1Classics/Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies 127Women, Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greece and RomeMacalester CollegeProfessor Beth Severy-HovenFall 2009Aristophanes: Three Plays by Aristophanes. Staging Women. Jeffrey Henderson, translator. Routledge, 1996.Blundell: Sue Blundell, Women in Ancient Greece. Cambridge (MA), 1995.Carson: Anne Carson, If Not, Winter. Fragments of Sappho, New York, 2002.D’Ambra: Roman Women, Cambridge, 2007.Williamson: Margaret Williamson, Sappho’s Immortal Daughters, Cambridge (MA), 1995.* Reading or link provided on course Moodle site; see http://moodle.macalester.edu/.WEEK 1Wednesday, September 9: Welcome and IntroductionFriday, September 11: Women, Gender and Classics Reading: 1)* M. Skinner, “Classical Studies, Patriarchy and Feminism” Women’s StudiesInternational Forum 10 (1987) 181-6; 2) * Selected Poetry; 3) Blundell, “Introduction,”9-12Questions: What has been the role of Classics in ‘Western’ society? Why is the fieldwell suited to this role? Why are you taking this course – what does “Classics” mean toyou? What specific changes did Skinner call for in the discipline in 1986? How do thepoems reflect the same world described by Skinner?WEEK 2Monday, September 14: Introduction to Sex, Gender, Sexuality and Archaic GreeceReading: 1) * Mari Mikkola, “Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender,” StanfordEncyclopedia of Philosophy, sections 1-3.4 and Conclusion; 2) Blundell, “The ArchaicAge” and “Women and the Poets,” 63-94Questions/Tasks: 1) Be prepared to give a definition of the terms gender, sex andsexuality, and to offer objections to your own definitions. How does Judith Butler’snotion of performativity relate to these terms? 2) What were the salient features of thearchaic period in Greek history (economic, political, artistic, etc.)? What were the salientfeatures of women’s lives in Archaic Greece? How do we know? What are the problemswith the evidence we have?Wednesday: September 16: Introduction to SapphoReading: Williamson, 1-89Questions: 1) What problems face us in interpreting the poems of Sappho? 2) Whatdetails, arguments or ideas intrigue you? Send questions to me by 8pm Tuesday.Friday, September 18: Sappho’s PoetryReading: 1) Browse through the Carson translation of Sappho’s poetry, reading closely atleast fragments 1, 2, 16, 31, 51, 94, 96, 98A, 102, 105A, 105B, 110, 111, 114, 121, 130,131, 132, and 148; 2) * Selected Contemporary Male PoetryQuestions: Do you perceive differences between Sappho’s poems and those of her malecontemporaries? Consider poetic techniques, themes, characters, etc. How would youcharacterize Sappho herself based on her work?2WEEK 3Monday, September 21: Sexuality and Ritual in Sappho; QUIZ on Greek MaterialsReading: Williamson, 90-132Questions: 1) What does it mean for sexuality to be part of one’s public rather thanprivate life? How may this have been so for Sappho and her female contemporaries?How is it so in the contemporary US? 2) In light of these ideas, which poems might youinterpret differently?Wednesday, September 23: Scholarship on SapphoReading: * Ellen Greene, “Sappho, Foucault, and Women's Erotics” Arethusa 29.1(1996) 1-14Questions/Tasks: In your own words, describe Foucault’s conception of ancient Greeksexuality and the critique of it offered by Greene. What is poetic apostrophe? How doesit illustrate Greene’s critique? Find another fragment which achieves the same or asimilar effect. Are there poems which contradict Greene’s assertions?Friday, September 25: Hymn to DemeterReading: * Hymn to DemeterQuestions: How do Demeter and Persephone’s experiences mirror those of archaicwomen as presented by Blundell, Williamson and/or Sappho? How does the hymnreinforce dominant social hierarchies such as gender? How might it be seen to undermineor challenge them?WEEK 4Monday, September 28: Introduction to Classical AthensReadings: Blundell, “The Classical Age,” 95-97, “Women in Athenian Law andSociety,” and “The Lives of Women in Classical Athens,” 113-49Questions: What are the salient features of the Classical period in Greek history? Howdid the lives of women in Classical Athens differ from those in the archaic period? Howdo we know? What is the relationship between political systems and gender in Athensduring this time?Wednesday, September 30: TragedyReading: Euripides’ MedeaQuestions: What social categories besides gender are at work in Euripides’characterization of Medea? How does the play challenge or reinforce such hierarchies? Friday, October 2: Women’s Speech in AthensReading: * Laura McClure. “The City of Words: Speech and the Athenian Polis,” fromSpoken Like a Woman, 3-29. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999Questions: This chapter introduces McClure’s book-length argument, so it concludeswith her thesis. What is this thesis? How might her argument apply to the Medea? Howmight this muddle our attempts to use the play to understand the Athenian construction ofgender? WEEK 5Monday, October 5: Medical TextsReading: 1) Blundell, “Women’s Bodies,” 98-112; 2) * Helen King, “Producing Woman:Hippocratic Gynecology,” in L. Archer et al, Women in Ancient Societies, 102-14. NewYork, 19943Questions: What is King’s thesis? How do the notions of the body King and Blundellpresent resonate with or change our developing understanding of women, gender andsexuality in the Classical period? How might the relationship between culture andscience be seen as similar today? Wednesday, October 7: Medical Texts; Paper on Gender Construction Due by 5pmReading: 1.* Selections from the Hippocratic Corpus (Women’s Life in Greece and Rome#341, 343, 344, 346, 348, 349); 2)* Selections from Aristotle (Women’s Life in Greeceand Rome # 339)Questions/Tasks: 1) Find specific passages that illustrate King’s thesis. 2) How mightyou explain certain symptoms differently from the Hippocratic doctors or Aristotle? 3)How does Aristotle reason? How does he formulate and prove his theories, and how doesthis affect his analysis of women?Friday, October 9: Law and OratoryReading: * Demosthenes (?)/Apollodorus, Against NeaeraQuestions: 1) Be able to give a general history of Neaera’s life based on the prosecutor’saccount. 2) What are the precise charges in the case? What of the evidence presented isrelevant to those charges? What else is the orator working on in the speech?WEEK 6Monday, October 12: