Topics in Greek Literature: The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women

This course focuses on the Catalogue of Women, a fragmentary epic that was attributed to Hesiod in antiquity. Some have read it as a crucial statement of Hellenic identity, others as an early form of pulp fiction. We ask what it means to focus on women in a genre that is traditionally concerned with the `glorious deeds of men' (kléa andrôn) and what light this can shed on ancient ideas about gender, sex, and transformation. The course gives upper-level students of Greek the opportunity to hone their comprehension of Greek grammar and syntax while engaging major thematic and stylistic concerns of archaic Greek poetry.