Women and Gender in the Ancient Near East

Near Eastern Studies 291 201/Women's Studies 483 201

Summer Half-Term (28 June-15 August)

NOTE: This syllabus is from a class that ended on 18 August1995; I've left it on-line so that it might be of use to someone teaching a class on a similar topic.
Class meets TTh 9:00AM-12:00 noon

Instructor: Terry G. Wilfong

Updated 7 September 1995

June 29: -Introduction: The Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient Near East: Why and How

July 6: -Gender in the Archaeological Record

Readings: Joan M. Gero and Margaret W. Conkey, Engendering Archaeology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991)
READ: pages 3-54, 388-411
On reserve: GN 799.W66 E541 1991

July 11: -Women and the Formation of Early States

Reading 1: Susan Pollock "Women in a Men's World: Images of Sumerian Women," in Joan M. Gero and Margaret W. Conkey, Engendering Archaeology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991)
READ: pages 366-387
On reserve: GN 799.W66 E541 1991
Reading 2: Lucia Nixon "Gender Bias in Archaeology," in Leonie Archer [and others], editors, Women in Ancient Society (New York: Routledge, 1994)
READ: pages 1-23
On reserve: HQ1127.W631 1994b
Reading 3: Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages xiii-xviii, 1-4, 47-51 [introductory sections]
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989

July 13: -Gender in Egypt: Image, Body and "Sexuality"

Reading 1: Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge MA: Harvard, 1993)
READ: pages 11-20, 176-190
On reserve: HQ 1137.E3.R631 1993
Reading 2: Lise Manniche, Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt (London: KPI, 1987)
READ: pages 7-51 [bearing in mind in-class cautions]
On reserve: HQ18.E3.M3611 1987
Reading 3: Gay Robins "Some Images of Women in New Kingdom Literature and Art," in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 104-121 [article and discussion]
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989
Reading 4: John Baines and Jaromir Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt (New York: Facts on File, 1980)
READ: pages 30-55 [good general reference for Egyptian history]
On reserve: DT56.9.B341

July 18: -Women in Egypt I: Goddesses, Queens and Priestesses

Reading 1: Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge MA: Harvard, 1993)
READ: pages 21-55, 142-156
On reserve: HQ 1137.E3.R631 1993
Reading 2: Gay Robins, "The God's Wife of Amun in the 18th Dynasty in Egypt" in Images of Women in Antiquity (London: Routledge, 1993) )
READ: pages 65-78
On reserve: HQ 1127.I431 1993
Reading 3: John Baines and Jaromir Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt (New York: Facts on File, 1980)
READ: pages 30-55 [good general reference for Egyptian history]
On reserve: DT56.9.B341

July 20: -Women in Egypt II: Trade, Literacy and Private Life

Reading 1: Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge MA: Harvard, 1993)
READ: pages 56-110
On reserve: HQ 1137.E3.R631 1993

July 25: -Women in Egypt III: Other Worlds and States

Reading 1: Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge MA: Harvard, 1993)
READ: pages 111-141
On reserve: HQ 1137.E3.R631 1993
Reading 2: Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature (Berkeley: University of California, 1973-1980)
READ: Volume 1, pages 15-17, 63-76, 215-233, Volume II, pages 25-29, 181-193
On reserve: PJ 1943.L68 v. 1-2

July 27: NO CLASS: TAKE-HOME MID-TERM EXAM

August 1: Field Trip to Kelsey Museum of Archaeology

Reading 1: Bernadette Menu, "Women and Business Life in the First Millennium B.C." in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 193-207
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989

August 3: -Women in Mesopotamia I: Women in the Law Codes and Outside the Law

Reading 1: Jerrold S. Cooper, "Third Millennium Mesopotamia," Benjamin Foster, "Western Asia in the Second Millennium" and "Western Asia in the First Millennium" in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 47-51, 141-143, 213-214 [introductory sections]
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989
Reading 2: Rivkah Harris, "Independent Women in Ancient Mesopotamia?" in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 145-165
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989
Reading 3: James B. Pritchard, The Ancient Near East: A New Anthology of texts and Pictures (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958-1975)
READ: Volume I, pages 132-167 (Mesopotamian Legal Texts), Volume II, pages 70-82 (Mesopotamian Legal Documents)
On reserve: PJ 409.P961 v.1-2

August 8: -Women in Mesopotamia II: Religious, Economic and Political involvements

Reading 1: Amélie Kuhrt, "Non-Royal Women in the Late Babylonian Period: A Survey" in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 215-243
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989
Reading 2: Sue Rollin, "Women and Witchcraft in Ancient Assyria" in Images of Women in Antiquity (London: Routledge, 1993)
READ: pages 34-45
On reserve: HQ 1127.I431 1993
Reading 3: James B. Pritchard, The Ancient Near East: A New Anthology of texts and Pictures (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958-1975)
READ: Volume I, pages 31-86 (Akkadian Myths), Volume II, pages 104-112 (Historical texts about Nabonidus and his mother), pages 195-217 (Sumerian Literary Texts)
On reserve: PJ 409.P961 v.1-2

August 10: -Women in Syria/Palestine: Ugarit, the Hebrew Bible and the Archaeological Record (PAPERS DUE)

Reading 1: Ernest S. Frerichs, "Introduction to Ancient Israel" in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 261-264
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989
Reading 2: Carol Meyers, "Women and the Domestic Economy of Early Israel" in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 265-281
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989
Reading 3: Phyllis Bird, "Women's Religion in Ancient Israel" in Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 283-302
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989

August 15: Women and Gender in the Ancient Near East: Conclusions Exam Review

Reading 1: Barbara S. Lesko, editor, Women's Earliest Records (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989)
READ: pages 303-317 [conclusions]
On reserve: HQ1137.M628.W651 1989

August 18: FINAL EXAM, 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

All readings on reserve at the Undergraduate Library