Women in the Ancient Mediterranean

Catalog description

This course will look at the role of women over thousands of years of history throughout the Mediterranean, from northern Africa in the south to Roman territory in northern Europe and from the Mesopotamians in the east to the Celts in the west. We will explore each culture/era through the role of women in their religious stories and rituals, legal codes, education, family position, and war, paying close attention to their role as subjects and creators of art and literature. We will analyze these issues through the lens of various women’s biographies, both unremarkable commoners and royalty, through a critical examination of primary sources which will include literature, inscriptions, coinage, art, and archaeology. Throughout this study students will understand social constructs that included or excluded certain segments of society and how that ideology forms the root of culture. This will be a reading and writing heavy course.