CLAS 362, “Women and Gender in Antiquity”
Fall 2014
1:00–1:50 p.m. MWF
ML 310
Marble image of L. Vibius Tros, his wife Vecilia Hila, and
their son L. Vibius Felicio, erected by their freedwoman Vibia
Prima. Photo from VRoma Project Image Archive.
Instructor:
Marilyn B. Skinner (mskinner@u.arizona.edu)
Office:
Office Phone and Messages:
Office Hours:
On-line in the Chat room:
LSB 322
(520) 621-0140 and (520) 621-1689 (Marcela Thompson)
MW 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
TBA
Other times by appointment, or e-mail me at any time
Graduate Assistant:
Melanie Zelikovsky (melaniez@email.arizona.edu)
Office:
Messages:
Office Hours:
Graduate Pods (ask at Department of Classics Information Desk)
(520) 621-1689
TTR 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Requirements Met by This Course
CLAS 362 is a Tier Two Course in the University-Wide General Education Curriculum under
the category of Individuals & Societies. Tier Two courses in Individuals & Societies study both
the rules and values that given societies collectively impose upon members and the individual
behaviors of persons responding to those rules and values.
CLAS 362 satisfies Gender/Race/Class/Ethnicity Non-Western Civilization requirements.
This is a Writing-Intensive course. It presupposes that you are able to write at a level appropriate
for a student with junior or senior class standing. All students taking the course for credit will be
expected to meet an upper-division level of writing proficiency. However, you will be given
1
ample opportunity to improve your writing skills through personalized assistance from the
instructor before your paper is submitted. Once the paper is graded, you may also be permitted to
rewrite for a higher mark.
Objectives and Scope of the Course
Ancient Mediterranean cultures provide a model for understanding how gender roles, that is,
concepts of proper behavior for men and women, affect the lives of individuals and at the same
time incorporate a wide array of other cultural assumptions. This course will introduce you to
classical Egyptian, Greek and Roman views of gender and sexuality and demonstrate how they
shaped the historical realities of women’s existence in the hope that you will thereby gain new
insights into sexual difference as it operates within our own culture. A secondary objective of the
course is to provide practice in critical thinking through on-line group discussions and through
writing essays on modern reception of ancient themes.
You will be asked to apply a spectrum of archaeological, historical, and literary approaches to
Egyptian, Greek, and Roman materials including English translations of ancient documents,
literary and non-literary, and, for extra credit, scholarly discussions of ancient evidence.
Assigned Textbooks
1. Robins, G. (= “Robins”), Women in Ancient Egypt. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1993.
2. Fantham, E., with H. P. Foley, N. B. Kampen, S. B. Pomeroy, and H. A Shapiro (=
“Fantham”), Women in the Classical World. New York and Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994.
This is a green classroom. All supplementary course materials must be accessed on-line
through D2L and all quizzes and writing assignments submitted electronically. The only
exceptions will be the midterm and final, for which hard copy exam booklets will be
distributed. No blue books are required.
On-Line Materials: D2L Content Page
1. Syllabus: The final syllabus is posted as a PDF on the first module, “Course Materials.”
During the semester other course materials may be added to this unit.
2. Lecture Outlines: Outlines for each class lecture are posted as both a PDF and a Word file on
the second module. These outlines are intended to reduce the work of note-taking, since you
can add further information to them as you follow along. However, you will be responsible
for all information presented in lectures, not just what is contained on the outline itself.
3. PowerPoints: All 21 PowerPoints shown in lectures are posted on the third module. Since
PowerPoints for particular days are noted on the syllabus, you are advised to download and
view them ahead of time. You are responsible for all content on PowerPoints including
images.
4. Assigned Readings: Textbook readings and other reading assignments for each week are
listed on the syllabus. PDFs of assigned non-textbook readings are posted on the fourth
module.
5. Extra Credit Readings: Materials to be read for extra credit are posted on the fifth module.
2
6. Writing Assignments: As noted below, you will be responsible for three 750-word writing
assignments. General writing assignment guidelines and instructions for each writing
assignment are posted as PDFs on the sixth module. It is your responsibility to read these
guidelines and instructions before undertaking the assignment.
7. Study Guides: Before the midterm and the final, an exam study guide will be posted on the
seventh module. Availability of each guide will be announced as “News” on the D2L course
Home Page. Answer sheets for the midterm and final will also be posted there after the
examinations are graded. Audio tapes of review sessions will be available on this module as
PanOpto recorded sessions.
On-Line Tools: Discussion Group
Once you enroll in the course, you will be randomly assigned to a discussion group of
approximately ten members. To find which group you belong to, go to the Classlist page, click
on the menu button after your name, and click on “View group enrollments.” Your group
number will appear in a new window. To learn who the other members of your group are, go to
the “Groups” page and click on “Members” for your group number. You will continue to work
with the same group throughout the semester.
Each week a new Discussion Forum will be unlocked and made available for participation. Go to
the Discussions page, select the Forums & Topics list, and join the discussion for your numbered
group. For each weekly Forum, individual group members must respond to a prompt measuring
comprehension of current week’s reading assignments. Reference to passages in your readings is
essential. You must finish the readings before you start to post so that you can easily recall
information contained in them. Prompts will be the same for all groups although each group will
be able to access only the responses of its own members.
Once you have started a thread by responding to the prompt, you will be able to read the
responses of those members who have posted earlier and reply in turn to their postings. You will
be expected to read the postings of every other member of your group. Participation in discussion
by starting a thread and reading postings is mandatory.
Arriving at a satisfactory answer to the prompt is necessary because midterm and final
examinations will incorporate some questions originally posed in the Forums. It is in the best
interests of all group members, then, to help correct an erroneous response posted by a student
through a tactful reply.
While discussion postings on weekly Forums will be available for viewing during the entire
semester, so that you can review them for the midterm and final, discussion itself will be cut off
at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday of that week. If you have not started a thread and read all the
comments of the other group members, you will receive a “0” for that week.
Participation will be assessed on an individual basis and will count for 15% of the final grade.
On-Line Tools: Virtual Office Hours on Chat
Chat is set up for live, real-time discussion. Only participants logged into the Chat room at the
same time can exchange postings or access them later. If one or more students would like to join
3
me in the Chat room for a virtual office hour to ask questions or go over particular points, please
feel free to e-mail me to make the appointment. Virtual office hours can be held any time at the
convenience of the instructor and the student, so evenings and weekends are possible.
On-Line Tools: Glossary
Go to the “Glossary” page to find definitions of many of the most important terms used in this
course. You will be responsible for knowing a selection of these terms for both the midterm and
the final.
On-Line Tools: FAQ
Before you e-mail the GAT or the instructor about course policies, check the “FAQ” page to see
whether the answer to your question is already on-line. If not, go ahead and ask it, but don’t be
surprised if it gets added to the list.
On-Line Tools: Quizzes
Quizzes (see below) will be found on the “Quizzes” page. On the day after the quiz is
administered, it will be made available, together with correct answers, on the same page. You are
advised to review each of the quizzes as part of your preparation for the midterm and final.
Extra Credit Discussion
Participation in Extra Credit Discussion is optional, but it is a way to earn Extra Credit points
that will count toward your final grade.
Every Monday (or on Wednesday if Monday is a holiday) the instructor will post a question or
observation for individual comment. Questions will be open-ended (there are no correct answers
and you don’t have to reference readings or lectures) and may ask you to draw on personal
experience. As an alternative, the instructor may assign an article or post a link to an on-line
reading and ask you to relate its content to lessons learned in class. Responses should be emailed to the instructor by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday of that week. The instructor will summarize
comments received and post them on D2L sometime in the following week.
While individual responses will not be graded, the instructor will reread comments at the end of
the semester to evaluate the overall quality of each person’s contributions and assign a score of
up to 5 points for Extra Credit Discussion. In order to be eligible for Extra Credit points a student
must have sent the instructor at least one response each week. Extra Credit points will be added
directly to the student’s cumulative final score before grades are assigned.
Course Requirements
ATTENDANCE AND PREPARATION. To get the most out of this course, it is important that
you come to class each day with the complete reading assignment prepared in advance.
Attendance will be taken and poor preparation will be noted. If you must be absent, please
notify the GAT beforehand so that she can excuse you. More than five unexcused absences
will result in a lowered course grade.
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. Three short papers will be assigned during the semester. Each
paper must be at least 750 words long. You will be asked to evaluate a contemporary popular
4
media portrayal of an ancient female figure and discuss what changes have been made to her
representation and why. Papers will be expected to cite textual or visual evidence to support a
claim; the instructions for the particular writing assignment will explain how to do that.
All written assignments must be submitted electronically to the appropriate dropbox folder on
the precise day they are due. Dropboxes labeled “Graded Papers” will be open for 24 hours on
that due date, but not before or after. Be sure to submit your paper to the correct folder!!
Unexcused late assignments may be penalized by lowering the grade, and such late grades
cannot be subsequently adjusted. Papers that do not follow instructions—for example, a paper
that simply regurgitates general class notes instead of responding to the prompt—will receive a
failing grade. Papers that do not meet minimum length requirements will not be graded; the
student will be asked to bring the paper up to the proper length and resubmit. Under these
circumstances, resubmitted papers, even if accepted, may still be treated as late papers.
Predrafts and rewrites are allowed in this course. They are submitted to separate folders on the
dropbox page according to paper number. A predraft is an early draft submitted for feedback
regarding content and organization; it is NOT the same as a “rough draft.” You will be expected
to submit clean copy, proofread and free of typos and grammar and spelling errors. On the
graded version, any uncorrected mechanical errors will be penalized more heavily if your
attention was called to them. Subject to conditions, each of the three papers may be rewritten
once to earn a higher grade. See the general writing guidelines for more information about
rewrites.
TESTS. Your broader grasp of course material and lectures will be assessed through quizzes and
examinations.
Quizzes: Each Monday, except when noted, you will be expected to take a ten-minute on-line
quiz on the previous week’s material. The quiz will consist of T-F and multiple choice questions.
It will be available on the “Quizzes” page that whole day, from 12:00 a.m. until 11:59 p.m., and
will time out after ten minutes whether you have answered all the questions or not. You are
therefore strongly discouraged from consulting books or notes while the quiz is in progress.
There will be twelve quizzes administered and the two lowest scores will be dropped. If you miss
a quiz, you will have no opportunity to take it on a later date; it must count as a dropped quiz. If
more than two quizzes are missed, subsequent ones will be scored as “0”.
It is your responsibility to make sure your computer is in working order, your electric bill has
been paid, your phone isn’t receiving calls or text messages, and the door is locked (if necessary)
during the ten minutes you spend taking the quiz. Excuses involving abruptly failing hard drives,
etc., will be treated with a lack of sympathy born of long acquaintance with them.
There will also be a one-hour in-class midterm examination and a two-hour in-class final
examination. Examinations will be objective, testing knowledge of factual material learned from
readings and class lectures. Going over group answers to discussion questions is strongly
advised. The final is cumulative and may include materials previously covered on the midterm.
Test format could contain any or all of the following: brief identifications, true or false and
multiple choice questions, matching columns, and short response questions, including image
questions.
5
Grading
Since this is a writing-intensive course, 50% of the grade will depend upon written assignments.
The writing grade will be based upon the average of the three individual paper grades.
NOTE: To pass this course, you must complete all written assignments. Even though you
may have received a satisfactory grade on your tests and discussion, failure to hand in one
or more papers will result in an automatic failing grade in the course.
Weights
Papers: 50%
Quizzes: 10%
Discussion: 15%
Midterm: 10%
Final: 15%
Attendance, preparation, and class participation will be taken into account in borderline
situations. I reserve the right to modify the grading scheme described above in the interests of
overall fairness.
PLEASE NOTE: As a matter of policy, I do not give extensions on assignments or grant
incompletes except in documented cases involving a serious personal emergency (e.g., illness
requiring hospitalization, death in family, etc.). You will be expected to take examinations and
hand in papers on the appointed dates as specified below. Please plan your schedules
accordingly.
Cheating and Plagiarism
Violations of the Code of Academic Integrity, which prohibits students from cheating on
examinations or attempting to earn credit for written work not their own, will be punished by the
instructor in accordance with sanctions prescribed by the Code. Sanctions that may be imposed
by the instructor include a written warning, a grade reduction or loss of credit for the work
involved, and a failing grade in the course. Instructors may also recommend probation,
suspension or expulsion.
Disruptive Behavior
Please show courtesy to your classmates at all times and avoid behavior that makes it difficult for
others to concentrate on the lecture and discussion (such as talking among yourselves while
someone else has the floor, making noisy entrances and exits during class time, etc.). Reading a
newspaper or checking e-mail and Facebook during the lecture irritates instructors, who wonder
why you bothered to attend class. Turn off phones before entering the classroom; beepers should
be set to vibrate, not sound. Please leave the classroom if you must respond to the beeper. Phones
must be switched off and put away during tests. In cases of habitual, seriously disruptive conduct,
the instructor reserves the right to report the offender.
6
Adult Content
Analysis of medical writings and texts concerned with sexual norms and behavior, as well as
viewing images with graphic content, are necessary strategies for the study of gender in the
ancient Mediterranean world. Such materials are assigned in this course. I will make every effort
to present them in an objective and non-offensive way. Needless to say, providing information
about pre-modern notions of gender, sexuality, and sexual mores does not constitute an
endorsement of those notions!
Schedules
Quiz Dates
Sept.8: Quiz 1, covering Weeks 1 and 2
Sept. 15: Quiz 2, covering Week 3
Sept. 22: Quiz 3, covering Week 4
Sept. 29: Quiz 4, covering Week 5
Oct. 6: Quiz 5, covering Week 6
Oct. 13: Quiz 6, covering Week 7
Oct. 27: Quiz 7, covering Weeks 8 and 9
Nov. 3: Quiz 8, covering Week 10
Nov. 10: Quiz 9, covering Week 11
Nov. 17: Quiz 10, covering Week 12
Nov. 24: Quiz 11, covering Week 13
Dec. 1: Quiz 12, covering Week 14.
Test Dates
Oct. 20: Midterm, covering Weeks 1 through 8
Dec. 18: Final, covering the entire course, with emphasis on Weeks 9 through 16
Paper Deadlines
Sept. 15: First paper
Oct. 13: Second paper
Nov. 10: Third paper
Reading and Viewing Assignments
Week 1, Aug. 25–29: Introduction to Course; Ancient Demographics; Overview of Egypt
Readings: Robins, “Introduction”; PDF of “Osiris, Isis, and Horus” (D2L “Content”: module “Assigned
Readings”)
PowerPoint: “Egypt: Geographical, Historical, and Religious Background”
7
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 1 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 2, Sept. 3–5: Queenship; The 18th Dynasty
Readings: Robins, ch. 1, “Royal Women and Queenship” and ch. 2, “Queens, Power and Kingship”; PDF
of “Genealogy of Kings of the 18th Dynasty” (D2L “Content”: module “Assigned Readings”)
PowerPoints: “Grooming, Adornment, and Meaning” and “Queens of the 18th Dynasty”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 2 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 3, Sept. 8–12: Marriage; Motherhood; Family and Household
Readings: Robins, ch. 3, “Marriage”; ch. 4, “Fertility, Pregnancy and Childbirth” and ch. 5, “The Family
and the Household”
PowerPoint: “House and Home”
Preparation for First Paper: Carefully read PDFs of “Writing Assignment Guidelines” and
“Introduction to First Paper,” which contains the prompt to which you should respond (D2L
“Content,” module “Writing Assignments”). Dropbox for predrafts open from 12:00 a.m.
Monday, September 8 until 9:45 p.m.1 Friday, September 12.
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 3 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 4, Sept. 15–19: Work and Titles, Law, Religion
Readings: Robins, ch. 6, “Women outside the Home”; ch. 7, “Economic and Legal Position of Women”
and ch. 8, “Women and Temple Ritual”
PowerPoint: “Scribes and Their Careers”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 4 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 5, Sept. 22–26: Death; Egyptian Female Images; Greek Goddesses
Readings: Robins, ch. 9, “Personal Religion and Death” and ch. 10, “Images of Women in Literature and
Art” and “Conclusion”; “Lovers’ Dialogue from the New Kingdom” (D2L “Content”:
module “Assigned Readings”)
PowerPoints: “Death and the Afterlife”; “Gender Roles in Egyptian Art”; “Goddesses of Ancient Greece”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 5 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 6, Sept. 29–Oct. 3: Archaic Greek Women and Women in Sparta
Readings: Fantham, “Women in the Greek World”; ch. 1,“Women in Archaic Greece” and ch. 2,
“Excursus: Spartan Women in Control”
PowerPoint: “Female Bonding”
1
D2L is down for maintainance on Friday nights starting at 10:00 p.m. I have set the dropbox closing times for each
of the three predrafts fifteen minutes before then so that you do not try to upload while maintainance is in progress.
8
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 6 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 7, Oct. 6–10: Women in Classical Athens: Law and Public Life; Amazons
Readings: Fantham, ch. 3, “Women in Classical Athens”, pages 68–96, and ch. 4, “Excursus: Amazons:
Women in Control”
PowerPoint: TBA
Preparation for Second Paper: Carefully read PDF of “Introduction to Second Paper”, which
contains the prompt to which you should respond. (D2L “Content,” module “Writing
Assignments”). Dropbox for predrafts open from 12:00 a.m. Monday, October 6 until 9:45
p.m. Friday, October 10.
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 7 reading) for
your breakout group.
Week 8, Oct. 13–17: Women in Classical Athens: Private Life
Readings: Fantham, ch. 3, “Women in Classical Athens”, pages 96–124
PowerPoints: “Women in Classical Athens”;“The Greek Wife and Mother”
Study guide for midterm posted Monday, October 13. Review session for midterm TBA.
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 8 reading) for
your breakout group.
Week 9, Oct. 20–24: Midterm; Hellenistic Women
Readings: Fantham, ch. 5, “The Hellenistic Period”
PowerPoints: “Women in the Hellenistic World”; “Hellenistic Queens”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 9 reading) for
your breakout group.
Week 10, Oct. 27–31: Medicine and Sexuality
Readings: Fantham, ch. 6, “Excursus: Medicine” and PDF of Skinner, “Introduction” to Sexuality in
Greek and Roman Culture (D2L “Content”: module “Assigned Readings”)
PowerPoint: none
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 10 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 11, Nov. 3–7: Women in Republican Rome; Etruscan Women
Readings: Fantham, “Women in the Roman World”; ch. 7, “Republican Rome I” and ch. 8, “Excursus:
Etruscan Women”
PowerPoint: “Etruscan Women”
Preparation for Third Paper: Carefully read PDF of “Introduction to Third Paper”, which contains the
prompt to which you should respond (D2L “Content,” module “Writing Assignments”).
Dropbox for predrafts open from 12:00 a.m. Monday, November 3 until 9:45 p.m. Friday,
November 7.
9
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 11 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 12, Nov. 10–14: Aristocratic and Poor Women
Readings:Fantham, ch. 9, “Republican Rome II” and PDF of “Favorinus on Wet Nursing” (D2L
“Content”: module “Assigned Readings”)
PowerPoint: “Women and Wealth in Republican Rome”; “Roman Motherhood”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 12 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 13, Nov. 17–21: Women under the Early Empire
Readings: Fantham, ch. 11, “The Age of Augustus,” and PDF of “Musonius Rufus on the Chief End of
Marriage” (D2L “Content”: module “Assigned Readings”)
PowerPoint: “Augustus and the Family”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 13 readings) for
your breakout group.
Week 14, Nov. 24–26: Literary Women; Women in Pompeii
Reading: Fantham, ch. 10, “Excursus: The ‘New Woman’” and PDF of Skinner, “Conclusion: A Woman
in a Man’s World” (D2L “Content”: module “Assigned Readings”); ch. 12, “Excursus: The
Women of Pompeii”
PowerPoint: “Women and Civic Space in Pompeii”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 14 reading) for
your breakout group.
Week 15, Dec. 1–5: Women in the High Roman Empire
Reading: Fantham, ch. 13, “Women of the High and Later Empire”
Power Points: “Imperial Era Portraiture”; “Working-Class Romans”
On-Line Group Discussion: Post and read responses to the Forum thread (covering Week 15 reading) for
your breakout group.
Week 16, Dec. 8–10: Egypt Revisited; Final Examination Review
Reading: “Aretalogy of Isis,” Fantham pp. 154–55
Power Point: “Egypt Revisited”
Study Guide for Final will be posted December 8. Course Evaluation and Final Examination Review
December 10. Additional Final Examination Review TBA.
FINAL EXAMINATION: Thursday, Dec. 18, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in ML 310
10