CLST 420
Type: 400 level
Units: 3.00
Term: Fall 2023
Instructor: Dr. Welton
Delivery: In-Person
Course Title: Perilous Virtue: Women and Ethical Action in the First Millennium CE
Description: This module will investigate the ideological construction and performance of ethical action by classical and early medieval women. The increased visibility of civic action and calls for equality by women on the global stage represents a remarkable response to tumultuous times. This interdisciplinary module is designed to introduce students first to the complex discourses surrounding virtue ethics, and to explore the manifold experiences of diverse women who asserted their own civic, communal, and religious virtue throughout Roman Empire, Late Antiquity, and the Early Middle Ages. Throughout the module, students will closely analyze a wide array of primary textual sources, including philosophical dialogues, civic poetry, the lives of saints, and legal codes. A further unit of the course will explore the materiality of virtue in classical and medieval communities, i.e the ways in which spaces and objects inspired people to perform good deeds.