Sex/Gender:Classical Antiquity

The representations and realities of sexuality and gender in classical Greece and Rome. Primary focus on how ancient writers formulated the categories of feminine and masculine in discussions of ethics, nationality, education, politics, and science. This will enable students to think critically about some of the central literary works in the Western tradition through the socially charged categories of gender. Attention will also be directed to how literary representations compare with the actual social experience of ancient women, insofar as we may reconstruct it through the reading of literary, archaeological, and artistic evidence in social, familial, legal, and religious contexts.