assignment updates.

    Part II. Greek Civilization
    Weeks 3-7. Homer
    Week 8. [Tues = Fall Break;] Thurs: Boundary Theory
    Week 9. Sappho, Lyric Poets; Greek Tragedy
    Week 10. Greek Tragedy (contd); MIDTERM TEST.
    Week 11. Plato: Republic; Symposium

    Part III. The Roman Republic and Empire
    Week 12. Cicero, Pro Caelio; Catullus, Poems
    Week 13. Ovid, Heroides; Metamorphoses
    Week 14. Ovid, Metamorphoses (contd) [THURS = Thanksgiving Break]
    Week 15. Petronius, Satyricon
    Week 16. Juvenal, Satires 2, 6; New Testament [selections]

    Part IV. Epilogue
    Week 17. FINAL EXAM on WEDS17 DEC, 3.20-5.20 pm, in our regular classroom.
     

    Texts

    TEXTS REQUIRED FOR PURCHASE (Available at Von's Books) (but see also below, ''Online Versions')

    Homer. Odyssey. Transl. Stanley Lombardo. Hackett 0-87220-484-7
    Sappho. Poems and Fragments. Transl. Stanley Lombardo. Hackett 0-87220-591-6
    Aeschylus. Oresteia. Transl. Peter Meineck. Hackett 0-87220-390-5
    Sophocles. Antigone. Transl. Paul Woodruff. Hackett 0-87220-571-1
    Euripides. Euripides I. Eds. Grene & Lattimore. U of Chicago Press 0-226-30780-8
    Euripides. Bacchae. Transl. Paul Woodruff. Hackett 0-87220-392-1
    Cicero. Selected Political Speeches. Penguin 0-14-044214-6
    Ovid. Heroides. Transl. Harold Isbell. Penguin 0-14-042355-9
    Ovid. Metamorphoses. Transl. Allen Mandelbaum. Harvest/Harcourt Brace 0-15-600126-8
    Juvenal. The Sixteen Satires. Transl. Peter Green. Penguin 0-14-044704-0
    Petronius. Satyricon. Transl. Sarah Ruden. Hackett 0-87220-510-X

    TEXTS RECOMMENDED (NOT REQUIRED) FOR PURCHASE (Available at Von's Books)

    Andrew Miller, ed. Greek Lyric. Hackett 0-87220-291-7. (This book is one of the best available collections of the fragments of Greek lyric poetry, translated into readable, accurate English. There are some annotations. It even includes some selections from Pindar. And, like all Hackett publications, the price is very reasonable. A good basic reference volume. You will find it interesting, I think, to compare Miller's translations of Sappho with those of Lombardo in the Sappho volume listed above -- and with those of Lattimore, found online [see below])
    Classic Reference Bible. New International Version. Zondervan 0-310-94548-8. (Of course many of you will own a copy of the Christian Bible, but please make sure you will not be doing your readings for this course in the King James Version [KJV]. This translation was made from Greek manuscripts of inferior quality, and moreover was produced in 1611 -- the English language has changed drastically since that time. The New International Version [NIV], which I have ordered for you at Von's, is both highly accurate and up-to-date linguistically.)

    ONLINE VERSIONS

    It is strongly recommended that students buy the exact editions listed above, under 'Texts Required for Purchase'; we will be working from these in class, and it is helpful to have matching page-references as well as (more importantly) similar translations. For those who are financially strapped, however, some of the assignments can be read online. The translations -- all in the public domain -- are not as good as those in the editions listed above, and some of them are rather dated (which makes them not as easy to read); but the price is right. (In the case of Homer, particularly, I really do want you to buy the editions listed above.)

    For a selection of course-related texts that you can read online for free, click here, then scroll down on that page to 'Greek Sources' and 'Latin Sources.'