Part 5: Roman Women

Day 12 Archaic models for Roman women: Etruscan culture, women of the early Republic, and Roman marriage

Required Reading:

• Fantham, 211-58, 260-65
• Rape of the Sabine Women, Livy 1.9
• The Rape of Lucretia, Livy 1.57
• Cloelia the hostage, Livy 2.13

Recommended Reading:

• Eva Stehle, "Venus, Cybele, and the Sabine Women: The Roman Construction of Female Sexuality," in Studies on Roman Women, ed. A. Scafuro, special issue of Helios 16.2 (1989) 143-64.

Day 13 Research Day

Building Tutorial

Building on the MOO Commands

Week 4

Day 14 Women's sexuality as subject to legal and social control

Required Reading:

• Fantham, 280-329

Recommended Reading:

• Pomeroy, Chs. 8-10

WOMAN'S DOMESTIC SPACE DUE AT 5 P.M.

Day 15 Elite Roman women

Required Reading:

• Fantham, 307-14, 330-34, 345-68.
• The Elegies of Sulpicia
• Snyder, Ch.5
• Judith Hallett, "Women as 'Same' and 'Other' in the Classical Roman Elite" in Studies on Roman Women, ed. A. Scafuro, special issue of Helios 16.1 (1989) 59-78.

Writing Assignment: Describe in detail how the life of an upper-class Roman woman of the late Republic/early Empire differed strikingly from that of an upper-class woman in classical Athens in TWO of the following five areas: 1) guardianship; 2) economic capacities; 3) marital roles; 4) political roles; 5) religious roles. For each of the two areas that you choose to describe, support your statements about the Roman women with specific information (including at least one direct quotation) from the readings from Fantham, et al. (Chapters 9 and 11) and/or Pomeroy (Chapters 8 and 10). What do you think accounted for these differences?

Day 16 Working women

Required Reading:

• Fantham, 265-70, 334-44, 368-94.

WEB RESEARCH PROJECT COMPLETED AT 5 P.M.

Day 17 Xena, Warrior Princess, and ancient Myths and Legends of Womanpower: Reflections on Amazons in our own culture

Required Reading:

• Greek Myths and Legends of Womanpower (handout of ancient sources)
• Fantham, 128-35.
• one of the following three articles:
• J. Bamberger, "The Myth of Matriarchy," in Women, Culture, and Society, ed. M. Rosaldo and L. Lamphere (Stanford 1974) 263-80.
• P. Webster, "Matriarchy: A Vision of Power," in Towards an Anthropology of Women, ed. R. Reiter (Monthly Review Press 1975)
• Gerda Lerner, "Origins," Creation of Patriarchy (Oxford 1986) 15-35.

Day 18 Final Exam

Last updated 11 December 97
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