Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome

Catalog description

An examination of gender, sexuality, and sexual desire in ancient Greece and Rome. This course examines issues of gender and sexuality in Greece and Rome. Through close analysis of ancient texts and artifacts, we will explore representations of gender in literature and art, medical theories of the male and female body, sexual norms and codes, and views on marriage, rape, adultery, and prostitution. In addition, we will consider how eroticism and gender both support and subvert political and social ideologies. The objective of this course is to enable students to analyze gender identities and conventions surrounding sexuality in the context of the Greek and Roman worlds. This course will also invite students to consider the influence of ancient conceptions of gender and sexuality on modern discussions and debates. Authors and texts may include Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, the Hippocratic corpus, Catullus, Virgil, Ovid, and Augustine. These ancient readings will be supplemented with selections from modern feminist theorists and gender studies.