CL2322 Gender and Sexuality in the Greek and Roman World

Module Organisers: Dr Martine Cuypers, Professor Monica Gale
Duration of Course: all year (visiting students may opt to take only the Greek half (Michaelmas term, 5 ECTS) or the Roman half (Hilary term, 5 ECTS))
Contact Hours: 38 (32 lectures, 6 seminars)
Weighting: 10 ECTS
Assessment: 20% continuous assessment (one written assignment), 80% end-of-year examination (or equivalent depending on the chosen combination of modules)

This course focuses on issues of gender and sexuality in a wide range of Greek and Latin texts and contexts, from archaic Greece to the Roman Empire. We will examine contrastive portrayals of women and men in literature and art, ideals of masculinity and femininity, sexual norms and codes, medical theories about the male and female body, views on marriage, rape, adultery and prostitution, and last but not least the relation between literature and ‘real life’ – what we may deduce from literature about the actual gender roles of women and men in Greek society, the roles they were expected to play (but in literature often refuse to play) within household, family, and state, and the development of these roles over time. Authors and texts studied include Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato and the Hippocratic Corpus; Livy, Virgil, Propertius and Ovid.

Introductory Reading

• Blundell, S. Women in Ancient Greece (Harvard 1995).
• D’Ambra, Eve, Roman Women (Cambridge 2006).
• Fantham, E. a.o. (eds.). Women in the Classical World: Image and Text (Oxford 1994).
• Golden, M. and Toohey, P. (eds.). Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome (Edinburgh 2003).
• Lefkowitz, M.R. and Fant, M.B. (eds.). Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook in Translation (3rd ed. Baltimore 2005).
• Skinner, M.B. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture (Malden 2005).

Learning Outcomes:

On successful conclusion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate:

• familiarity with a number of primary sources for the history of gender and sexuality from the Archaic age to the early Empire
• ability to comment on issues of gender and sexuality in key extracts from these sources
• familiarity with central and/or influential Greek and Roman views on masculinity and femininity, the male and female body, gender roles, love, sexuality, marriage, rape, adultery, and prostitution
• awareness of the problems involved in reconstructing social realities from the available sources