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created: 03/08/02 Portrait of a woman,
c. A.D. 130. Women Professor Alan Zeitlin (Bard College): The Reality of Pregnancy and Childbirth A mother sits in a birthing chair
and delivers a baby with the help of a midwife Women in Roman Comedy (II) Women in Roman Love Elegy TOPICS FOR 2nd PAPER ANNOUNCED Women Rulers
Encaustic on cedarwood with added gilding
Musée du Louvre, Paris
in Roman Literature
and Life
CLAS-247 (IT): TTh 1:40-3:10, ETN 311
Professor Ortwin Knorr
Classical Studies Program; Mailbox: 107 Eaton;
Email: oknorr@willamette.edu
Office Hours: TTh 3:15-4:15 p.m. and by appointment, 315 Eaton
Through the study of ancient Roman texts in translation,
this course explores the life of women in ancient Rome and the way
their experience is reflected in five hundred years of Latin literature.
We will read texts from
a wide variety of genres, literary as well as non-literary. First,
we will study the role of women in Rome's mythical early history.
This will give us an initial impression of Roman views about women
and, at the same time, the necessary background in Roman political
and social history. After a look at the legal status of women in Roman
society, we will examine the way women appear in comedy, satire, and
erotic poetry, including Ovid's mock-didactic Art of Love. We will
discuss the viciously misogynistic attack of Juvenal's grumpy satirist
in his 6th Satire as well as Terence and Plautus' comical use of the
same misogynistic stereotypes to undermine contemporary prejudices
about women. In the context of Roman love poetry, we will also read
the erotic poems of Sulpicia, one of only a handful of women writers
in antiquity whose work has come down to us. We will compare her verses
with those of male writers and see if her writing reveals a particularly
female perspective. At regular intervals, we will juxtapose the representation
of women in literary sources with their real life experience, as it
can be reconstructed from the evidence of letters, inscriptions, and
medical texts. Finally, we will focus on one especially famous woman
who played an important role in Roman politics, the Egyptian queen
Cleopatra.
You will emerge from this course knowing
some memorable women from Roman history and myth. You will also have
become familiar with their daily lives and the legal and social framework
in which they moved. In addition, you will have gained the ability
to interpret and critique various types of literary and non-literary
evidence on the life of ancient Roman women. Finally, you should be
able to meaningfully compare the situation of women today with those
of their sisters in antiquity.
Required Textbooks:
1) Livy, The Early History of Rome: Books I-V of the History of
Rome from its
Foundation, tr. Aubrey de Selincourt.
London: Penguin, 1960 (Penguin Classic).
2) Plautus, Four Comedies (The Braggart Soldier, The Brothers Menaechmus,
The
Haunted House, The Pot of Gold), tr. Erich
Segal. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1996 (The World's Classics).
3) Terence, The Comedies, tr. Betty Radice. London: Penguin,
1976 (Penguin Classic).
4) Ovid, The Erotic Poems, tr. Peter Green. London: Penguin,
1982 (Penguin Classic).
5) Suzanne Dixon, The Roman Family. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins,
1991. (=SD)
6) Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant, edd., Women's Lives in
Greece and Rome,
2nd. ed., Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1992.
(=LF)
Xeroxes of other texts and articles you are required to read will
be handed out as needed.
Reports:
As part of your participation grade, you will be asked to give a 5
to 10-minute oral report, either a critical summary of a scholarly
article or a short presentation of your own (not too extensive) research
on something we all would like to know more about, for example, a
report on the institution of the Vestal Virgins in Rome. Similar issues
will probably come up over the course of the semester and will be
assigned to interested volunteers.
Papers:
You will write three papers in this class, two shorter papers of 3-4
papges and a take-home final of 7-8 pages. These papers will give
you the opportunity to explore a topic that interests you in a little
bit more depth. The topic can be one your own chosing (in consultation
with me), or you will be able to select one from a list I will hand
out two weeks before the due date.
Grading Policy:
The final grade for the course will be based on:
• class participation, a 5-10 minute oral report, and attendance:
35%
• two 3-4 page papers: 40%
• a 7-8 page final paper (take-home final): 25%
NB: Reading
and reports are due on the date under which they are listed.
SD = Susan Dixon, LF = Lefkowitz & Fant
Date
Theme
1. Tu 1/15
Introduction
• Discussion of syllabus (30-40 min)
• Laws of Romulus and Numa (LF # 107, pp. 94-95) (50-60 min)
2. Th 1/17
Women in Roman Charter
Myths
• Rome's Founding Mothers
READ:
Livy 1.1-33 (pp. 33-72 top)
REPORT ON:
Vestal Virgins (OCD, www)
3. Tu 1/22
• Three exemplary women: Tanaquil, Tullia, and
Lucretia
READ:
Livy 1.34-60 (pp. 72-101)
4. W 1/23
Pygmalion and Myrrha in Ovid's "Metamorphoses"
Eaton 311, 4-5pm
READ:
Ovid, Met. 10.238-502 (in xerox)
SPECIAL GUEST SEMINAR – ATTENDANCE REQUIRED
5. Th 1/24
• The Strong and the Weak: Cloelia and Verginia
READ:
Livy 2.9-13 (pp. 114-120); 3.33-58 (pp. 219-249)
REPORT ON:
Sandra R. Joshel, "The Body Female and the Body Politic: Livy's
Lucretia and Verginia," in Amy Richlin, ed., Pornography and
Representation in Greece & Rome, Oxford: OUP, 1992, 112-130.
6. Tu 1/29
The Legal Status of Roman Women
• Women in the Twelve Tables and Later Roman Jurists
READ:
1. Selections from Roman Legal Texts (LF pp. 95-119, ## 108-147)
2. SD pp. 1-35 ("In Search of the Roman Family").
7.Th 1/31
Special Paper Writing Session
Discussion of sample papers (in xerox)
TOPICS FOR 1st PAPER ANNOUNCED
8. Tu 2/5
• The Reality of Roman Marriage
READ:
1. Texts illustrating the relationship between husbands and wives
(LF pp. 19-23 = ## 45, 48-53; pp. 134-42 =
## 167-68, 170-72; pp. 182-86 = ## 242-247)
2. SD 36-60 ("Roman Family Relations and the Law")
REPORT ON:
Suzanne Dixon, "Family Finances: Tullia and Terentia," Antichthon
18 (1984) 78-101.
9. Th 2/7
Women in Roman Comedy (I)
• Tyrannical Wife & Greedy Courtesan
READ:
1. Plautus, The Brothers Menaechmus (Menaechmi)
2. Erich Segal's Introduction, pp. xi-xxiii, xxvii-xxx
10. Tu 2/12
• Clever Courtesans
READ:
Plautus, The Braggart Soldier (Miles Gloriosus)
• Peer review of First Drafts
FIRST DRAFT OF 1st PAPER DUE
(only introduction + outline)
11. Th 2/14
• The 'Rape Plot'
READ:
Plautus, The Pot of Gold (Aulularia)
12. Tu 2/19
• The 'Rape-in-your-Face-Plot'
READ:
Terence, The Eunuch (Eunuchus)
REPORT ON:
W.S. Anderson, "Love Plots in Menander and His Roman Adapters,"
Ramus 13 (1984) 124-34.
13. Th 2/21
• Evil Mothers-in-Law
READ:
Terence, The Mother-in-Law (Hecyra)
14. Tu 2/26
Women in Ancient Medical Texts
READ:
Ancient Texts on the female body
(LF pp. 226-55 = ## 339-55 [Aristotle, Hippocratic Corpus, Galen,
Aristaeus, Soranus])
1st PAPER DUE
15. Th 2/28
READ:
Ancient Texts on pregnancy and childbirth
(LF pp. 255-56; 265-66 = ## 356&375 [Soranus on childbirth&midwives];
pp. 259-62 = ##359-62 [superstitions]; p. 263 = ## 363, 365-66 [death
in childbirth])
REPORT ON:
Valerie French, "Midwives
and Maternity Care in the Greco-Roman World," in M. Skinner,
ed., Rescuing Creusa: New Methodological Approaches to Women
in Antiquity (Helios 13.2), Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech.
UP, 1987) 69-84.
(right) and her assistant.
Terracotta relief from a tomb in the necropolis of Isola Sacra near
Ostia (Italy),
2nd cent. AD (Museo di Ostia)
16. Tu 3/5
• Good Girl vs. Bad Girl
READ:
1. Terence, The Self-Tormentor (Heautontimorumenos)
2. Sources on Child Exposure (LF p. 94 = # 107.4; p. 187 = # 249)
REPORT ON:
1. D. Engels, "The Problem of Female Infanticide in the Greco-Roman
World," Classical Philology 75 (1980) 112-20.
2. W.V. Harris, The Theoretical Possibility of Extensive Infanticide
in the Greco-Roman World," Classical Quarterly 32 (1982)
114-16
17. Th 3/7
• Catullus' Lesbia (a.k.a. Clodia)
READ:
1. Selections from the Poetry of Catullus (in xerox)
2. Cicero on Clodia (LF p. 34-37, # 71)
REPORT ON:
T. P. Wiseman, "Clodia: Pleasure and Sway," in Catullus
and his World, Cambridge: CUP, 1985, 15-53.
18. Tu 3/12
• Propertius' Cynthia
READ:
Selections from Propertius' Monobiblos (in xerox)
19. Th 3/14
• Tibullus' Delia
READ:
Selections from the Poetry of Tibullus (in xerox)
• Peer review of First Drafts
FIRST DRAFT OF 2nd PAPER DUE
(only introduction + outline)
3/18-22 SPRING BREAK
20. Tu 3/26
• Ovid's Amores
READ:
Ovid, The Erotic Poems, pp. 85-110 (Amores I)
21. Th 3/28
• The Love Poems of Sulpicia
READ:
The Poems of Sulpicia (LF pp. 8-9, ## 22-23)
REPORT ON:
Allison Keith, "Tandem venit amor: A Roman Woman Speaks of Love"
in J. P. Hallett and M.B. Skinner, edd., Roman Sexualities,
Princeton: PUP, 1997, 295-310.
2nd PAPER DUE
22. Tu 4/2
The Roman Art of Love
• How to Find Ms. Right: Ovid's Advice on Love for Boys
READ: Ovid, The Art of Love, Book I & II (pp. 166-213)
23. Th 4/4
• How to Find Mr. Right: Ovid's Advice on Love
for Girls
READ: Ovid, The Art of Love, Book III (pp. 214-38)
24. Tu 4/9
Misogyny in Roman Literature
READ:
1. Horace, Epodes 8&12 (in xerox)
2. Juvenal, Satire 6 (LF pp. 31-34, # 69)
REPORT ON:
Amy Richlin, "Invective against Women in Roman Satire,"
Arethusa 17 (1984) 67-80
25. Th 4/11
Women and Magic
READ:
1. Horace, Satires 1.8 (in xerox)
2. Other Sources on Witchcraft (LF pp. 294-300 = ## 414-24)
TOPICS FOR 3rd PAPER ANNOUNCED
26. Tu 4/16
Women and Religion
READ:
Pagan and Christian Sources (LF pp. 273-293 = ## 383-413; pp. 300-334
= ## 425-52)
27. Th 4/18
Professional Women
READ:
Greek and Roman Sources for Female Employment (LF pp. 208-224 = ##
425-52; pp. 264-272 = ## 369-382)
28. Tu 4/23
Old Age and Death
READ:
Texts on tombs and Seneca's letter to his mourning mother Helvia (LF
pp. 16-21 = ## 39-50; p. 181 = # 239; p. 188 = # 251; p. 190 = #254-56;
p. 192-93 = # 261)
• Peer review of First Drafts
FIRST DRAFT OF FINAL PAPER DUE
(only introduction + outline)
29. Th 4/25
• Cleopatra the Politician
READ:
1. A Portrait of Cleopatra (LF pp. 147-149 = # 175);
2. Horace, Epodes 9; Odes 1.37 (in xerox)
REPORT ON:
Sarah Pomeroy, “Women in Politics”, in Goddesses, Whores,
Wives, and Slaves, New York: Schocken, 1975, 185-189.
30. Tu 4/30
• Cleopatra – an African Queen?
READ:
1. J.H. Clarke, "African Warrior Queens," in I. van Sertima,
ed., Black Women in Antiquity. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction
Books, 1988, 123-34.
2. Mary Lefkowitz, Not out of Africa, New York: Basic Books,
1996, 34-52.
31. Fr 5/3
TAKE-HOME FINAL PAPER DUE
in my office/mail box at 4 pm.