CC 348/WS 345 WOMEN IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY

Dr Barbara Goff

These are some questions that may help you focus your reading. But do not restrict yourself to consideration of these issues, and do not assume that we will discuss only these points in class.

1. Are the poems of Hesiod and Semonides simply misogynistic, or do they derive from specific economic circumstances?
   
   
2. What notions of marriage are represented in the readings?
   
   
3. What is the status of 'the neighbors' in the readings?
   
   
4. What does it mean that women are 'created' but that men are already there before the poems start?
   
   
5. Can we read these poems as testimonies to women's resistance or rebellion?
   
   
6. What is the relationship in the readings between women and language?
   
   
7. Are there any contradictions in Hesiod or Semonides?
   
   
8. Are we supposed to take these texts seriously?