Lit and Culture: Ancient Transgressions

Catalog description

This interdisciplinary course will focus on transgressions of social, religious, and cultural boundaries of the ancient Mediterranean world. Studying literary, historical, and artistic sources, we will investigate depictions of aberrant behavior, staying attuned to the forces that compel humans to violate established norms of conduct, and evaluating the societal upheavals caused by these violations. What compels a person to be lead astray from proper conduct or previously held principles? How do individuals, families, and communities respond to, and attempt to recover from, ruptures of expected behavior? We will consider the personal, political, historical, and cultural implications of these questions by examining Classical ancient texts and their continuing influence on the contemporary world, culminating in a multi-media investigation of the enigmatic figure of Cleopatra, the historical ruler of Egypt who was castigated by ancient Romans, (in)famously portrayed in Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra, and immortalized centuries later in Mankiewiczs 1963 blockbuster film. Looking at a variety of sources from a range of time periods, we will use the thematic of transgression to examine the continual interplay between history and artistic re-presentation of history, and to explore the living legacy of the ancient Mediterranean.