CLAS 328 B: Sex, Gender, and Representation in Greek and Roman Literature

CLAS 328: Sex, Gender, and Representation in Greek and Roman Literature

Winter 2021

MWF 11:30am-12:20 pm via Zoom

Class google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iIYIYqnEtM_8-fHBOshhVxB29wGCi5tb5Yo0aWrGBHs/edit?usp=sharing

Looking for more interesting stuff to watch and read? Check out (and add to) our class MORE MORE MORE document! https://docs.google.com/document/d/108OL1zlhD8n-0aWrlcFjiB3lXaboxfP8Kng3KLBH-yo/edit?usp=sharing

Prof. Levin-Richardson (you can call me Professor Levin-Richardson, Professor L-R, or just Professor)

Pronouns: she/her/hers

sarahlr@uw.edu

Office Hours: Zoom by appointment; just send me an email if you’d like to schedule a meeting! My personal zoom room is: https://washington.zoom.us/j/9019806802

Description:

This class explores how the categories of gender and sexuality were defined, represented, replicated, and policed in ancient Greece and Rome. What were the expectations for proper male and female behavior in Greece and Rome? What were considered appropriate sexual objects and sexual acts? How were men and women, and their gender and sexual roles, represented in literature? How did the Greeks and Romans make sure that the boundaries of these roles were maintained?  No prior knowledge is needed. Sexual violence will commonly come up in the course readings; content advisories will be indicated in the reading schedule below.

Learning Objectives:

• Situate ancient gender and sexuality within wider historical, literary, and cultural contexts
• Understand the strengths and limitations of our primary source evidence for ancient gender and sexuality
• Reflect upon the intersections of the past and present

Learning Support

If you know of something that might affect your learning (technology problems; health or family crisis; religious observance) please contact me as soon as possible, ideally at the beginning of the quarter, so that I can make appropriate accommodations. Below you can find further resources:

• UW has a Student Technology Loan Program to increase student access to technology needed for class! It’s a free program for enrolled students, and they can ship equipment to you if you are not in the Seattle area.
• Disability Resources for Students: http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/
  • If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.
  • If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.
• Religious Accommodations:
  • Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy . Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form .
• UW Academic Support: http://depts.washington.edu/aspuw/more/campus-resources/
• UW Counseling Center: http://www.washington.edu/counseling/

Other Support and Resources:

• UW Q Center (resource, advocacy, and mentoring center for queer students and concerns at the University of Washington): https://depts.washington.edu/qcenter/wordpress/
• RAINN (the national’s largest anti-sexual violence organization; includes 24/7 live chat): https://www.rainn.org/

Required Readings:

The required texts for this class are listed below and can be ordered through the University Bookstore (https://www.ubookstore.com/student) as well as through amazon.com and other sites (the total cost is about $40). Note that we are reading the SECOND edition of the Ormand text. Other required readings can be found on the course Canvas site. Each meeting in the schedule below has one or more readings to be read before that class session. On the second day of class, for example, please come to class having already watched the assigned Panopto and having read pages 25-34 of Kirk Ormand’s book (referred to as “Ormand” on the schedule).

Ormand, Kirk. 2018. Controlling Desires: Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome. SECOND EDITION. University of Texas Press. [ISBN: 978-1477311455]

Nehamas, Alexander and Paul Woodruff, trans. 1989. Plato Symposium. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing. [ISBN: 978-0872200760]

These readings are a starting point for class discussion. I strongly recommend careful reading of the assigned material as well as attending class.

Assignments and Grading:

• Quizzes (due Monday Jan 11 and Wednesday February 17 by 11:30am Seattle time): 10%
• Reaction/responses: (due Wednesday January 27 and Monday March 1 by 11:30am Seattle Time): 20%
• Midterm (due Monday February 8 by 11:59pm Seattle time; covers material from Jan 4-Feb 5): 30%
• Final Exam: (due Wednesday March 17 by 4:20pm Seattle time; covers material from the entire course, with an emphasis on material after the midterm): 40%

More information about each assignment will be made available on Canvas.

Further Expectations:

• No recording or reposting of course materials of any kind is permitted without my written authorization.
• No personal information shared within the classroom setting (including via Zoom, the discussion boards, or any other class-related media) may be shared outside of class.
• Getting in touch with each other
  • Please check your UW email daily; this is how I will communicate with you about pertinent information. You are responsible for all information disseminated over email and through the course website.
  • I’m available via virtual office hours for you! If you are anxious about assignments, please set up a time well in advance of the assignment or exam so we can discuss strategies over Zoom. I’m also happy to chat about any other class-related concerns you have, or (on a happier note), how to follow your interests in gender studies or Classics! I am happy to answer questions over email, but please check the syllabus first to see whether the answer is there.
  • I will respond to emails by the end of the next working day (which means that if you email me on Friday afternoon, I may not respond until Monday afternoon).
• Grading
  • Students are expected to adhere to ethical behavior in their work, including following guidelines posted for each assignment concerning group work and plagiarism/cheating.
    • The University of Washington prohibits the selling of notes online or through any other channels.
  • I’d be happy to discuss any of your graded work with you, but I ask that you wait twenty-four hours after receiving your assignment back in order to begin to process my feedback. After the twenty-four-hour period, please feel free to email me to set up a time for a meeting. Unfortunately, I cannot discuss grades over email.

Schedule of Topics and Required Readings:

Week 1: Introduction to Gender and Sexuality; Gender and Sexuality in Archaic Greece

M Jan 4: Introduction to Gender and Sexuality

W Jan 6: Mythologizing Gender and Sexuality in Archaic Greece

• Watch Introduction to Greek History Panopto
• [note: wartime violence and sex trafficking in the reading] Ormand chapter 2: 25-34 [online in week 1 folder if your book hasn't arrived yet]

F Jan 8: Mythologizing Gender and Sexuality in the Homeric Epics

• [note: wartime sex trafficking in this passage] Homer Iliad book 1 1 lines1-481 in Ian Johnston, trans. 2007. Homer The Iliad. Arlington: Richer Resources Publications.
• Homer Odyssey book 1. lines 277-416 and 442-514; book 2 lines 106-173 in Ian Johnston, trans. 2007. Homer The Odyssey. Arlington: Richer Resources Publications.

Week 2: Gender and Sexuality in Archaic Greece

M Jan 11: QUIZ 1 [on Intro to Greek History Lecture] DUE by 11:30am; Mythologizing Gender and Sexuality in the Homeric Epics

• [note: wartime violence and enslavement in this reading] Blundell, Sue. 1995. Women in Ancient Greece. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [chapter 4: Women in Homer]

W Jan 13: Socializing Gender and Sexuality in Archaic Greece: Male Desire

• Ormand chapter 2: 34-45 [online in week 1 folder if your book hasn't arrived yet; note that ancient pederasty is the relationship of an older and younger adult male, and should not be confused with pedophilia, the sexual abuse of children by an adult]

F Jan 15: Socializing Gender and Sexuality in Archaic Greece: Female Desire

• Ormand chapter 2: 45-54 [online in week 1 folder if your book hasn't arrived yet]
• Kamil, Miriam. 2019. “‘I shall -#$% You And *@$# You’: Grappling with Censorship as a Queer Classicist.” Eidolon Jan 17 2019. https://eidolon.pub/i-shall-you-and-you-a3841d4c5e33

Week 3: Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece

M Jan 18: NO CLASS (MLK DAY)

W Jan 20: Staging Gender and Sexuality in Classical Athens

• Ormand chapter 3: 55-59 [stop before section on Hoplites and Kinaidoi]
• Primary Source [which includes graphic violence towards the end; if you have wartime experience or have lost someone in wartime or 9/11, be especially careful/protective of your mental health]: Euripides’ Bacchae in Ian Johnston, trans. 2014. Bacchae. Arlington: Richer Resources Publications. Accessed through http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/euripides/euripides.htm

F Jan 22: Mocking Gender and Sexuality in Classical Athens

• Ormand chapter 4: Sexuality in Greek Comedy

Week 4: Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece

M Jan 25: Mocking Gender and Sexuality in Classical Athens

• [reading contains references to physical and sexual abuse against women] Aristophanes’ Lysistrata in Ian Johnston, trans. 2020. Lysistrata. Arlington: Richer Resources Publications. Accessed through http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/aristophanes/lysistratahtml.html

W Jan 27: REACTION PAPER 1 DUE by 11:30am; Lysistrata then and now

• [reading contains references to physical abuse and rape against women by their partners] Morales, Helen. 2020. Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths. New York: Bold Type Books. [chapter 2: No Peace, No Piece!] [Can be found in the week 4 folder]

F Jan 29: Legalizing Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece

• [brief discussion of rape, child prostitution] Ormand chapter 5: Legal and Illegal Sex in Ancient Greece

Week 5: Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece

M Feb 1: Philosophizing Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece

• Ormand chapter 6: Philosophical Sex

W Feb 3: Philosophizing Gender and Sexuality in Classical Greece

• Plato Symposium in Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff, trans. 1989. Plato Symposium. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing. Everyone read the beginning until Phaedrus’s speech (pages 1-8 in our translation), then your assigned speech below (based on your last name), and then from Socrates questioning Agathon until the end (pages 40-77 in our translation).
  • Last names Alvarado Garcia through Gonzalez: Phaedrus (pages 9-12 in our translation)
    
  • Last names Greenwood through Modarelli: Pausanius [contains references to/disavowal of sex with children] (pages 13-19 in our translation)
    
  • Last names Moeckli through Smithson: Eryximachus (pages 20-24 in our tranlsation)
    
  • Last names Stucker through Yuan: Agathon (pages 32-39 in our translation)
    

F Feb 5: Review

Week 6: Transition to Roman Culture

M Feb 8: MIDTERM DUE by 11:59pm; office hour during class time (if you'd like to sign up for a 10-minute slot, please do so on the class google doc)

W Feb 10: Medicalizing Gender and Sexuality in Greece and Rome

• Selections from Blundell, Sue. 1995. Women in Ancient Greece. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [week 6 folder; read from the beginning of the chapter to p. 102, stopping before the paragraph beginning “no discussion”; read the section on “Conception” on pp. 105-107]
• Selections from Lefkowitz, Mary and Maureen Fant, eds. 1992. Women’s Life in Greece & Rome: A source book in translation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. [week 6 folder; selection (not page) numbers: 338, 339 [read sections on “male and female defined” and “the role of heat”], 341 [read section on “male and female sperm”], 349 [note: discussion of mental illness and suicide], 351, 361-2]

F Feb 12: Cursing Gender and Sexuality in Greece and Rome

• Watch Introduction to Roman History Panopto
• Gager, John, ed. 1992. Curse Tablets and Binding spells from the Ancient World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [e-book available through UW library; read beginning of chapter 2 on Sex, Love, and Marriage (pp. 78-83) and catalogue #20, 24, 25, 27]

Week 7: Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Republic

M Feb 15: NO CLASS (PRESIDENTS’ DAY)

W Feb 17: QUIZ 2 DUE by 11:30am; Staging Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Republic

• [note that the reading involves discussion of rape as an element of comedic plots/ plays; reference to child prostitution on pp. 205-6] Ormand chapter 10: Roman Comic Sex [read from beginning to p. 214; skip sections on Terence's Mother-in-Law on pp. 214-22; read pp. 222-223 ("Comic Conclusions")]

F Feb 19: Legalizing Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Republic

• [accusation of sibling incest on p. 235; discussion of law against sex with children on p. 240] Ormand chapter 11: Legal and Illegal Sex in Ancient Rome

Week 8: Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Republic and Empire

M Feb 22: NO CLASS (PROF. L-R “AWAY” [= ON ZOOM ALL DAY] FOR BUSINESS)

W Feb 24: Socializing Gender and Sexuality in the Neoteric Poets of the Roman Republic

• [Note: suggestion of sibling incest on p. 249; depictions of sexual violence/rape on pp. 259-61] Ormand chapter 12: Roman Poetry about Love and Sex [read beginning of chapter to p. 265 (stop before section on Catullus and Politics), p.269 (Starting with section on Catullus in Love, For Real This Time)-p.273 (stop at top of page, just before paragraph beginning "This valorization takes....")]
• Sulpicia (a female poet!!!) poems I and IV-VI: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Tibullus.php#anchor_Toc532635331
• Milnor, Kristina. 2014. Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [in the week 8 folder; read pp. 196 [start with section “No place for a Woman…”]-200 [skip paragraph beginning “On the surface” on pages 198-199], and stop on p. 200 before paragraph beginning “It is notoriously difficult”]

F Feb 26: Socializing Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Empire

• Ovid The Art of Love in S. Kline, trans. 2001. Ovid: The Art of Love. http://poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Artoflovehome.htm
  • Book 1 [note: upsetting justifications of rape comes up in sections 4, 10, 12 and 17; there's a mention of child brides in section 2, and mythological incest in section 9]: Alvarado, Beumer, Boyan, Dang, Glepa, Greenwood, Havens, Liu, Major, Modarelli, Movva, Rao, Rubiolo, Shindhe, Smithson, Suh, Tsai, J. Wang, Wilson, Yan;
  • Book 3 [note: section 10 presents sex as owed if a lover has given a gift; section 13 presents violence against women; section 17 justifies rape]: Bassen, Bishop, Courtney, First, Gonzalez, Harris, Herrera, Maddox, Malkin, Moeckli, Rady, Robbins-Glidden, Shi, Silan, Stucker, Tran, K. Wang, Wills, Wrice
• Optional: Lee, Tori. 2017. “To Me, You are Creepy: Excluded Lovers from Rome to Rom-Com.” Eidolon Feb 13 2017. https://eidolon.pub/to-me-you-are-creepy-3646cbadc8a3

Week 9: Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Empire

M March 1: REACTION ASSIGNMENT 2 DUE by 11:30am; Transmythologizing in the Roman Empire

• Ovid Metamorphoses: Tiresias (316-338), Iphis (9.666-797 read sections on The Birth of Iphis; Iphis and Ianthe; and Isis transforms Iphis) and Caeneus (12.146-209 [note: contains brief mention of rape by Neptune]) in A. S. Kline, trans. 2000. Ovid’s Metamorphoses. http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Ovhome.htm
• [note: discussion of mythological rape in this chapter] Morales, Helen. 2020. Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths. New York: Bold Type Books. [chapter 8: Transmythology]

W March 3: Mythologizing Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Empire

• [See the week 9 folder; note: all three stories focus on rape, and Lucretia's includes her suicide] Livy History of Rome: Birth of Romulus and Remus (1.4), Sabine Women (1.9, 1.11-13), Lucretia (1.57-1.60), in Canon Roberts, trans. 1912. Livy: History of Rome. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co.
• [See the week 9 folder; note that the article focuses on stories of rape, plus suicide and murder] Joshel, Sandra. 1992. “The Body Female and the Body Politic: Livy’s Lucretia and Verginia.” In Amy Richlin, Pornography and Representation in Greece and Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 112-130.

F March 4: Philosophizing Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Empire

• Ormand chapter 15: 323-334

• [in week 9 folder] Selection from Lefkowitz, Mary and Maureen Fant, eds. 1992. Women’s Life in Greece & Rome: A source book in translation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. [selection 75]

• [in week 9 folder] Selections from Johnson, Marguerite and Terry Ryan, eds. 2005. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature. London and New York: Routledge [selections 148-9]

Week 10: Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Empire

M March 8: Satirizing and Mocking Gender and Sexuality in the Roman Empire

• Ormand chapter 16: 344-top of 346 (stop before paragraph beginning "Even Petronius's death..."); 358-74

W March 10: Gender and Sexuality in Real Life: The Case Study of Roman Pompeii

• [note: not for distribution outside our class!] Levin-Richardson, Sarah. [under review] "Identifying Gender," in Oxford Handbook of Pompeii and Environs, eds. J. Berry and R. Benefiel.

F March 12: Review

Final Exam: due Wednesday March 17 4:20pm

The grading scale used in this class is as follows