HIST 365: Topics in Connected History: Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean

In this course, we will investigate the histories and cultures of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean (ca. 2000 BCE-600 CE) through the lenses of sexuality and gender. We will consider ancient attitudes towards and views of sex and gender, and we will use these topics as ways to understand the lives and experiences of ancient peoples across a wide geographic and chronologic span. This course focuses on five specific case studies: 2nd millennium BCE in Mesopotamia and Egypt; 1st millennium BCE Persia and the archaic Greek world; 5th century BCE Athens and Sparta; ca. 1st centuries BCE/CE in late Republic and early imperial Rome; and 4th-6th centuries CE in the frontiers of the Roman empire.

We will explore what links the concepts of sex and gender across these empires and timelines, and also what distinguishes each culture. Throughout the course, students will read and analyze ancient primary sources and modern scholarly discussions. This course will use the past to interrogate modern assumptions about gender, sexuality, and the intersections of both with class, status, occupation, ethnicity, and cultural background.