CLST 295 / WSGS 295: Women in the Classical World Fall Semester 2011 Dr. Jacqueline Long

Study Guide for Exam II

Format

• cut-and-dried identifications: basic factual information (small credit per item, and a small component of the exam)
• passages from the primary sources (ancient texts) that we've read: identify context, and discuss briefly but concretely a couple of the trends in our study-material that the the passage illustrates most prominently -- for the discourse from which the passage comes or for Classical societies and cultures more generally (each passage-essay earns a medium-small quantum of credit, but they add up to a major component of the exam)
• essay: discuss an interpretive question, drawing for support of your contentions on specific, concrete evidence from several primary sources, explaining what the sources illustrate, and demonstrating how they support your interpretation (the largest single item of credit; a major component of the exam)

Things to study

• the evidence we have considered, who produced it, when, for what audience
• literary traditions, or other cultural traditions, in which our sources participate, and conventions of these traditions: Academy/Academic philosophy (Platonic tradition), choral lyric, chorus, comedy (at Athens, distinguish Old Comedy from New Comedy), Cynic philosophy, dialogue, didactic epic, ecphrasis, epigram (including dedicatory and funerary themes), hymn, iambic, kore (s.) / korai (pl.), law, lyric monody, mime, orchestra, Peripatos/Peripatetic philosophy (Aristotelian tradition), pleading-at-law, priamel, realism vs. naturalism vs. idealism, tragedy, treatise
• major figures -both individuals (e.g., Neaera, Lysistrata) and social categories (e.g., wife, poet)- in the evidence we've considered
• concepts and terminology of Classical culture and scholarship especially relevant to our material, e.g., barbarian, city-state (polis), Classical period, citizenship, colonization, cosmopolis, cult, dowry, epikleros, Hellenistic period, household (oikos), legitimacy, metic (at Athens; at Gortyn, apetairos), freedman/freedwoman, miasma, moechos / moechia, pallake / pallakia, private/domestic vs. public/civic, successor-kingdom, tyrant
• concepts and terminology of social and cultural criticism conventionally used in feminist inquiry, especially into the Classical world, e.g., androcentrism, anthropocentrism, autonomy, chastity, diversity, erotic, essentializing, fertility, gender, homosocialism, intestacy, norm/normative, patriarchy, patrilocality, sex, natural & organic vs. social & artificial

Strategy: think of specific passages that illustrate important points, so you can back up your arguments with concrete evidence on the test. Be sure you explain clearly how the passage helps demonstrate your point. Helpful elements: What does it say? What does that mean? Why does it mean that? How do you know?

Reassurance: this list looks long in order to remind you of possibilities, and to encourage you to open the doors of inquiry wide to your own interests. Develop good arguments relating information from our primary sources and insights into it, with clear arguments showing how you use the information and reasoning to advance your insights, write clearly to explain these sides of the research-process, and you will do well.

General-purpose reflection: This course is about societal and cultural understanding, not memorization of minutiae. It is convenient to be able to identify major figures swiftly, by name, but it is far, far more important to be able to recognize and understand -and to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding by explaining clearly- how details of our sources, the actions and relationships evoked in them, and characteristic associated imagery, reflect concepts and values relating to women and gender in the Classical world.

• categories of existence conventionally recognized in the Classical world (particularly, for purposes of this exam, in its Classical and Hellenistic periods), qualities conventionally associated with individuals in each category, expectations for interactions across categories - consider both within particular locations or periods, and how these ideas shift from place to place or over time
  • groups by order of being, e.g., gods, humans, animals
  • groups by gender, e.g., male, female
  • groups by life-stage, e.g., child, maiden/youth, adult, old person
  • groups by familial relationship, e.g., father, mother, daughter, son, widow, employee, slave
  • groups by class and social power, e.g., rulers and ruled, slave and free, rich and poor
  • groups by ancestry and occupation, e.g., royalty, nobility, warriors, traders, merchants, peasantry, slaves
  • groups by location and relationship to location, e.g., native and foreign
  • groups by civic participation, e.g., magistrate, citizen, resident alien, non-citizen
  • groups by religious participation, e.g., chorus-member, initiate
• occupations typically of women, e.g., fabric-making, child-care, house-keeping
• women's participation in activities perhaps less typically identified with women, e.g., poetry, athletics, commerce
• how social and cultural conceptions are envisaged and experimented with in myth
• how social values are read onto and from women's roles so as to distinguish communities
• in what ways women are associated with the household
• in what ways women participate in communities beyond the household
• in what ways women practice religion
• in what ways women are associated with life-giving
• in what ways women are associated with the end of life
• what understandings were applied to women's minds
• what understandings were applied to women's bodies
• how social transitions are negotiated
• social honor and dishonor
• women's affections - to whom they are directed, under what circumstances, and how representation presents them to wider audiences
• why and how women's sexuality is important
• ideals of feminine desirability

And yet more strategic advice

• Identifications come across especially clearly and convincingly when you back them up by mentioning a specific, concrete detail in one of our sources that illustrates your idea.
• Both passage-essays and topic-essays want to address the question, "So what?" More formally, "What does it mean?" and "Why does it matter?" Show how the source works to support your insights.
• Explain your reasoning clearly, logical step by logical step. Take your reader with you, in order to persuade.
• With passage-essays, you've got text right there in which you can anchor your discussion very specifically. Take advantage of this resource for concreteness and detail.
• Connect the dots: when you want to add a source to your discussion, in support of your interpretations or for comparison, show what makes it relevant - then when you explain what's going on in it, it will also help support your central argument.
• Building on discussions we've had in class and taking even further the understanding we've established together of Classical society and culture and the discourses of gender, makes exam papers truly exciting. Education aims above all for you to develop your knowledge, skills, confidence, and the interest to claim an inquiry for yourself. Go for it!
• Budget your time. 100 points of exam-credit and a 50-minute period suggests 1 minute : 2 points is a good ratio of time worth spending. Then as always, the more efficiently you can set forth the most informative, well-grounded, interesting argument possible, the more accomplishment you will be demonstrating!

Revised 26 October 2011 by jlong1@luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/classicalstudies/