CLA 101-7 College Seminar: American Classics: Ancient Greece and Rome in Modern Culture and Film
In this course we will examine, and learn how to write about, the role of Ancient Greece and Rome in American film and culture. Preliminary steps in this study will involve introductions to various historic eras of the ancient Greco-Roman world as well as important elements of ancient culture. Our emphasis will, however, not be analysis of antiquity itself but rather of recent American engagement with that antiquity, particularly in film. We will examine not just how antiquity perseveres in American culture, but how popular art creatively and critically engages with inherited Classical traditions. We will also consider engagement with Classical antiquity in some non-cinematic media as well, such as the graphic novel and even the architecture of the city of Chicago.
In addition to the scholarly elements of this course, it will also serve as an introduction to college life itself. We will learn about specific resources on campus that exist to enable student success as well as discuss student well-being and personal success strategies. Your instructor will be your academic advisor this term and this will incorporate advising related activities to help students succeed not only in this class but at the university generally.
CLA 101-8 First-Year Writing Seminar: Endless Exile: Home and Homelessness in the Ancient Mediterranean World
The topic of exile—the forced abandonment of the place and world one calls home—captured the imagination of peoples across the ancient Mediterranean. The Greek _Odyssey_ and Roman _Aeneid_, famous accounts of the predicaments of classical exile, were by no means isolated instances. These renowned poems were in conversation with narratives that circulated widely among neighboring Egyptian, Hebrew, Babylonian, Phoenician, and other ancient communities, in stories which not only produced echoes among themselves, but very likely borrowed from each other. In this seminar, we will read and discuss representative accounts of exile from the ancient Mediterranean world, foregrounding their historical and geographical specificity but also reflecting on their treatment of common concerns and themes—such as homelessness and hospitality, longing and belonging, identity and otherness, hosts and guests, refugees and havens, pain and nostalgia, presence and absence, etc. While the seminar will highlight the historical and archaeological coordinates of those narratives, we will also reflect upon their relevance in discussing the very current reality of exilic life in today’s world.
CLA 101-8 First-Year Writing Seminar: What Makes a Classic?
How does a work of literature become a “classic?” What separates a classic from all the other good books that exist? What belongs in our educational curriculum or “What to Watch” lists, and who decides? Most importantly, what do a society’s answers to these questions tell us about its values and cultural identity?
To answer “What Makes a Classic?,” we’ll divide our attention between the literature that constitutes the canon and the critical apparatus that maintains this special status for certain works while excluding others. In the first half of the quarter, we take Vergil’s Aeneid and its reception as our focus. Later we’ll turn to classics from other premodern cultures, such as the Icelandic Sagas and the 11th century Japanese novel The Tale of Genji. Our writing projects will focus on developing students' own ideas about how classicism works and what recent cultural products have the potential to become classics.
CLA 211 Greek History and Culture: From Homer to Alexander the Great
This course will serve as an introduction to the history, culture, and peoples of the Ancient Greek world between the age of Homer (c. 7th century BCE) and the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE). Our emphasis will be on social, political, artistic, and intellectual developments across the period. We will pay special attention to the unique nature of ancient Athenian democracy as well as the politics and culture of other city-states, including Sparta. Our primary sources will be literary, but we will also examine evidence from ancient art and archaeology for unique insights into ancient people's lives, ideas, and values.
The course is a general history survey, starting with Rome’s humble beginnings and ending with the collapse of the Roman Empire. It will trace the story of how a small city state in central Italy, on the periphery of the older civilizations of the Near East and Greece, established military and political dominance over Italy; how it built a Mediterranean empire and administered it for centuries; how a long period of crisis led to its decline and partition into an eastern and western half; and finally how the western half collapsed. In addition to this chronological narrative, the course will treat several key themes and concepts in Roman culture. The Roman military will receive attention, as will gender relations and public spectacles. Roman religion and the role of slavery will also be discussed.
CLA 245 Classics and the Cinema: Ancient Greeks and Romans on the Big Screen
This course inquires into the phenomenon of adaptations of Greco-Roman narratives to the language and conditions of modern cinematography. The class begins with an overview of the framework and methods of Reception Studies, and a short account of some technical tools and terminology necessary to appropriately examine the audiovisual aspects of film. Equipped with these analytical instruments, we will discuss selected ancient narratives, both mythological and historical, and then interrogate the mechanisms through which those stories have been adapted to the technological apparatuses, sociocultural expectations, and economic dynamics constitutive of the practice of modern filmmaking. Through an eclectic selection of film adaptations from different periods and parts of the world, we will interrogate the way world cinema negotiates between the “old” and the “new,” both by deploying visual and narrative techniques to depict ancient motifs, and by using those tales to convey modern historical preoccupations, political ideals, and cultural expectations.
CLA 250 / CLS 201 Literatures of the Ancient World: Epic and Epochs
This class introduces students to the genre of epic poetry and the most influential movements in their composition and their interpretation. No prior knowledge of Greek and Roman culture is required. In fact, this class is designed to offer the foundational knowledge (and then some!) that is often assumed of epics like the Odyssey or the Aeneid and the societies that produced them. In the style of a survey course, students will read widely in translation at home. In class, lectures will supply the historical context and interpretive lenses that help us understand the poems. Our goal is to trace broad trends and themes, define their limits, and push beyond “the big three” (the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid) into a fuller appreciation of the Greek and Roman epic tradition. To this end, we’ll cover the young love of Medea and Jason in Apollonius’ Argonautica, the godless conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey in Lucan’s Civil War, and the tantalizing contradictions of Statius’ young Achilles in the Achilleid.
In this course we will study the myths of the ancient Greeks through the reading of ancient texts themselves, in translation. We will begin by studying Greek myth broadly, focusing on our very earliest texts, and then gradually narrow our focus to mythology in Classical Athens. The legacy of Greek mythology is timeless yet the myths themselves grew out of unique times and a unique culture so we will work to understand these myths within their original contexts, yet we will also keep our eye on uses of Greek mythology in the modern world, including in contemporary Chicago.
Drawing on a vast repertoire of god and hero names, plots, and narrative motifs, ancient Greek storytellers developed myths that circulated in various media throughout antiquity and continue to inspire creative artists—from novel writers through theater performers to ad designers—today. This course offers an introduction to main figures and plots from Greco-Roman mythology. In the first part of the term, we will study various incarnations of major gods across time, space, and storytelling genres. In the second part of the course, we will focus on stories related to the Trojan War and its aftermath as narrated in the two epic poems transmitted under the name of Homer, the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_.
CLA 310 Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean: The Archaeology of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae
The cities buried by Mount Vesuvius hold an undying place in the modern imagination. Tourists marvel at the size of the sites and empathize with the plight of the towns’ inhabitants. But Campania’s destroyed cities have more to offer than the story of the 79 AD earthquake. Rather than present a static picture of Campania’s towns as “frozen in time,” this course takes a diachronic approach to the rich archaeological material. Campania was not originally Roman territory and was conquered by force of arms. Pompeii, often seen as an archetypal Roman town, was not Roman at all for most of its ancient existence. Still, at the time of the eruption Campania’s cities were thoroughly Romanized; they are now famous for the evidence they provide for Roman daily life. This course will survey key aspects of the evidence, as well as current archaeological techniques and fieldwork. The course will also discuss the 18th and 19th century uncovering of Campania’s cities, which is a story in its own right.
CLA 314 Topics in Ancient Science and Technology: Ancient Astronomy
This course will explore the history of European and Near Eastern astronomy from the 7th century BCE to the 6th century CE. Students will learn the fundamentals of the geocentric model, ancient methods of observation, and traditions of cosmology. We will study the history of time-reckoning and calendar-making, as well as portrayals of astronomy and celestial phenomena in myth and literature. In addition to reading ancient texts, students will also make their own observations using models of ancient instruments and the methods of ancient astronomers.
We will study the theory and practice of Greek and Roman medicine, looking at ancient texts in translation, ancient artifacts and materials, and some modern scholarship. As a term project, students will learn to think as ancient physicians, diagnosing and prescribing treatments for patients from the Hippocratic case studies. During class discussion, we will engage critically with primary sources and examine the differences between ancient and modern science from a balanced historical perspective. We will also investigate the social, cultural, and economic forces that have affected the development of western medicine throughout its history.
It is perhaps unsurprising that our time - obsessed as it is with GDP growth, the ups and downs of the stock market, inflation rates, the trade deficit - produces scholarship that studies the ancient Roman economy. This scholarship has made us increasingly aware of how different Rome was from the modern world. This course will focus on what that difference means for the realities of everyday life, both past and present. Questions to be addressed are: What did economic growth mean for the economy of the Romans? Can we even measure it? What role did energy consumption play in economic performance? What was the role of social class in business? What was the influence of a demographic regime with low life expectancy? How was trade conducted over long distances without fast means of communication and transportation? What was the role of technology and technological progress in the economy?
CLA 340 / CLS 301 Greek and Roman Drama: Athenian Tragedy, Then and Now
The scripts and fragments from plays produced in fifth-century BCE Athens in honor of Dionysos, god of wine and theater, are among the most enduring and powerful legacies of ancient Greek culture. Since their rediscovery in the early modern period, directors, translators, and adapters have repeatedly turned to the poetry of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides to reflect on political, ethical, social, and theological issues of their time. Most recently, the plays have proved fertile ground for directors eager to imagine alternative ways of thinking about race, gender, and class. We will read a selection of Athenian tragedies, with special emphasis on their form, ancient performance context, and themes, as well as select examples of contemporary adaptations for diverse audiences. All readings will be in translation, and students will be encouraged to work in groups to perform and develop creative responses to individual scenes.
CLA 350 Greek and Latin Literature: Love Scripts: From Sappho to the Beatles
Romantic love, although a personal and intimate experience, unfolds amidst a system of social norms that guide or regulate many of its aspects, from the identification of a desirable partner to expectations about the outcome of the relationship. The “scripts” to be studied in this course refer both to the material traces of love songs transmitted to us from antiquity to the present, and to the social protocols implied in and through those texts. As we read poems originating from ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome, we will draw on the resources of comparative literary analysis to explore the stories and metaphors through which love has been re-imagined over time in order to de-familiarize contemporary views. Special attention will be given to constructions of the role of each partner, the interplay of love, sex, and reproduction, and the rhetoric and poetic images associated with love.
CLA 370 Greek and Roman Religion: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World
In this course, we will examine the magicians, witches, wonder-workers, and quacks of the ancient world and the techniques and devices they used to manipulate the world around them. We will consider magical practices both real and imagined—from curse tablets, spell books, and amulets to elaborate descriptions of sexy sorceresses and hideous hags—all in the light of theories relating to the religious, political, and social contexts in which magic was used.
CLA 390 / ART HIST 319 / HUM 395 Topics in Greco-Roman Civilization: Constructing Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World
How did individuals define themselves in the ancient Mediterranean world, and how did they express their affiliation with multiple and diverse ethnic, religious, linguistic, and other collective social identities? How did groups portray perceived differences between themselves and others? What do we know of the construction of gender identities, race, age, and class distinctions? What dynamic roles did dress, hairstyle, body decoration or ornament, and personal possessions play in establishing and expressing individual and collective identities?
This course explores evidence for self- and group-fashioning in Greece, Rome, and their neighbors in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia. We examine a wide range of textual and material sources, including works of art, archaeological contexts such as burials and religious institutions, biographies, autobiographies, and legal documents, including dowries. We also consider culturally significant modes of self-representation and commemoration, such as portraits and funerary monuments, along with the collecting and transfer of objects that represented accumulated social entanglements, such as heirlooms.
CLA 395 Research Seminar: Classics Research Methodology
The course will provide students with fundamental research skills through hands-on learning and in-class work on an individual project. Students will learn how to use reference tools and online databases allowing them to search, analyze and interpret ancient evidence ranging from literary texts to inscriptions, papyri and visual material. The course is designed to reflect current developments in the field of Classics. It therefore emphasizes digital approaches, including electronic tools for the study of ancient evidence as well as search engines that employ advanced computational methods.
CLA 400 Graduate Seminar: Interdisc Proseminar in Classical Reception Studies
This seminar is suitable for grads from all departments and satisfies a requirement of the Classics Cluster’s Classical Receptions Certificate.
This seminar introduces students to the idea of "classical presences," their complex political dimensions, and the goals and methods associated with the practice of the growing field of classical reception studies. Seminars will engage influential methodological work (e.g., Lorna Hardwick, Emily Greenwood, Chris Stray); exemplary cultural studies work that established the field early on (e.g., Edith Hall and Patrice Rankine on Homer, others on the visual arts); the start up of the Classical Receptions Journal at OUP; the development of research initiatives and collectives (e.g., Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at Oxford); model studies of intertextuality such as Richard F. Thomas' work on Bob Dylan and the Classics; work by scholars who are not professional classicists but are relevant both for content and method (e.g., psychiatrist Jonathon Shay's "Achilles in Vietnam" and "Odysseus in America" together with productions of Peter Meineck's Aquila Theatre & Bryan Doerries' Theater of War and the way historian Garry Wills' "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America" conjures Athenian epitaphioi logoi); and initiatives based at Northwestern including the Jan 2024 sessions on Addison’s “Cato, A Tragedy" in the NU Sawyer Seminar "On Decolonizing Theater,” the Classicizing Chicago Project hosted by the Dept of Classics and Prof Monoson's Summoning Socrates Archive. For their own projects students may choose to do a methodological study, to contribute to the online profile of the NU projects, or complete a case study of material they identify that utilizes their own disciplinary skills.
GREEK 115-1 Accelerated Elementary Ancient and Biblical Greek
This course is the first in a two-quarter series designed to teach students to read ancient Greek, making accessible much of the world's most influential literature, from the biblical New Testament to Homeric poetry and Platonic philosophy. Since this is an ancient language there will be no spoken component and we will move swiftly through the grammar and basic vocabulary required to read actual texts. These two quarters will, in fact, teach all the fundamentals of the language and lead students directly into second-year courses in the New Testament, classical Greek oratory, and Homeric epic. Thereafter students will be able to progress even further to a wide range of genres from the classical and post-classical periods, including ancient Greek history, poetry, philosophy, drama, and more.
GREEK 115-2 Accelerated Elementary Ancient and Biblical Greek
This course is the second in a two-term accelerated series designed to teach students to read ancient Greek, making accessible much of the world’s most influential literature, from the biblical New Testament to Homeric poetry and Platonic philosophy. In this course we will complete our study of the fundamentals of Greek grammar, making students ready to transition into second-year courses in the New Testament, classical Greek oratory, and Homeric epic. Thereafter students will be able to progress to a wide range of genres from the classical and post-classical periods, including ancient Greek history, poetry, philosophy, drama, and more.
GREEK 201-1 Introduction to Greek Literature: New Testament
This course, the first of the second-year Greek series, is designed to build fluency in reading Greek as students transition from the study of Greek grammar to Greek literature. This course will introduce students to the Greek New Testament, particularly the gospels, as we investigate how this unique genre functions. We will focus on the book of Mark, the oldest and shortest of the gospels, which we will read nearly in its entirety. We will read selections from other gospels as well, to study the relationship between the text. This course will also serve as a review of the grammar learned in first-year Greek and will include homework and classwork specifically geared toward that end.
GREEK 201-2 Introduction to Greek Literature: Classical Prose
This course is the second of the second-year Greek series, designed to solidify the grammatical concepts learned in first-year while introducing students to the study of actual ancient literary texts. In this course we will focus on ancient Attic prose by reading from Lysias on the Murder of Eratosthenes and Plato's Crito. We will pay close attention to grammar and style, but we will also gain insight into the complexities of ancient Athenian law and politics.
GREEK 201-3 Introduction to Greek Literature: The Iliad
This course is the third and final element of the second-year Greek series. In this course we will read significant sections of Homer’s Iliad in the original language. Students will develop an ability to read the Homeric dialect and gain an understanding of the conventions of ancient epic poetry. As we explore the earliest European literary work we will also survey several important scholarly issues regarding the nature and history of the poem, including the nature of its composition and its place in ancient Greek society.
GREEK 301 Readings in Greek Literature: Euripides' _Medea_
The range of contemporary retellings of the myth of Medea attests to the powerful resonances that a modern audience may attach to a story of exile, abandon, and infanticide. Yet a full appreciation of the significance of these plays, films, or novels as discourses on contemporary culture requires a careful examination of their relation to Euripides’ paradigmatic treatment of the myth in his 431 BCE tragedy. The course will explore how Euripides’ _Medea_ is shaped by, responds to, and challenges the social and cultural background of fifth century Athens. In order to better appreciate the specificity of the Euripidean version, a comparative perspective will be offered by looking at earlier and later treatments of the story, including Pindar, Apollonios of Rhodes, Pasolini, and Christa Wolf.
GREEK 301 Readings in Greek Literature: Helen of Troy on Trial
This course will focus on the controversial figure of Helen of Troy. Her terrifying beauty and her union with the Trojan prince Alexander made Helen into nearly as reviled a figure in Greek literature as she was admired. In the classical era, some authors expressed this contradiction through literary court speeches, prosecuting or defending her case. We shall read excerpts from three of these authors: Euripides, Gorgias, and Isocrates. In addition, we shall survey in translation and secondary scholarship several other ancient attempts to vilify, vindicate, or sympathize with Helen. Throughout the course, we will discuss the cultural significance and development of her story in matters of politics, gender, mythology, and Greek identity. Students will complete a short final project on the reception of Helen in later literature—up to and including contemporary film, television, or digital media.
Elementary Latin is a year-long course designed to provide students with the basic skills for reading, understanding, and translating both Latin prose and poetry. In the first quarter of the sequence students acquire knowledge of the essential grammar of the Latin language and basic Latin vocabulary, and develop an ability to read, understand, and translate simple passages in both adapted and unadapted Latin.
NEW MATERIALS and IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES! In addition to the exercises and readings included in the textbooks, students will see and read Latin as it appeared on ancient monuments, walls, coins, and everyday objects. By uniting the study of language and culture, this course provides unique insight into the daily life of the people who spoke Latin in the Roman world.
Elementary Latin is a year-long course designed to provide students with the basic skills for reading, understanding, and translating both Latin prose and poetry.In the second quarter of the sequence students continue to acquire knowledge of the grammar and syntax of the Latin language and Latin vocabulary, and to develop an ability to read, understand, and translate passages in both adapted and un-adapted Latin.
In addition to the exercises and readings included in the textbooks, students will see and read Latin as it appeared on ancient monuments, walls, coins, and everyday objects. By uniting the study of language and culture, this course provides unique insight into the daily life of the people who spoke Latin in the Roman world.
Latin 101-3 is the third quarter of the year-long elementary Latin sequence designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of classical Latin. Alongside the grammatical material in this class, students will work on expanding their Latin vocabulary and developing the basic skills for reading Latin texts that are necessary to continue successfully in the second year. During the first few weeks of the quarter, class meetings will be devoted to grammar review and completing Chapters 34-40 of "Wheelock's Latin". For the rest of the term, primary readings from Latin prose writers such as Cicero and Pliny the Younger will be assigned on a daily basis. Students will be expected to develop reading, translation, and literary analysis skills in prepared passages from the original Latin text.
LATIN 201-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Petronius and Cicero
The goal of second-year Latin (201-1, 2, 3) is the development of proficiency in reading Latin through the introduction of students to major works of Latin literature. During the fall quarter (Latin 201-1) we will read selections from works by Petronius and Cicero with attention to their interpretation and historical significance, in addition to the review and continued reinforcement of grammar and syntax.
LATIN 201-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Petronius and Cicero
The goal of second-year Latin (201-1, 2, 3) is the development of proficiency in reading Latin through the introduction of students to major works of Latin literature. During the fall quarter (Latin 201-1) we will read selections from works by Petronius and Cicero with attention to their interpretation and historical significance, in addition to the review and continued reinforcement of grammar and syntax.
LATIN 201-2-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Vergil's Aeneid
Latin 201-2 is designed to improve students’ understanding of the Latin language by close reading of major poetic texts, with special attention to grammar, vocabulary, and style. Class activities will include careful reading and translation of Virgil's "Aeneid" combined with literary discussion and interpretation of the poem and its composition. The course also provides a systematic introduction to the dactylic hexameter and the basic rules of scansion.
LATIN 201-2-2 Introduction to Latin Literature: Vergil's Aeneid
Latin 201-2 is designed to improve students’ understanding of the Latin language by close reading of major poetic texts, with special attention to grammar, vocabulary, and style. Class activities will include careful reading and translation of Virgil's "Aeneid" combined with literary discussion and interpretation of the poem and its composition. The course also provides a systematic introduction to the dactylic hexameter and the basic rules of scansion.
LATIN 201-3-1 Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus
The third quarter of second-year Latin combines literary analysis with mastery of grammar and syntax at the intermediate level. This is mainly a workshop course, with discussion focusing on questions to and from students enrolled in the class. Though translation will be a component in evaluation, it will be a relatively small criterion of success. The main topics of discussion will be how meaning and emphasis are communicated in the poetry of Catullus.Though Latin 201-3 concentrates on language skills, it also develops skills of analysis that are foundational for the future study of literature in any language.
Students will learn how to a) approach ancient texts in the original language; b) analyze Latin grammar and syntax; c) use a variety of tools (dictionaries, grammars) while reading Latin; and d) evaluate our source materials and different interpretations of Latin texts and their composition.
A grade of C- or better in this course satisfies the Weinberg language proficiency requirement.
LATIN 201-3-2 Introduction to Latin Literature: Catullus
The third quarter of second-year Latin combines literary analysis with mastery of grammar and syntax at the intermediate level. This is mainly a workshop course, with discussion focusing on questions to and from students enrolled in the class. Though translation will be a component in evaluation, it will be a relatively small criterion of success. The main topics of discussion will be how meaning and emphasis are communicated in the poetry of Catullus.Though Latin 201-3 concentrates on language skills, it also develops skills of analysis that are foundational for the future study of literature in any language.
Students will learn how to a) approach ancient texts in the original language; b) analyze Latin grammar and syntax; c) use a variety of tools (dictionaries, grammars) while reading Latin; and d) evaluate our source materials and different interpretations of Latin texts and their composition.
A grade of C- or better in this course satisfies the Weinberg language proficiency requirement.
LATIN 310 Readings in Latin Literature: Sisters and Sisterhood in Roman Epic
From Romulus and Remus to the Horatii triplets, from the idealized solidarity of the Scipio brothers to Cicero’s letters "ad Quintum fratrem", from Catullus’ farewell to his dead brother to the tragic stories of Euryalus and Nisus and Pandarus and Bitias in Vergil’s "Aeneid", fraternal relationships figure prominently in Roman history and literature. But what about sisters? In this course, we will examine how epic poems of the Augustan and Flavian age depicted the emotional bond between sisters and ask ourselves to what extent these narratives can illuminate the otherwise scantly documented significance of sisterhood in Roman society. Vergil’s and Ovid’s stories of Dido and Anna, Herse and Aglauros, Procne and Philomena will guide our exploration of ideals of women’s behavior as sisters, wives, and mothers. The course will end with an investigation of the large-scale treatment of sisterly relations (by blood and by choice) in Statius’ "Thebaid".
LATIN 310 Readings in Latin Literature: The Latin Iliad: Translating Homer in Nero’s Rome
Translating Homer into Latin on a reduced scale was a popular literary endeavor in Roman antiquity. In this class, we’ll read the only surviving example of this subgenre: Baebius Italicus’ Ilias Latina, which reduces Homer’s 24-book epic to just over a thousand lines of action. At the same time, Baebius updates Homer’s poem with interpretations and details that are tailored for a Roman audience in the mid-1st century CE. Agamemnon is a Stoic's nightmare, Nero is on Achilles' shield, and Poseidon knows all about the Julio-Claudians. To appreciate this impressive feat of miniaturization and yet expansion, we’ll do a few things: (1) create a collaborative commentary on the poem, (2) read selections from the Iliad and ancient scholarship about the Iliad in translation, and (3) develop research papers for a class conference at the end of the quarter. Finally, in terms of language pedagogy, we will work to develop our sight-reading skills.
LATIN 310 Readings in Latin Literature: Women's Latin: Willetrudis' de Susanna
In this course, we will do a close reading of a medieval Latin poem written by Willetrudis, a German nun, addressed to her fellow nuns, her sorores. This poem tackles the troubling biblical story of Susanna, a married woman who is assaulted by two men of standing in her community, falsely accused of adultery, and forced to stand trial (Daniel 13). This story of violence against a woman and others structurally like it (e.g., The Rape of Lucretia) were commonly told in Latin literature throughout and beyond antiquity, but Willetrudis allows us to view them anew from the perspective of a female author writing for a female audience. In addition to reading and translating Willetrudis’ de Susanna, we will collaborate as a class to create an open-access commentary that will encourage further reading of this little known and poorly studied text.
