From Sappho to Elagabalus: Gender and Sexuality in Greece and Rome

3 Units

What was sexy in ancient Greece and Rome? What is love, and how did people react to it? How did people engage in romantic relationships, both licit and illicit? How are the social expectations different for people of different genders? How many genders are there, anyway? Love, sex, and gender are powerful factors that permeate almost every aspect of life, both public and private. This course will examine how these these factors affected life in ancient Greece and Rome, and how individuals conformed to, played with, or rejected the conventions around them. Drawing on artistic, archaeological, and literary sources (including love poems, philosophy, epics, history, novels, inscriptions, satire, and graffiti), we will examine the full range of gender/sexual roles as embodied by historical, fictional, legendary, and divine individuals. This will include discussion of how aspects of ethnicity, geography, religion, and class intersected with gender identities. We will also examine how conventions differed and evolved over time and geography, due to the influence of powerful individuals and the changing social landscape of citizenship, religion, and military/political factors. Offered as CLSC 240 and WGST 240 . Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.