Women's Voices

25 Pages·2011·0.26 MB·English

Women’s Voices:
Women Writers of Ancient
Greece and Rome

Lekythos: Paris, Louvre CA 2220
(about 440-430 BC)

AHPG 826
2011

Dr Ian Plant
Ancient History
Faculty of Arts
Macquarie University
GENERAL INFORMATION

Convenor

Name: Ian Plant
Email: [email protected]
Phone: [phone]
Office: W6A 538

Contact with Ian is best made:
 through the email facility in the unit's webpage
 in person in class
 in my office at my specified office hours
 He is happy to see students at other times too.

General inquiries

Ancient History Department Office
Name: Raina Kim
Email: [email protected]
Phone: [phone]
Office: W6A 541

Unit website

http://learn.mq.edu.au

Duration of the unit

The unit runs for 15 weeks
There are 13 weeks of online seminars [‘teaching weeks’]
There is a two week seminar break between teaching weeks 7 and 8.
The examination period follows week 13. There is no examination for this unit; the final essay is
due the week after week 13.

Dates for Teaching Weeks

Week 1: Starts August 1st
Semester Break: Starts September 19th
Week 8: Starts October 4th (public holiday October 3rd)
Week 13 finishes: November 11th.

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Women’s Voices:
Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome

Introduction
There is a general perception that almost all writing in antiquity was done by men. However, some
important literature written by women during this period has survived, and many other women
writers published work that has not survived. In this course you are asked to read the extant texts
by women, from Sappho, who lived in the seventh century BC, through to Eudocia and Egeria in
the fifth-sixth centuries AD. The texts come from a wide range of sources: few works have
survived intact, and many are known to us only through fragments: literary quotations, scraps of
papyrus or even graffiti. Women's literature in the ancient world spanned the fields of poetry and
prose. There is lyric, epic and Christian poetry, along with prose works in history, medicine,
alchemy, oratory and philosophy. In addition to genuine works by women, antiquity witnessed the
creation of pseudonymous texts which where attributed to famous people (including some women).
We shall examine these texts to see what they contribute to Graeco-Roman literature, and what they
tell us about the lives of women in the Graeco-Roman world.

In this unit you will examine the writings of women from ancient Greece and Rome, studying these
texts both as literary texts and as evidence for the lives of women in the ancient world. The aim of
the unit is for you to:

 Become acquainted with the evidence for women writers
 Put writing by women in the ancient world into its historical contexts
 Engage with scholarship on women writers
 Develop your research and writing skills

The expected learning outcomes for this unit are

The expected learning outcomes for this unit are:

1. Demonstration of in depth knowledge of the works of women writers from Ancient Greece and
Rome This will include specific topics addressed in the seminars and wider knowledge of
their texts and the historical and literary contexts in which they were writing.
2. Demonstration of an ability to analyse the work of these writers. This includes demonstration of
an ability to offer critical judgement on the theoretical and methodological principles that
underpin their work and the different genres in which they worked.
3. Demonstration of an ability to offer advanced critical evaluation of the modern scholarship
relevant to the work of these writers. This includes the theoretical and methodological
principles that underpin this scholarship.
4. Demonstration of intellectual independence and autonomy especially in research and writing.
Students are expected to attempt to go beyond current scholarship in their written work.
5. Demonstration of advanced communication skills, especially in writing. Students are to show this
by preparing a research paper at the editorial standard of a journal article.
6. Demonstration of the specific understanding of what is required for publication of a research
paper. Students will demonstrate this by preparing a paper to fit the criteria for publication
in a relevant academic journal.

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MACQUARIE POSTGRADUATE CAPABILITIES

This unit has been designed to develop the graduate capabilities designed and recommended by
Macquarie University.

Recommended Capabilities
The Macquarie core values of Scholarship, Ethical Practice, Sustainability and Engagement are to
be seen as the Guiding Principles within which the Curriculum is developed. They serve as a
reference point to guide interpretation of both undergraduate and postgraduate capabilities. Acting
with integrity underpins all the following capabilities.

Cognitive Capabilities
1. Discipline Knowledge and Skills
Our postgraduates will be able to demonstrate a significantly enhanced depth and breadth of
knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content knowledge in their chosen fields.

2. Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking
Our postgraduates will be capable of utilising and reflecting on prior knowledge and experience, of
applying higher level critical thinking skills, and of integrating and synthesising learning and
knowledge from a range of sources and environments. A characteristic of this form of thinking is
the generation of new, professionally oriented knowledge through personal or group-based critique
of practice and theory.

3. Research and Problem Solving Capability
Our postgraduates will be capable of systematic enquiry; able to use research skills to create new
knowledge that can be applied to real world issues, or contribute to a field of study or practice to
enhance society. They will be capable of creative questioning, problem finding and problem
solving.

Interpersonal and Personal Dispositions

4. Effective Communication
Our postgraduates will be able to communicate effectively and convey their views to different
social, cultural, and professional audiences. They will be able to use a variety of technologically
supported media to communicate with empathy using a range of written, spoken or visual formats.

5. Engaged and Responsible, Active and Ethical Citizens
Our postgraduates will be ethically aware and capable of confident transformative action in relation
to their
professional responsibilities and the wider community. They will have a sense of connectedness
with others and country and have a sense of mutual obligation. They will be able to appreciate the
impact of their professional roles for social justice and inclusion related to national and global
issues

6. Capable of Professional and Personal Judgment and Initiative
Our postgraduates will demonstrate a high standard of discernment and common sense in their
professional and personal judgment. They will have the ability to make informed choices and
decisions that reflect both the nature of their professional work and their personal perspectives.

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How will these objectives be achieved?

Most important is for you to read the relevant ancient sources set for the seminars each week. These
are found in your textbook and in a booklet of supplementary texts which I have placed on the unit's
website. You are expected to listen to ilecture recordings for each topic. You should engage with
the relevant modern scholarship.

The assessment tasks include shorter and longer written assignments: seminar papers and the
essays. You are also expected to participate in online discussion. There is about which seminar
papers you choose to submit: you are strongly advised to submit at least one before the major essay
is due so that you get the benefit of feedback from your tutor before you have to complete your
essay. Topics for the major essay are on the unit’s website; here again you have choice in the topic
you wish to research and write on.

Successful Completion of the Unit

To complete the unit successfully students need a minimum mark of 50% overall.

Grades:
F: 0-49% P: 50-64% CR: 65-74% D: 75-84% HD: 85-100%

Grade descriptors may be found in a separate document on the unit’s website.

Assessment Summary

Online discussion 10%
Seminar paper 1 12.5%
Seminar paper 2 12.5 %
Essay 1 25%
Essay 2 40%

POLICIES
Policies and procedures
Macquarie Univiersity has a range of policies, including many on learning and teaching. For details,
please go to Policy Central (http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/).

Feedback and unit evaluation
In this unit you will receive a range of verbal and written feedback on your assessment tasks and
work in class or online. A copy of the feedback outline is available on the unit’s website. It details
the requirements for each grade.

To monitor how successful we are in providing quality teaching and learning, the Arts Faculty also
seeks feedback from students. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is
through unit and teacher evaluation surveys. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty
with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied with and areas for improvement.

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ASSESSMENT DETAILS

1. Online discussion
Throughout the course you are expected to participate in discussions. Without some kind of weekly
contact, it can be all too tempting to disappear off and never return! It is a requirement in this course
that you do participate in discussions every week. By ' participate' in these discussions, I mean read
the current discussion and make a contribution if you have something to say. You are not obliged to
contribute to every discussion, but please do keep yourself up-to-date, and don’t feel shy about
expressing an opinion.

Please remember all netiquette rules in regard to posting on the 'Discussions'. You have a
responsibility to ensure you respect the views of others. You may not always agree with the
comments but never feel you have the right to be abusive or derogatory in any replies you make.
Your class mates could be from the next suburb, a country town, Interstate or another Country.
Lively discussions are good and valuable, but words can be easily misinterpreted. Insure you read
everything before posting. Never post anything in anger. Contact the convener if any messages
cause you concern.

Instructions for posting Discussion:

Click on the link in the left hand navigation to open the Discussion. Click on the topic named 'Week
1' Click on the message 'Welcome to AHPG826' read the message. Click the 'Reply' button In the
'Message' area 'type' a short introduction about yourself, your interests, why you are studying this
unit, and what your studying e.g. MA in Ancient History, what background knowledge you have,
and anything else that is of interest. This message will be useful in the coming weeks as the class
involves itself in the topics. Click the 'Post' button The message will now be posted to the topic, to
see your message Ensure that the 'Select Topic' box has 'Welcome' selected Click the 'Show all'
link.

Assessment of participation:

You are expected to post a comment on the topic of the week each week. You are expected to post
at least 12 major postings (ie postings that aren’t replies to other postings but offer a reading or
analysis of an aspect of that week’s topic). You are also expected to comment at least once each
week on postings by fellow students. You will be assessed on the academic quality of your major
postings. By ‘major posting’ I mean a posting where you discuss in depth an aspect of the topic. It
does not mean that you have to write a short answer to each question, but that you take one question
(or one aspect of that question) and examine it; you might also put up a posting about one of the
ancient sources for the week, or one of the pieces of modern scholarship.

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2. Seminar Papers

There are twelve seminar topics (numbered 2-13) plus the introduction in week 1. Choose two of
the twelve topics listed and address the questions for each topic very briefly, in no more than 750
words (about two-three pages). You may answer in point form. However, do make sure that you
refer to relevant ancient evidence in your answer. Refer also to relevant modern scholarship. You
must include a bibliography of works cited. These papers are not meant to be research essays, and
are designed to guide your reading of the evidence for women writers and allow regular contact
between each student and me as tutor.

These papers will be worth 25% of the total marks for the unit (combined); each paper is worth
12.5%. The topics chosen may not be the same as those addressed in your essays.

Due Dates for Seminar Papers:
Each paper is due on the Friday of the week listed for that topic:

2. Legendary, early, and archaic women writers: fact or fiction?
Date Due: Friday, week 2 (12h August)

3. Sappho: her life and work
Date Due: Friday, week 3 (19th August)

4. Classical Greece: Women writers of the fifth century BC
Date Due: Friday, week 4 (26th August)

5. Hellenistic Greece: the women Poets
Date Due: Friday, week 5 (2nd September)

6. Hellenistic Greece: Philosophers
Date Due: Friday, week 6 (9th September)

7. Women writers in Rome
Date Due: Friday, week 7 (16th September)

8. Roman women in Egypt
Date Due: Friday, week 8 (7th October)

9. Graeco-Roman World: Medical & scientific texts
Date Due: Friday, week 9 (14th October)

10. St Perpetua: A Christian Martyr
Date Due: Friday, week 10 (21st October)

11. Proba: A Christian writer of the Fourth Century AD
Date Due: Friday, week 11 (28th October)

12. Egeria: Travel and Christianity in the Roman Empire
Date Due: Friday, week 12 (4th November)

13. Eudocia: the Homeric Christian
Date Due: Friday, week 13 (11th November)

Submission of Seminar Papers:
Submit the paper by emailing it to me as an attachment through the web page for the unit (not
directly to my personal email address please). You will find a link for submission on the website.
Prepare your paper as a doc file: you may upload this directly, or convert it first to a pdf. Please do
not upload your paper as a docx file.

Attach an ARTS faculty coversheet to your paper before you send it.

Arts Coversheet
Internal Students who require a coversheet must now generate their own personal coversheet from the Arts website. The
address is:
http://www.arts.mq.edu.au/current_students/undergraduate/admin_central/coversheet
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3. Essays

You are required to submit two research essays for assessment. The first paper will be worth 25%
of the total marks for the unit; the second will a longer essay and worth 40%. The word limits are:
Essay 1: 1,500 words
Essay 2: 2,500 words

Topics: For each essay, choose one of the Seminar topics, and work the questions given in each
topic into an essay. For the first essay you should address one of the topics covered in the first seven
seminars (seminars 2-7). The second essay may be based on any seminar (except those you have
already written on).

Your papers may address the central topics of the seminar, but you may also negotiate changes to
specific questions or additional topics you wish to address with me. Your essay must have a
question and I advise you to discuss this with me in advance. Send me an email about this in plenty
of time. The topics chosen may not be the same as those addressed in your seminar papers.

You should prepare your essay to comply with the submission criteria of a specific academic
journal (eg Antichthon, Journal of Hellenic Studies, Classical Quarterly, Historia).

Submission of Essays
Submit your essays through the website. Submit the paper by emailing it to me as an attachment
through the web page for the unit (not directly to my personal email address please). You will find a
link for submission on the website. Prepare your paper as a doc file: you may upload this directly,
or convert it first to a pdf. Please do not upload your paper as a docx file.

Due dates for essays
Essay 1: due 26th September
Essay 2: due 18th November

Attach an ARTS faculty coversheet to your paper before you send it.

Arts Coversheet
Internal Students who require a coversheet must now generate their own personal coversheet from the Arts website. The
address is:
http://www.arts.mq.edu.au/current_students/undergraduate/admin_central/coversheet

Returning written assignments to you

Grade Descriptors:
You will find a copy of the Ancient History Grade Descriptors on the unit’s website.

Seminar Papers:
External papers will be marked electronically and sent back to students through the website within a
week of receipt of the paper (where possible).

Essays:
We plan to return essays to internal students within three weeks of submission. Feeback will be
returned to students through the unit’s website.

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ASSIGNMENT EXTENSIONS AND PENALTIES

Late work:
All due dates are firm. Permission to submit a late piece of work will only be granted in case of
illness or other exceptional cases.

Special Approval:
Special approval for late submissions must be sought in advance (where circumstances permit it).

Penalty for late work:
Late work for which approval for late submission is not granted will incur a penalty of 2% per day.

Final day for submission of all work:
All seminar papers for this course must be submitted by the Friday of week thirteen; the second
essay must be submitted by November 18th, unless there are special circumstances (normally illness
or serious misadventure) and unless an extension of time has been granted by the Unit Convenor or
the Dean of Arts.

Special Approval

The Faculty of Arts now has a webpage where online applications may be made for:
Special Approval
Waivers
Grade Reviews
Grade Appeals
Go to:
http://www.arts.mq.edu.au/current_students/undergraduate/admin_central
And click on the appropriate type of approval you are requesting.

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SEMINAR PROGRAM

The teaching programme consists of twelve seminars (plus an introduction in week one). I will
record some introductory comments for each topic and post this on the unit’s website. Students are
expected to participate by taking up the weekly topics and contributing to the discussion board on
the webpage—this can be done both prior to and after the week of the seminar.

Week Seminar Topics

1. Introduction
2. Legendary, early, and archaic women writers: fact or fiction?
3. Sappho: her life and work
4. Classical Greece: Women writers of the fifth century BC
5. Hellenistic Greece: the women Poet.
6. Hellenistic Greece: Philosophers
7. Women writers in Rome

MID-SEMESTER BREAK

8. Roman women in Egypt
9. Graeco-Roman World: Medical & scientific texts
10. St Perpetua: A Christian Martyr
11. Proba: A Christian writer of the Fourth Century AD
12. Egeria: Travel and Christianity in the Roman Empire
13. Eudocia: the Homeric Christian

TEXTBOOK
I.M. Plant, Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome (Equinox Press: London, 2004; University
of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 2004). This has translations of the principal ancient sources you will
need for this course.

Further sources
I have put together a collection of supplementary ancient sources for women writers. This is
intended to complement the readings in the textbook. I have put this on the unit's website. Some
addition ancient sources can also be found on the unit’s website.

Modern Scholarship
I have placed a number of modern articles and extracts from books in the E-Reserve section of the
library.

To access Ereserve go to:
http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/resources/reserve/.
Enter the Unit code AHPG826 in the relevant box
Click the Go button or hit the Enter or Return key on your keyboard
The results of your search –the electronic versions of these articles and chapters—will appear.

Due to copyright restrictions, only one chapter or 10% of books may be placed in E-Reserve, so in
some cases I have had to choose only part of a relevant work for inclusion.

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