2020-21 Academic Catalog

In this course we will question whether or not the ancient Greeks and Romans defined “sexuality” by object-choice, whether they understood sexuality as an integral component of one’s personal identity, and whether they had a concept of “sexuality” as we currently understand it. Emphasis will be on primary texts that demonstrate notions of sexual normativity and/or identity, such as Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazousae, Plato’s Symposium, Aeschines’ Against Timarchos, and poetry of Sappho, Catullus, Ovid, Martial, and Juvenal. We will also read modern critical theorists (Foucault, Halperin, Richlin, Winkler), and will interrogate their arguments.