The ancient Romans thought and wrote a lot about sex, sexual desire, gender, and gender identity. Much of their literature is more open and explicit about these topics than is most modern European and American writing. Recent scholarship has argued, however, that their notion of sexuality/sexual identity was radically different from our own. 

In this course, we will explore how the Romans organized the world of sex by reading a wide range of texts from the Roman period in English translation, all of which have to do with the experience of sexual desire and/or gender identity and presentation. Readings will include erotic poetry (both homoerotic and heteroerotic), legal speeches, philosophical works, satires, and a Greek novel written in the Roman period. We will also spend part of the seminar examining the evidence of Roman art and archaeology, especially as it sheds light on the economic and social aspects of ancient Roman sexual life, taking in articles and book chapters by leading scholars of Roman sexuality, including Craig Williams, Sarah Levin-Richardson, Sandra Boehringer, and several others.

Besides making use of Bath’s own world-famous Roman remains, the course includes an overnight study trip to see the collection at The British Museum and to fascinating course-connected Roman sites, most likely including Fishbourne Roman Palace and Corinium Museum in Cirencester, known as the ‘Capital of the Cotswolds’. 
 

Professor: Kirk Ormand, Professor of Classics, Oberlin College kormand@oberlin.edu