Women Poets of Ancient Greece (OGUN w j. ang. B2+) 3006-WPAG-OG

The course aims at familiarising students with women who wrote poetry in Ancient Greece. While of course substantially fewer in number than their male counterparts, Greek poetesses left an important mark on the history of ancient literature, composing in a variety of genres and on a variety of themes. We will focus on reading their poems (in translation) and discussing them both in their original context (to the extent it can be determined) and from a perspective supplied by modern critical tools, most of all feminist literary theory.
We will begin with an introduction into Ancient Greek literature and the status of women in Ancient Greece, followed by an overview of feminist literary theory and the way it has heretofore engaged with these ancient texts. After this, we will proceed more or less chronologically, beginning of course with Sappho, and moving on to the 5th century, where we will encounter Myrtis, Corinna, Praxilla, and Telessilla, before ending with the four Hellenistic poetesses: Anyte, Moero, Erinna, and Nossis. We will discuss not only the works themselves, but also extant biographical sources and, where relevant, the ancient and modern reception of the poetesses. The course does not have any prerequisites besides sufficient knowledge of English; in particular, no previous knowledge of Greek is required.

A preliminary schedule of the classes is as follows (liable to small change)

(1) Introduction to Ancient Greek literature, its composition and performance as well as transmission – how do we have the texts we have (and why only those…)?
(2) The status of women in Ancient Greece; temporal and geographical variation; types of sources; studying women’s history.
(3) Old texts and new theories – does it make sense? Feminism and the Classics; do we (should we?) read male and female authors differently?
(4) Sappho.
(5) Sappho in ancient reception: Ovid’s “Sappho to Phaon” (Heroides 15).
(6) Sappho in modern reception: John Donne’s “Sappho to Philaenis”.
(7) Women writers of the 5th century: Myrtis and Corinna.
(8) Women writers of the 5th century: Praxilla and Telesilla.
(9) Hellenistic Poetesses: Erinna.
(10) Erinna cont.: later reception; a gifted teenage girl or a male forgery?
(11) Hellenistic Poetesses: Anyte and Moero.
(12) Interlude: the battle for Anyte’s femininity (Wilamowitz, Gutzwiller, Greene)
(13) Hellenistic Poetesses: Nossis.
(14) A female poetic tradition from Antiquity to the Present?
(15) Bonus: The Songs of Bilitis.