women in antiquity-syllabus

WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY

Interim Syllabus

SPRING 2001

(190:320 = 510:251)

Dr. Thomas J. Figueira Phone: 445-6372 (voice mail)

Dept. of History, Van Dyck Hall, CAC Dept. of Classics, Ruth Adams Bldg. DC Meetings: MW4, CAC 932-9797 (messages/general information) Off. Hrs.: To be announced. (Van Dyck 202, CAC) E-mail: figueira@rci.rutgers.edu

Phone: 932-7450

I. Nature of the Course

This course will provide an introduction to the social experiences, cultural accomplishments, and status of women in ancient Greek and Roman societies. After introductory lectures that will survey ancient Greek and Roman political and social history, we shall adopt a synthetic approach in which various categories of behavior and experience both among the Greeks and among the Romans will be treated in comparison and contrast. The content of the classes may include lectures, slide lecture(s), discussions of assigned readings, and opportunities for questions. Students will be expected to participate in classroom discussion as much as reasonably possible, given the size of the class. In the dialogues in this class, students are expected to maintain the proper academic demeanor in their comments. The readings will include two general books on women in the ancient world (Pomeroy and Cantarella) and a collection of ancient sources (Fant & Lefkowitz). This material may be supplemented periodically with handouts. When feasible, class

outlines may be circulated. The students are not only responsible for the readings and circulated materials, but also for the material presented in the lectures. Please note that the source passages are more demanding than an equivalent number of pages of other works and time should be reserved for reading them.

II. Grading and Requirements

A. 30%: Mid-term (March 7)

30%: Paper (due Apr. 18)

40%: Final (cumulative and comprehensive, with an emphasis on the second half of the course).

B. The mid-term is an in-class exam, testing material to that date; the format of the test, which will include short and written answers, will be announced.

C. The paper is a research paper of 8-12 pages to be submitted by the beginning of class on April 18. The research paper should be an analysis of the interpretation of a specific facet of the general topic of the history of women in antiquity. A list of suggestions will be circulated. A topic is to be chosen by March 7 which may be discussed in an individual meeting with the instructor. A hand-out with a format of the paper, and suggestions on how it should be

researched and written, will also be made available.

III. Required Texts

Eva Cantarella, Pandora's Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek & Roman Antiquity, trans. by M.B. Fant (Baltimore 1987) = Cantarella

Mary R. Lefkowitz & M.B. Fant, Women's Life in Greece & Rome² (Baltimore 1992) = Lefkowitz

Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity (New York 1975) = Pomeroy.

IV. Outline of Lectures and Readings

Jan. 17: Introduction to the Course

The Background on Greek and Roman Society

Jan. 22 (1): Survey of Greek Political History

Jan. 24 (2): Survey of Greek Social History: Cantarella xii-iv, 1-7, 177-79.

Jan. 29 (3): Survey of Roman Political History

Jan. 31 (4): Survey of Roman Social History

Feb. 5 (5): Women in Greco-Roman Mythology; Matriarchy: Pomeroy 1-15; Cantarella 11-23; 101-12.

Feb. 7 (6): Women in Homeric Epic, and in Bronze Age Reality: Pomeroy 16-31; Cantarella 24-33.

Feb. 12 (7): Women in Dark Age and Archaic Greece: Lefkowitz ##54-58 (pp. 23-27); #76 (pp. 55-58), ##95-100 (pp. 83-89); ##160-63 (pp. 129-30), #234 (p. 178); Pomeroy 32-56; Cantarella 34-43.

Feb. 14 (8): Female voices in Greek/Latin Poetry: Lefkowitz ##1-27 (pp. 1-10); Cantarella 71-76.

Feb. 19 (9): The Legal Status of Women in Classical Athens: Lefkowitz ##77-88 (pp. 58-70), ##91-94 (pp. 82-83), #225 (p. 170), #235 (178-79); Pomeroy 57-68; Cantarella 43-51.

Feb. 21 (10): Women in Classical Literature I (esp. Tragedy): Lefkowitz ##28-34 (pp. 10-14), ##59-61 (pp. 27-29), #164 (pp. 130-31); Pomeroy 93-112; Cantarella 63-71.

Feb. 26 (11): Women in Classical Attic Literature II (especially Comedy): Lefkowitz #35 (pp. 14-15), ##62-67 (pp. 29-31), #238 (p. 180); Pomeroy 112-19.

Feb. 28 (12): Daily Life of Non-elite Women in Classical Greece I: Lefkowitz ##36-38 (p. 16), #207 (p. 162), ##226-26 (pp. 170); #237 (p. 180), ##273-75 (pp. 205-6), #303 (p. 215), ##317-18 (pp. 218-19), ##322-25 (pp. 219-20), ##329-32 (p. 221).

Mar. 5 (13): Daily Life of Non-elite Women in Classical Greece II: Lefkowitz ##89-90 (pp. 71-82), #236 (pp. 179-80), #242 (pp. 182-84), #267 (pp.196-203), ##286-88 (pp. 209-10).

Mar. 7: MID-TERM

Mar. 19 (14): Women in Republican Rome and Status in Roman Law: Lefkowitz ##107-48 (pp. 94-119), #233 (pp. 176-78), ##258-60 (pp. 190-92), #270 (pp. 204-5); Pomeroy 149-63; Cantarella 113-32.

Mar. 21 (15): Legal Status of Roman Women II (esp. Roman Egypt): Lefkowitz ##148-59 (pp. 119-128).

Mar. 26 (16): Female Sexuality in Greco-Roman Society: Lefkowitz ##228 (pp. 170-72), #230-32 (pp. 174-76), ##240-41 (pp. 181-82), ##286-94 (pp. 209-13); Cantarella 77-89.

Mar. 28 (17): Philosophical Opinions on Women & Female Philosophers: Lefkowitz ##72-75 (pp. 38-54), #208 (pp. 163-64); ##216-19 (pp. 167-68); Cantarella 52-62.

Apr. 2 (18): The Status of Women in the Hellenistic Period: Lefkowitz ##101-6 (pp. 89-93), #213 (p. 166); #229 (pp. 172-73), ##304-7 (pp. 216-17, ##327-28 (p. 220), #333 (pp. 221-222): Pomeroy 121-48; Cantarella 90-98.

Apr. 4 (19): Women in the Public Sphere (mainly Roman): Lefkowitz ##165-206 (pp. 129-62): Pomeroy 176-89.

Apr. 9 (20): Social Attitudes toward Women in the Late Republic and Early Empire: Lefkowitz ##68-71 (pp. 31-37), ##209-12 (pp. 164-65), ##214-15 (p. 165), ##220-24 (pp. 168-69), #239 (p. 181), ##273-82 (pp. 205-7), #326 (p. 220).

Apr. 11 (21): Roman Women: Members of the Elite and General Legal Status during the Roman Empire: Lefkowitz ##243-48 (pp. 186-87), ##261-66 (pp. 192-96); Cantarella 135-70.

Apr. 16 (22): Non-elite Women during the late Roman Republic and Roman Empire: Lefkowitz ##254-57 (190), ##268-69 (pp. 203-4), ##271-72 (205), ##283-85 (pp. 208-9), ##289-302 (pp. 210-15), ##308-16 (pp. 217-18), ##319-21 (p. 219), ##334-37 (pp. 222-24): Pomeroy 164-76, 190-204; Cantarella 132-33

Apr. 18 (23): Women in Ancient Medicine: Gynecology and Medical Practice: Lefkowitz ##249-53 (pp. 187-89), ##338-82 (pp. 225-72).

Apr. 23 (24): Women in Greek Religion: Lefkowitz ##383-416 (pp. 273-96); Pomeroy 75-78.

Apr. 25 (25): Women in Roman Religion: Lefkowitz ##417-40 (pp. 296-306); Pomeroy 205-26.

Apr. 30 (26): Women and Christianity in the Roman Empire: Lefkowitz ##441-52 (pp. 307-34); Cantarella 166-75.

V. Recommended Readings (available on reserve)

A. Cameron & A. Kuhrt, eds., Images of Women in Antiquity (Detroit (1983): HQ 1127.I43 1983

S. Dixon, The Roman Mother (Norman OK, 1988) HQ 759.D59 1987

H. Foley, ed., Reflections of Women in Antiquity (New York 1981): HQ 1134.R4 1981

J. Hallett, Fathers and Daughters in Roman Society (Princeton 1984): HQ 1136.H35 1984

E. Keuls, The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens (Berkeley 1993): HQ 1134.K48 1993

M. Lefkowitz, Heroines and Hysterics (New York 1981): PA 3016.W7L4 1981

____, Women in Greek Myth (Baltimore 1986): BL 795.W6L44 1986

N. Loraux, The Tragic Ways of Killing a Woman (Cambridge MA, 1987): PA 3136.L6713 1987

D. Schaps, Economic Rights of Women in Ancient Greece (Edinburgh 1979): KBB.S32

R.I. Sealey, Women and Law in Classical Greece (Chapel Hill NC, 1990): KLG.S43 1990

S. Treggiari, Roman Marriage (Oxford 1991): KJA 2233.T74 1991

Information for the Term paper

A. The research paper it to be no less than 8 and no more than 12 double-spaced, typed pages. Longer and (especially) shorter papers will be discounted accordingly. The paper is to follow an accepted scholarly format like that of the Modern Language Association Style Sheet, the University of Chicago Manual of Style, or one of the models used by social scientists. There must be a bibliography. Great care should be taken throughout to provide proper documentation for your remarks and especially for any conclusions. The common knowledge that is assumed to be possessed by the better students in this course and that you find stated without controversy in books and articles does not require citation, by footnote or parenthesis (e.g., Sparta had two kings; the assembly of citizens at Athens was called the ekklesia). Data that have a special bearing on the subject under consideration, citations from authors (particularly from ancient authors and documents), and all statistics should normally be footnoted (e.g., the Peace of Callias is an historical fiction; Herodotus provided the standard account of the Battle of Marathon; the total population of Attica in 431 was 450,000). Conclusions which make evaluative or historical judgments upon events and upon historical figures should also be "footnoted," unless the judgment is your own, in which case say so. Whether you use footnotes or endnotes will depend on your format and word processing program.

B. Your attention is called to the Rutgers University policy on plagiarism as set out in the manual on academic integrity. If in doubt, consult the full presentation of these guidelines. It is possible to submit an unacceptable paper by these standards by a failure to provide adequate citations. Papers that are commissioned from term paper writing services are very often inferior in content in the field of ancient history (they are written by failed/failing graduate students at second-rate universities). If such usage of commissioned material is detected, grave consequences will follow.

C. A list of topics has also been circulated. It is my hope that each student can be made happy with his/her unique project. Because library resources are in many cases inadequate to permit more than one student to undertake the same topic, doubling of topics will take place only with my permission. Students may suggest their own topics, but once again these should be cleared with me. If you find your subject too difficult for you, please see me so that we can reformulate it. You may reserve a topic by signing my master list.

D. If you make an effort to speak with me, I will provide you with a list of ancient sources and the modern scholarship needed for your paper, as well as some idea as to how to proceed (e.g., the main controversies or issues). A "working" rule of thumb for a good paper is that it ought to draw on at least three ancient sources. In some cases, because of the nature of the topic, this will not be possible, and you can confirm this situation with me. Naturally the books assigned for the course and those recommended and on reserve in the library are the first places to begin researching the paper. In most cases, however, other works of modern scholarship will be

required for your research. To some of these I can give you references, and others you will find from the required and recommended books and through other means. If you are having

trouble finding books with which to do your research, hand me the tear-away sheet on the "work-sheet" or consult me by e-mail, phone, or in person.

E. Encyclopedias are in most cases inappropriate sources for research papers on the college level. Papers based on them will not be acceptable. A partial exception is made for the 1978 edition of

the Encyclopedia Britannica. Its articles, however, ought, as much as possible, to be treated like any other article or book, and they should be cited by the author's name. You are much better advised to start off with an entry (or entries) from the Oxford Classical Dictionary 3 (a one-volume encyclopedia of classical studies) that is available in both Alexander and Douglass libraries, from the Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, or from the Cambridge

Ancient History 2 (must be second edition, if at all possible). Overviews of your topic and bibliography can often be found in these works.

F. Footnotes may be at the end of your paper. There should be ample margins. You must number the pages if only by writing in the numbers. I suggest that you give me a good xerox copy, and keep the original. There should be no last minute excuses about papers lost in transit to me. Start your research early. Do not try to go home to do your paper. You and your parents pay good money so that you can use a university library here! Do the bulk of your work at Rutgers.

PAPER WORK-SHEET

I. Pick three possible paper topics:

1)__________________________________________________________________

2)__________________________________________________________________

3)__________________________________________________________________

II. Confirm topic by signing Figueira's masterlist:

Final topic:

_______________________________________________________________________

III. Get at least three ancient sources:

_________________________________________________________________________

IV. Modern scholarship (from Figueira, if needed):

__________________________________________________

V. Are these sources any good? (from Figueira, if needed):

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______________________________________________________________________________

Dear TJF:

I am __________________________ and I need some more bibliography.

My topic is __________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________