Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World

In this course we will examine issues of gender and sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome. Through close analyses of ancient texts and material remains, we will discuss representations of gender in literature and art, sexual norms and codes, medical theories concerning the male and female body, and views on marriage, rape, adultery, and prostitution. In addition we will examine the relationship between the construction of gender identities in literature and the actual roles of men and women in society. Authors and texts include Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, the Hippocratic Corpus, Livy, Virgil, Ovid, and Catullus. (This course counts as elective credit towards the major in Classics and the major in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies)