HIS 231: WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY

Sec. 56138

Spring 2006

Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45 p.m.; AD 120

Prerequisites: HIS 101 or HIS 112 recommended

Professor Linda Bregstein Scherr

Office: LA 121

Office Hours: Mon. & Wed., 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Tues., & Thurs., 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Office Phone: 609-586-4800 ext. 3839

Mailbox: Division of Liberal Arts Office, LA 170

Email:

This course will explore the lives and representations of women in the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, China, and the Americas through readings in ancient texts in translation, supplemented with the commentary of modern scholars. The course will study the legal, social, and cultural roles and status of women in antiquity as conveyed through a variety of sources, notably literature, legal and economic texts, art, and archaeology.

Throughout the course, we will focus on a several basic questions: how much of the reality of women’s lives can we actually recover, given that our surviving sources were almost entirely produced by men? What were the prevailing attitudes towards gender roles, and how did they vary in different places and times in the ancient world?

In more specific terms, at the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Read primary and secondary historical sources critically, with an understanding of their validity, perspective bias, audience, and context.
  • Use information technologies in acquiring new knowledge and perspective.
  • Construct an historical essay that presents a clear thesis, a persuasive argument, and well-researched supporting data.
  • Identify the contributions of important women in antiquity.
  • Describe major movements, trends, and developments of women’s history.
  • Discuss with authority, in writing and verbally, the historical forces (e.g., religion, economics, politics, social stratification, individual actors, intellectual and aesthetic thought, etc.) behind the major movements, trends, and developments of women’s history.
  • Analyze other time periods and cultures with little or no ethnocentrism, thus displaying a sense of informed perspective and a deeper appreciation of the common threads of human nature.
  • Understand and appreciate the similarities and key differences of women’s experiences in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese, and ancient American societies.
  • Work effectively in group situations
  • Cultivate self-awareness and interest in other cultures as they consider how events and issues similar to those faced by women in the ancient world continue to confront women in the contemporary world.

Required Readings:

Sarah Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves. NY: Schocken Books. 1995. (List price $16; Amazon.com price $10.88)

Euripides, Medea. (Any translation, or download at

Elaine Fantham, H. P. Foley, N. Kampen, S. Pomeroy and H. Shapiro, eds. Women in the Classical World, Oxford University Press, 1995. (on reserve)

Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, HarvardUniversity Press, 1993. (on reserve)

Various required articles and primary source texts (some will be handed out in class, others will be published on the internet).

Materials on Reserve:

Blundell, S. Women in Ancient Greece. HarvardUniversity Press. 1995.

Brosius, M. Women in Ancient Persia, 559-331 B.C. NY: OxfordUniversity Press. 1998.

Cantarella, E. Pandora’s Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity. Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press. 1987.

Fantham, E., H.P. Foley, N. Kampen, S. Pomeroy, and H. Shapiro, Women in the Classical World. NY: OxfordUniversity Press. 1995.

Fraschetti, A. Roman Women.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1991.

I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome. D.Kleiner and S. B. Matheson, eds.YaleUniversityArt Museum. 1996.

Lefkowitz, M. and M. Fant, Women's Life in Greece and Rome. Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press. 1992.

Mistress of the House, Mistress of the Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt. A. Capel and G. Markoe, eds.CincinnatiArt Museum. 1996.

Pomeroy, S. Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece: Representations and Realities. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1997.

Robins, G., Women in Ancient Egypt. HarvardUniversity Press. 1993.

Tyldesley, J. Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt. NY: Penguin Books. 1994.

Recommended: a very helpful website with much additional information and bibliography, especially for Greece and Rome: DIOTIMA:

Course Requirements:

Students will be evaluated through:

Attendance and class participation (15%)

Two group presentations (20% [10% each])

Midterm (20%)

Take Home Final Exam (20%)

One 6-8 page research paper or website (25%)

The format of the midterm and final exams will be brief identifications and short essay questions. The exams will be take-home.

Suggested topics for the research papers will be handed out by February 15. All students must choose their paper topics (from one on the suggested list or a topic of your own choosing with the instructor's permission) by March 1. An annotated bibliography for the paper is due on March 29, and the outline is due April 24. Papers are due in class on May 1 (no exceptions).

Note that attendance and class participation are essential and will count substantially toward the final grade.

The course counts in the General Education curriculum as either Historical Perspective or Diversity and Global Perspective.

Semester Schedule*:

*Schedule subject to change*

DATES / TOPICS & DUE DATES / READINGS
I. Sources, methodologies, and historical background
Jan. 18 / The Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World: Why and How
Jan. 23 / Text, Artifact and Image: The Sources of Women’s History; Women’s Work: The First 4 Million Years / Hughes and Hughes, “Prehistoric Women: Shaping Evolution, Sustenance, and Economy,” in Women in the Ancient World, pp. 9-25 (Reserve)
II. Women in Ancient Mesopotamia
Jan. 25 / Overview of Mesopotamian History; Women in Ancient Mesopotamia / Karen Nemet-Nejat, “Women in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations., pp. 85-114. (Reserve)
Barbara Lesko, “Women of Ancient Egypt and Western Asia,” in Becoming Visible, pp. 15-45. (Reserve)
Jan. 30
Feb. 1 / The Legal and Economic Status of Women
Mesopotamia, continued / Law Code of Hammurabi;
The Epic of Gilgamesh (excerpts)
III. Women in Ancient Egypt
Feb. 6
Feb. 9 / Information Literacy Orientation (Location TBA)
Overview of Egyptian History
Feb. 13
Feb. 15 / Women in Ancient Egypt
Group Projects on Women in Ancient Egypt / Gay Robins, “Women in Ancient Egypt,” in Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations. B. Vivante, ed. CT: Greenwood Press, 1999, pp. 155-187.(Reserve)
Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt (Cincinnati Art Museum, 1997) On Reserve
Feb. 20
Feb. 23 / Group Projects on Women in Ancient Egypt, continued
Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III; The Economic and Legal Status of Women; Women and Religion / “The Challenges of Rule in New KingdomEgypt: Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III,” in Sharing the Stage: Biography and Gender in Western Civilization., pp. 3-27.(Reserve)

IV. Women in the Biblical World

Feb. 27
Mar. 1 / Women in the Biblical World
V. Women in Ancient Greece
Overview of Greek History
Selection of Essay Topic Due
Take Home Midterm Handed Out – due March 8 / Hughes and Hughes, “Israel: Jewish Women in the Torah and the Diaspora,” in Women in the Ancient World, pp. 63-78 (Reserve)
Mar. 6
Mar. 8 / Greece - Goddesses and Gods; Women in the Bronze Age and Homeric Epic; Women in the Dark Age and Archaic Periods
Women and Private Life in Athens
Greece-“Pericles and Aspasia”
Take Home Midterm Due / Pomeroy, pp. 1-56
Bella Vivante, “Women in Ancient Greece,” in Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations, pp. 219-256.(Reserve)
Marilyn Katz, “Daughters of Demeter: Women in Ancient Greece,” in Becoming Visible, pp. 47-75(Reserve)
Pomeroy, pp. 57-92
“Politics and Private Life in Classical Athens: Pericles and Aspasia,” in Sharing the Stage: Biography and Gender in Western Civilization., pp. 28-54. (Reserve)
Spring Break
No Class March 13-17 / Read assigned play over Spring Break
Mar. 20
Mar. 22 / Greece Images of Women in Athenian Art and Literature; Euripides’ Medea
Women in Greek Drama
  • Women in Aeschylus (focus on Agamemnon)
  • Women in Sophocles (focus on Antigone)
  • Women and Aristophanes (focus on Lysistrata)
/ Pomeroy, pp. 93-119
Mar. 27
Mar. 29 / Group Discussions on Greek Drama
Hellenistic Women
Annotated Bibliography for Research Paper Due / Pomeroy, pp. 120-148
Apr. 3
Apr. 5 / V.Women in Ancient India
Overview of Indian History; Women in Ancient India
Women in Indian Law and Religion / Karen Lang, “Women in Ancient India,” in Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations, pp. 35-61.(Reserve)
Hughes and Hughes, “India: Women in Early Hindu and Buddhist Cultures,” in Women in World History, pp. 47-61 (Reserve)
Apr. 10
Apr. 12 / V. Women in Ancient Rome
Overview of Roman History
The Roman Matron / Pomeroy, pp. 149-189
Judith P. Hallett, “Women in the Ancient Roman World,” in Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations., pp. 257-289. (Reserve)
Jo Ann McNamara, “Matres Patriae/Matres Ecclesiae: Women of Rome,” in Becoming Visible, pp. 77-103.(Reserve)
Apr. 17
Apr. 19 / “Cornelia and Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus”
Women of the Roman Lower Classes / “A Roman Matron and Her Revolutionary Sons: Cornelia and Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus,” in Sharing the Stage: Biography and Gender in Western Civilization., pp. 55-86.(Reserve)
Pomeroy, pp. 190-204
Apr. 24
Apr. 26 / Women in Roman Religion
Outline for Research Paper Due
“Augustus and Livia” / Pomeroy, pp. 205-226
“The Imperial Model: Augustus né Gaius Octavius and Livia Drusilla,” in Sharing the Stage: Biography and Gender in Western Civilization., pp. 87-118. (Reserve)
May 1
May 3 / Rome and Christianity
Research Papers Due
Women in the Americasor Women in Chinaor Women in West Africa / Lisa Bittel, “Women in Early Medieval Northern Europe,” in Becoming Visible, pp. 105-126.(Reserve)
TBD
May 8 / Retrospect and Prospect: The Impact of the Ancient World on the Middle Ages and Beyond / Pomeroy, pp. 227-230
TBA / FINAL EXAM (Take Home)