Using evidence from at least 2 separate sources from this course, discuss the role of gender and sexuality in the ancient world and how this manifests itself in ancient literature.

Ancient text

Description

Present an important introductory note In the following questions, wherever it is stipulated that at least 2 separate sources from the course be used, this means that students must demonstrate knowledge of and engagement with
the entirety of each of those 2 texts.

For instance, if you choose to use Homer’s Odyssey and Ovid’s Amores as your texts, this means that you must engage with Books 22-24 of the Odyssey and Book 1 of the Amores and not simply a single passage from Book 23 of
the Odyssey and a single poem from Book 1 of the Amores.

Note that you may choose any of the texts used this semester except Book 1 of St. Augustine’s Confessions; this text comes too late in the semester and is particularly unwieldy to work with for our purposes.

Limit yourselves to Odyssey 22-24, Euripides’ Bacchae, Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe, Ovid’s Amores Book 1, and Seneca’s On Clemency).

Question

1. Using evidence from at least 2 separate sources from this course, discuss the role of gender and
sexuality in the ancient world and how this manifests itself in ancient literature.

Questions you may think about could include (but are not limited to):

How do these portrayals differ or remain the same from one text to another? What changes and what does not between literary genres? How do issues of gender operate across social and class lines in ancient literature?

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