Thurs. Feb. 12
Introduction to the seminar
Discussion of Objectives and Requirements
Thurs. Feb. 19, 26
Women in Prehistory
Discussion Topics & Questions
FIRST PAPER TOPIC SELECTION: February 26
READ
- Witcombe, "Women in Prehistory"
- Baring and Cashford, "In the Beginning: the Palaeolithic Mother Goddess" (pp. 1-45)
- Michael Bisson (Department of Anthropology, McGill University) and Randall White (Department of Anthropology, New York University), Female Imagery from the Paleolithic: The Grimaldi Case
- [Baring and Cashford, "The Neolithic Great Goddess of Sky, Earth and Waters" (pp. 46-105)]
ADDITIONAL READING
- Patricia C. Rice, "Prehistoric Venuses: Symbols of Motherhood or Womanhood?" Journal of Anthropological Research, 37, 1981, pp. 402-414.
- Joseph Campbell, The Way of the Animal Powers, vol. 1, Historical Atlas of World Mythology, London: Summerfield Press, 1983. Section "Symbols of Female Power" [pp. 66-73].
- Alexander Marshack, The Roots of Civilization: The Cognitive Beginnings of Man's First Art, Symbol and Notation, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972. Chapter XIII, "Sex and the Goddess" [pp. 281-340]
- Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade, San Francisco: Harper, 1987. Chapters 1 and 2 [pp. 1-28]
- Gimbutas, Marija, The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 7000-3500 B.C., Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1982.
- Margaret Ehrenberg, Women in Prehistory, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
- Paolo Preziosi, Palaeolithic Art, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
- N. K. Sanders, Prehistoric Art in Europe, Harmondsworth: Penguin (The Pelican History of Art), 1968.
FIELD TRIP: Wednesday, March 11
"Athena Parthenos in Nashville and Athens"
Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway
Rhys Carpenter Professor Emeritus at Bryn Mawr College
7:30 p.m., Green Drawing Room, Main Building, Hollins College -- depart SBC 5:30
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Thurs. March 5, 12
Women in Egypt
Discussion Topics & Questions
READ
- Witcombe, "Women in Egypt"
- Nancy Luomala, "Matrilineal Reinterpretation of Some Egyptian Sacred Cows"[edited extract reproduced with permission from Nancy Luomala] (complete article published in Feminism and Art History: Questioning the Litany. Ed. Norma Broude and Mary G. Garrard. New York: Harper & Row, 1982, pp. 19-31).
- Baring and Cashford, "Isis of Egypt: Queen of Heaven, Earth and Underworld" (pp. 225-272)
- Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1993
ADDITIONAL READING
- Edmund S. Meltzer, "Queens, Goddesses and Other Women of Ancient Egypt,"
Journal of the American Oriental Society, 110, 1989, pp. 503-509.
- Susan T. Hollis, "Women of Ancient Egypt and the Sky Goddess Nut," Journal
of American Folklore, 100, 1987, pp. 496-503.
Thurs. March 19, April 2
Women in the Aegean
Discussion Topics & Questions
FIRST PAPER IS DUE March 19 (hard copy)
SECOND PAPER TOPIC SELECTION: April 2
READ
- Witcombe, "Women in the Aegean"
- Baring and Cashford,
- "Crete: The Goddess of Life, Death and Regeneration" (pp. 106-144)
ADDITIONAL READING
- Kenneth Atchity and Elizabeth Wayland Barber, "Greek Princes and Aegean Princesses: The Role of Women in the Homeric Poems," in Critical Essays on Homer, ed. Kenneth Atchity, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1987, pp. 15-36.
- Joan Bamberger, "The Myth of Matriarchy: Why Men Rule in Primitive Society," in Woman, Culture, and Society, ed. Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1974, pp. 263-280.
- Elizabeth Wayland Barber, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times, New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1994.
- K. Branigan, "The Genesis of the Household Goddess," Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, 8, 1969, pp. 28-39.
- Simon Pembroke, "Women in Charge: The Function of Alternatives in Early Greek Tradition and the Ancient Idea of Matriarchy," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutues, 30, 1967, pp. 1-35.
Thurs. April 9, 16
Women in Palestine
Discussion Topics & Questions
READ
- Witcombe, "Women in Palestine"
- Baring and Cashford,
- "The Bronze Age: The Mother Goddess and Her Son-Lover" (pp. 145-174)
- "Inanna-Ishtar: Mesopotamian Goddess of the Great Above and the Great Below" (pp. 175-224)
- "The Iron Age: The Great Father God Yahweh-Elohim" (pp. 416-446)
- "The Hidden Goddess in the Old Testament" (pp. 447-485)
- "Eve: The Mother of All Living" (pp. 486-546)
ADDITIONAL READING
- Athalya Brenner, ed., A Feminist Companion to Genesis, Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993.
- Robert Briffault, The Mothers: The Matriarchal Theory of Social Origins, New York: Macmillan, 1931
- John Day, "Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northern Semitic Literature," Journal of Biblical Literature, 105, 1986, pp. 385-408.
- Robert Graves and Raphael Patai, Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964.
- Jean M. Higgins, "The Myth of Eve: The Temptress," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 44, 1976, pp. 639-647.
- Elaine Pagels, Adam and Eve and the Serpent, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1988.
- Raphael Patai, "The Goddess Asherah," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 24, 1965, pp. 37-52.
- Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.
Thurs. April 23, 30
Women in Greece
Discussion Topics & Questions
SECOND PAPER IS DUE April 23 (in Microsoft Word on a Macintosh disk)
READ
- Witcombe, "Women in Greece"
- Baring and Cashford,
- "Goddesses of Greece: Gaia, Hera, Artemis and Athena" (pp. 298-345)
- "Goddesses of Greece: Aphrodite, Demeter and Persephone" (pp. 349-390)
Thurs. May 7, 14
Barbarian Women
Discussion Topics & Questions