The Fair Sex: Female Body and Sexuality in the Ancient World

Maidens, wives, goddesses, prostitutes, monsters. This course examines constructed concepts and stereotypes of “femininity”, “gender”, and “sexuality” and considers how – or even whether – they might be applied to art, archaeology, and literature of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Topics include representations of the female body and sexuality in art; notions of aesthetics, beauty, and perfection; nudity and taboo; women in myth, literature, and ritual; burials and funerals; gender roles and tropes of femininity; zones of female agency and authority; and multiply marginalized women (immigrants, enslaved workers).