- Go to the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
- Go to the searchable Ancient World Mapping Center interactive map
- Go to Study guide: Analytical questions for seminar participation
- Go to the Greek texts of the novels
General Information:
- Philip Harland: pharland – at – yorku – dot – ca.
- Meetings: HUMA \ RLST \ CLST 4107 meets Wednesdays 11:30-2:20 in room Ross S101A
- Zoom link for online meetings in cases of professor illness, snow-days or similar: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92070904400
- Office hours: TBA or by appointment (Vanier 248). Zoom link option: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92070904400
Course Description: This discussion-based seminar explores literary and cultural contexts of the ancient Greek novel and other fictional or partially fictional narratives in the Roman imperial period (first to third centuries CE). Overall, we will examine the blurry lines between “fiction” and “history” in ancient literature. In the first term, we begin by considering the ideal ancient Greek love novel or romance which centres on the story of separated lovers and their adventures. Then we will investigate the ways in which Latin-speaking authors developed and, at times, parodied the Greek novel in Roman fictional works such as the Golden Ass by Apuleius. In the second term, we go well beyond blatant prose fiction to explore novelistic or fictional features in other narratives, including histories, travelogues, and biographies. Finally, we turn to novelistic stories produced by cultural minorities, focussing attention on writings produced by Judeans (Jews) and Jesus adherents.
Throughout the course, we will also go beyond the literary features of these texts, using these writings as a window into the social and cultural worlds of the authors and their audiences. In particular, we will give special attention to the place of gods and goddesses and rituals for them within the worldview of the authors and audiences of these fictional or semi-fictional works.
So, overall, we will be doing three main things with these ancient writings:
- Considering genre, ancient narratives, and literary features (the nature, purpose, and function of particular writings);
- Exploring the theoretical question of how ancient people defined truth and lies, history and fiction; and,
- Using these writings as a window into cultural and social life in the Greco-Roman world.
Required books and readings:
- PDF readings linked in the outline below
- Tim Whitmarsh, Dirty Love: The Genealogy of the Ancient Greek Novel (Oxford: OUP, 2018) (link to York library system).
- E.J. Kenney, trans., Apuleius: The Golden Ass (Penguin, 2004). (purchase at York bookstore).
- Judith Perkins, The Suffering Self: Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early Christian Era (London: Routledge, 1995) (link to York library system).
Other helpful resources:
- Ancient Narrative (journal; link)
- Robert Cioffi, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Greek Novel: Between Representation and Resistance (Oxford: OUP, 2024) (link).
- Koen de Temmerman, Crafting Characters: Heroes and Heroines in the Ancient Greek Novel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014). (link)
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Lawrence Mitchell Wills, The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2015 [1995]).
Assignments (see full descriptions at the end of the outline)
- Attendance at meetings, participation in discussions: 15%
- Three-question quizzes x about 20 (always at the beginning of meetings at 11:30am sharp): 20%
- Fishbowl team discussion for 15 minutes x 4 times (students are marked individually): 20%
- Essay 1: Analysis of Whitmarsh’s Dirty Love (link), 6 pages double-spaced, due FALL
WEEK 6now WEEK 7 at the beginning of class by pdf email attachment: 10%- Academic integrity quiz (link) – 100% results must be submitted (pdf, screenshot attachment) before or with assignment 1
- Essay 2: Analysis of primary source (Apuleius’ Golden Ass), 8 pages double spaced, due FALL WEEK 11 (10%)
- Essay 3: Analysis of primary sources (women and gender in Achilles Tatius and in Judith), 10 pages double spaced, due WINTER WEEK 10
WEEK 6(15%) - Essay 4 (now optional, with highest mark of other three essays being applied to this percentage as well): Analysis of Perkin’s The Suffering Self (link), 6 pages double-spaced, due ONE WEEK AFTER FINAL CLASS
WEEK 11(10%)
Important things to know:
- Readings and participation: Read and study materials BEFORE meetings.
- Penalties for lateness: Assignments are due at the beginning of class (by email attachment). Late submissions will be penalized by one full grade (e.g. from a B to a C) and a further grade for each additional day beyond the due date.
- Academic honesty and plagiarism policies: Absolutely no form of plagiarism will be tolerated. Study York’s policies here and here. Any use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to produce or modify text for an assignment is plagiarism and will not be tolerated. All cases of using AI will be treated as plagiarism. NOTE: Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying that the student has not used any form of AI in preparing and producing the essay.
- Cell-phones, laptops, and other devices: All phones and devices must be completely turned off and remain unused during class. Laptops or computers are permitted for note-taking only, not for browsing or messaging.
- Password-protected files for the course, which are used under fair dealing provisions for the purpose of education, are for course use only and should not be redistributed in any form.
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Studying Greco-Roman novels and fictional literature as a window into ancient literary and social worlds
Week 1 (Sept 3): Introduction to the novel and related “fictional” or novelistic literature (historiography, travelogues, biographies, etc.)
- Reading and discussion in class: A Babylonian Tale (summary by Photius) distributed in class (link)
The earliest Greek love novels or romances: Reuniting in the Greek City
Week 2 (Sept 10): Xenophon of Ephesos, Anthia and Habrocomes, aka An Ephesian Tale (first or second century CE)
- Readings:
Week 3 (Sept 17): Chariton of Aphrodisias, Callirhoe and Chaereas (first century CE), part 1
- Readings:
- Chaereas and Callirhoe, books 1-5 (link)
- Passages for detailed analysis: 1.1-9 (marriage and separation); 1.1 + 1.14 + 2.3 + 3.3 + 3.9 + 5.3 (epiphanies of Callirhoe)
- Holzberg, “The Idealistic Novel in Early Imperial Times,” in The Ancient Novel, pages 32-36 (link)
- Cioffi, “Seeing Gods: Epiphany and Narrative in the Greek Novels,” pages 1-16 and 34-36 only (link)
- Chaereas and Callirhoe, books 1-5 (link)
Week 4 (Sept 24): Chariton of Aphrodisias, part 2
- Readings:
Transformations in the Greek Romances: Foreign towns and rural settings
Week 5 (Oct 1): Achilles Tatius, Leukippe and Kleitophon (second century CE), part 1
- Readings:
- Leukippe and Kleitophon, books 1-4 (link)
- Passages for detailed analysis: 1.1-2 (style of elaborated description, or ekphrasis); 1.1-19 (intro, narrator(s), author’s focus on explaining human emotions); 3.9-24 (“rangers” / bandits and apparent human sacrifice)
- Reardon, “Achilles Tatius and Ego-Narrative” (link).
- Leukippe and Kleitophon, books 1-4 (link)
- Fishbowl (four-five people who begin our discussion for the first 15 minutes of class): Stephen, Alejo, Josh, Liliana, Marcus (1)
Week 6 (Oct 8): Achilles Tatius, Leukippe and Kleitophon, part 2
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Cruz, Zach, Gurleen, Kasandra Josephs, Caitlynne (1)
*Reading week Oct 13-17 – no classes*
Week 7 (Oct 22): Discussion of Tim Whitmarsh’s Dirty Love
- Readings:
- Tim Whitmarsh, Dirty Love: The Genealogy of the Ancient Greek Novel (Oxford: OUP, 2018) (link) — entire work
- In class readings related to Whitmarsh: Eastern stories of Ahiqar; Zarinaea and Stryangaeus; and, Zariadres and Odatis (link)
- Fishbowl: Everyone
*Essay 1 (review of Whitmarsh) due at the beginning of class*
Week 8 (Oct 29): Longus, Daphnis and Chloe (second century CE) and the pastoral setting
- Readings:
- Longus, Daphnis and Chloe (link)
- Passages for detailed analysis: prologue + 1.1-18 (love in a pastoral environment); 2.12-31 (pastoral atmosphere interrupted and restored); 4.6-10 (conditions of slavery); 4.19-40 (recognition)
- Theocritus, Idyll 6 (link)
- Effe, “Longus: Towards a History of Bucolic and Its Function in the Roman Empire” (link)
- Longus, Daphnis and Chloe (link)
- Fishbowl:
Roman comic novels and satirical treatments
Week 9 (Nov 5): Apuleius, Golden Ass, part 1 (second century)
- Readings:
- Apuleius, Golden Ass, 1.1-4.27 (Kenney translation from York bookstore) – Emergency alternative translation for anyone unable to get the better translation is available at this link
- Passages for detailed analysis: 1.8-10 + 2.20-32 + 3.14-26 (diviners and Magians / magicians)
- Bradley, “Animalizing the Slave” (link).
- Apuleius, Golden Ass, 1.1-4.27 (Kenney translation from York bookstore) – Emergency alternative translation for anyone unable to get the better translation is available at this link
- Fishbowl: Devanshi, Authorine, Yasmeen, Maya, Kassandra Shaw, Brenna, Olivia (1)
Week 10 (Nov 12): Apuleius, Golden Ass, part 2: The transformation narrative and the mysteries of Isis
- Readings:
- Golden Ass, 6.25-11.30 (Kenney translation from York bookstore) – Emergency alternative translation for anyone unable to get the better translation is available at this link
- Passages for detailed analysis: 8.23-31 (devotees of a foreign goddess); 11.1-30 (salvation by Isis and initiations)
- Bradley, “Contending with Conversion” (link)
- Golden Ass, 6.25-11.30 (Kenney translation from York bookstore) – Emergency alternative translation for anyone unable to get the better translation is available at this link
- Fishbowl: Stephen, Alejo, Joshua, Cruz, Zachary, (2)
Week 11 (Nov 19): Petronius, Satyrica (first century)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl:
*Essay 2 (Apuleius) due at the beginning of class*
Week 12 (Nov 26): Fellini Satyricon (1969 film; 2 hours, 9 minutes – link)
- Readings (to be read before watching the film for orientation):
- Joanna Paul, “Fellini–Satyricon: Petronius and Film” (link)
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Winter
Blurry lines
Week 1 (Jan 7): Livy’s account of the Bacchanalia (ca. 20 BCE) – Blurry lines between history and fiction
- Readings:
- Livy, History of Rome 39.6 and 39.8-19 (link)
- Passages for detailed analysis: 39.6 (Livy’s moral purposes); 39.8 (a Greek in Etruria); 39.9-39.13 (tale of Aebutius and Hispala); actual decrees (below)
- “28. Decree of the Senate on the Bacchanalia, 186 BC” in Ancient Roman Statutes: A Translation with Introduction, Commentary, Glossary, and Index, 26-28 (link)
- Walsh, “Making a Drama Out of a Crisis: Livy on the Bacchanalia” (link).
- Livy, History of Rome 39.6 and 39.8-19 (link)
Week 2 (Jan 14): Lucian of Samosata’s True Histories / True Story (ca. 160 CE) – Blurry lines between travel literature / ethnography and fiction
- Readings:
- Lucian, True History / A True Story (link)
- Passages for detailed analysis: 1.1-1.4 (preface and purposes); 1.9-1.27 (Moonites and Sunites); 2.5-2.28 (Island of the Blessed)
- Bowersock, “Truth in Lying,” in Fiction as History: Nero to Julian (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pages 1-27 sections on Lucian but omitting Celsus (link).
- Lucian, True History / A True Story (link)
- Fishbowl: Marcus, Devanshi, Authorine, Liliana, Yasmeen, (2)
Week 3 (Jan 21): Thessalos’ and Harpokration’s introductions to medical works – Blurry lines between autobiographical writing and fiction
- Readings:
- Harland, “Journeys in Pursuit of Divine Wisdom: Stories of Thessalos and Other Seekers,” in Travel and Religion in Antiquity, including the translation of Thessalos’ letter (link)
- Harpokration / Kyranos, Kyranides prefaces (link)
- Plutarch, On the Obsolescence of Oracles excerpts (link)
- Lucian, Lover of Lies excerpts (link)
- Fishbowl: Maya, Kassandra Shaw, Brenna, Olivia, Gurleen, Caitlynne (2)
Week 4 (Jan 28): Philostratos, Life of Apollonius of Tyana (ca. 210-238 CE) – Blurry lines between biography and fiction
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Stephen, Alejo, Joshua, Cruz, Zachary (3)
Minorities write novelistic stories (with more blurry lines): Judeans and Jesus adherents
Week 5 (Feb 4): Introduction to Judean novelistic writings / Tales related to Daniel
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Maya, Kassandra Shaw, Brenna, Olivia, Gurleen, Caitlynne (3)
Week 6 (Feb 11): Tobit
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Marcus, Devanshi, Authorine, Liliana, (3)
**Reading week Feb 16-20 – no classes**
Week 7 (Feb 25): Judith (second or first century BCE)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Stephen, Alejo, Joshua, Cruz, Zachary (4)
Week 8 (March 4): Joseph and Aseneth (first century BCE-second century CE)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Devanshi, Authorine, Yasmeen (4)
Week 9 (March 11): Acts of the Apostles as both ancient history-writing and novelistic narrative (late first or early second century CE)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Marcus, Caitlynne, Maya, Kassandra Shaw (4)
Week 10 (March 18): Acts of Paul and Thecla as twisted Romance (mid-second century CE)
- Readings:
- Fishbowl: Brenna, Olivia, Yasmeen, Liliana (4)
Week 11 (March 25): Clement’s adventures in the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (third century CE)
- Readings:
- Clement’s family story extracted from the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (link to extractions only, which are required reading; link to complete work for consultation, but not required)
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- “Plot Summary of Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (by J.B. Lightfoot) (link)
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- Montiglio, “From the Pagan Novels to Early Jewish and Christian Narratives: Refashioning Recognition,” 190-193, 210-224 (link).
- Clement’s family story extracted from the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (link to extractions only, which are required reading; link to complete work for consultation, but not required)
- Fishbowl: everyone
Week 12 (April 1): Acts of Peter (MEETING BY ZOOM THIS WEEK: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/92070904400)
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Assignment Descriptions
Participation in seminar discussions
Participation and interaction is an important part of the process of learning, particularly in a fourth year seminar. For this reason it is essential that all students do the readings (especially the primary sources) before attending the seminar for a particular week, coming prepared for discussion.
Fishbowl discussion (first 15 minutes of meeting, students marked individually)
- For most weeks, about five students on their own will begin discussion of that weeks main readings in their group with the rest of us observing quietly and, eventually (after 15 minutes), joining the discussion. Our focus questions for the course may be a guide for some issues to explore. You will also want to show how the current week’s readings relate to other things we have been learning in the course.
- There is no need for the group to meet or discuss things in advance. This is not a coordinated presentation but rather a somewhat spontaneous discussion based on each of your own careful readings and historical analyses of the materials.
Essay 1: Analysis of Whitmarsh’s Dirty Love (6 pages double-spaced)
- Carefully read Whitmarsh’s book (including the “prelude”) with attention to his main arguments. Write an essay in which you explain in detail (and in your own words) what Whitmarsh means when he argues that ancient novels reflect a “centrifugal impetus” (p. xi). What kinds of evidence from what specific cultural contexts does he present throughout the book to support this claim? How does Whitmarsh’s approach relate to the problem of Hellenocentrism and ethnocentrism among modern scholars? In what ways do you agree or disagree with Whitmarsh?
- Students’ papers will only be considered adequate if there are consistent references to specific passages or examples from Whitmarsh (providing page numbers) that can be checked by the reader. However, the essay should not have any quotations from Whitmarsh or others and should be entirely in the words of the student author.
- AI (Artificial Intelligence online) is not to be used at any stage of working on this or any other assignment in the course. Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying that the student has not used any form of AI in preparing and producing the essay. Students may be asked to meet with the professor to discuss their preparatory work for the essay and their arguments in the essay.
Essay 2: Analysis of Primary Source (Apuleius) (8 pages double-spaced)
- For Greeks and Romans, the gods, stories about the gods, and ritual honours for the gods were integrated within everyday life. Using Apuleius’ novel as evidence, write an essay that illustrates the importance of gods and goddesses (e.g. Fortune, Mars, Mother, Isis) and honours for them within the worldview of the author and his audience. In the process of carefully reading the novel, give special attention to the role of the gods and to rituals and customs associated with the gods. Also be attentive to the meaning and function of “Fortune” and “Providence” in the development of the story. Be sure to demonstrate that you have read the whole novel and that you have carefully analyzed at least four substantial episodes, including Lucius’ initiation into the mysteries of Isis and Osiris in book 11.
- AI (Artificial Intelligence online) is not to be used at any stage of working on this or any other assignment in the course. Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying that the student has not used any form of AI in preparing and producing the essay. Students may be asked to meet with the professor to discuss their preparatory work for the essay and their arguments in the essay.
Essay 3: Portrayals of Women Protagonists in Judean Fiction and in the Greek Novels (10 pages double-spaced)
- Step 1a: Read the following articles (in addition to course readings on Judith) to provide you with some scholarly background on the issue of women and gender in ancient fictional or semi-fictional narratives, particularly Judith:
- Brigitte Egger, “The Role of Women in the Greek Novel: Woman as Heroine and Reader,” in Oxford Readings in the Greek Novel, ed. Simon Swain (Oxford: OUP, 1999), 108-112 and 119-129 (link).
- Katharine Haynes, Fashioning the Feminine in the Greek Novel (London: Routledge, 2003), pages 56-70 (link).
- Amy-Jill Levine, “Sacrifice and Salvation: Otherness and Domestication in the Book of Judith” in A Feminist Companion to Esther, Judith and Susanna, ed. Athalya Brenner, The Feminist Companion to the Bible (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 208–223 (link).
- Sidnie Ann White, “In the Steps of Jael and Deborah: Judith as Heroine” (link).
- Richard I. Pervo, “Aseneth and Her Sisters: Women in Jewish Narrative and in the Greek Novels” (link).
- Step 1b: Do your own careful reading and analysis of the principal female characters in Leukippe and Kleitophon (including Leukippe and Melite) and in Judith (Judith), paying special attention to gender issues, the depiction of women, and the relation between women and men in the narrative.
- Step two: Write a comparative essay that analyzes the narratives and addresses the following: What similarities and differences do you see in Achilles Tatius’ depiction of female characters (especially Leukippe and Melite), on the one hand, and the Judean (Jewish) author’s portrayal of Judith, on the other? What sort of characters are these women within the overall story and what are their functions in the plot? This comparison would include addressing questions such as the following: What characteristics and attributes does each author give to his female protagonists (including the relation of each woman to men in the narrative) and what attitudes about women and gender does this reflect? In what ways are these characters portrayed as passive or active, weak or strong, helpless or assertive? In what ways might the portrayal of the central female character work against or reaffirm commonly held notions of femininity in the Greco-Roman world?
- AI (Artificial Intelligence online) is not to be used at any stage of working on this or any other assignment in the course. Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying that the student has not used any form of AI in preparing and producing the essay. Students may be asked to meet with the professor to discuss their preparatory work for the essay and their arguments in the essay.
Essay 4: Book review essay on Perkins’ The Suffering Self (6 pages double-spaced)
Step 1: To familiarize yourself with the genre of the academic book review, read at least 10 book reviews (reviewing single-author books, not edited ones) that interest you in The Classical Review (accessible through JSTOR on our library system) or in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review online at: http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/
Step 2: With a focus on the arguments and main points, read the book and take careful notes.
Step 3: Write an academic book review of the book (in the form of an essay), which entails:
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- Explaining the main arguments of the book and how the author builds up these arguments with sub-arguments throughout the chapters.
- Discussing the author’s methods or approach and the author’s use of evidence to support the author’s points.
- Providing a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. Does the author achieve what he or she set out to do? Is the argument convincing or not, and in what ways? What theoretical assumptions and/or value judgments influence the author’s reconstruction of history? Be sure to provide concrete examples (citing page numbers in parentheses) of the problems or strengths you discuss.
The review paper should have a clear thesis statement or argument (concerning your evaluation of the book) which is supported throughout the paragraphs. The paper should be clearly written and structured with no spelling or grammatical errors. Be succinct and do not exceed the prescribed length.
AI (Artificial Intelligence online) is not to be used at any stage of working on this or any other assignment in the course. Each essay must be submitted with a statement by the student author clarifying that the student has not used any form of AI in preparing and producing the essay. Students may be asked to meet with the professor to discuss their preparatory work for the essay and their arguments in the essay.
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