Cleopatra: History and Myth
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CLSC 104 Fall, 2007 Instructor: Eric Orlin Office: Wyatt 149 Office Phone: x2717 Office Hours: MF 10-11, W 3-4 email: eorlin@ups.edu
Cleopatra: History and Myth“…the last of the wise ones of Greece.” Al-Masúdí, Moroudj-al-dzeheb (10th century) “Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the face of the world would have been changed.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670) “…the most complete woman ever to have existed, the most womanly woman and the most queenly queen, a person to be wondered at, to whom the poets have been able to add nothing, and whom dreamers always find at the end of their dreams.” Théophile Gauthier, One of Cleopatra’s Nights (1845) “How would you like to be the wickedest woman in history?” Cecil B. DeMille, offering the role to Claudette Colbert for the 1934 movie “I would have loved to have been Cleopatra in real life -- providing I could choose my own Antony.” Vivien Leigh, star of the 1951 movie “The true history of Antony and Cleopatra will probably never be known; it is buried too deep beneath the version of the victors.” W.W. Tarn, The Battle of Actium (1931) These quotations offer only a tiny fraction of the ideas that have been expressed about Cleopatra over the last 2000 years, for Cleopatra has exercised a hold over the imagination of people everywhere as no other woman has ever done. But who was Cleopatra? Tarn’s comment may be the best answer we can give: her ‘true history’ may well be unknowable. But the ways in which Cleopatra has been depicted over the centuries presents us with a more intriguing, and more interesting, question than that of who she really was. To the Romans, she was represented as the foreign queen who tried to steal their empire and who represented the most dangerous threat to their civilization in 200 years, but to the Egyptians she may have been a goddess incarnate, the universal mother, and a liberator who came to free them from oppression. Artists and writers since her death have not hesitated to offer their images of Cleopatra, as we shall see. This course will examine these depictions of Cleopatra in a variety of different mediums to explore how each society has created their own image of this bewitching figure.
The primary objective of this course is for first-year students to see the complexity that lies behind a seemingly simple topic, and to develop the enthusiasm for probing deeply into such subjects that will carry them into more advanced coursework. Specifically by the end of the term students should be able to:
Requirements: Active participation as a good colleague in this course is an essential component to making this class a success. These first-year courses have been designed as seminars, where the students take responsibility for sharing their thoughts about the material and the professor’s primary function is to guide the discussion, not to provide THE answer; as we shall see, there is no THE answer for most of the questions posed. Being a good colleague includes, but is not limited to: completing assigned readings before class; devoting thought and consideration to the meaning of those readings before class; arriving on-time to class and remaining in your seat for the entire class session; and active participation in class discussion, which includes both talking and listening. A good colleague is one who listens to his or her colleagues, the instructor and the authors we have read, then adds to the existing conversation. To be a good participant, you need to listen, think about what you have heard, and then offer your own voice to the discussion. Dominating the discussion to the exclusion of other voices is not being a good colleague. All students will deliver an oral report that will provide the other students in the class with relevant information not covered by other readings. Students will have a choice of topics; some are ancient, some are more recent, some are historical, some are more literary. See the attached sheet for the list of choices. Students must email their top three choices to me by Monday, September 10; topics will be handed out on a first-sent, first served basis. The major written assignments is a 10-12 page analysis exploring one or more representations of Cleopatra after her death; see the attached assignment sheet for fuller details and suggestions. This project will proceed in stages: students will develop a topic (in consultation with the professor); submit an annotated bibliography and exploratory essay; submit an introductory paragraph with thesis statement; and a tentative outline; prepare a draft; and finally submit the final paper on April 27. We will have a midterm exam focused primarily on the historical facts surrounding Cleopatra’s life and her position in the ancient Roman and Egyptian worlds. We will also have a take-home final exam, in which students will have the opportunity to present their own representations of Cleopatra, using whatever format the student chooses and emphasizing whatever aspects of Cleopatra’s character seem most significant to that student, or group of students. These representations will be due on the day of our final exam, and we will meet on that day for students to share their representations with each other. Except in documented cases of emergency, no make-up exams will be given and late papers will be penalized one-half grade for every day (not class) they are late. so please do not ask. This policy is constructed to ensure fairness for all students; we are all busy and we all have other work that needs attention, so plan your time accordingly.
Please note the following general policies. Please come see me as soon as possible if you are having trouble keeping up with your work. I know that crises sometimes arise unexpectedly in the middle of the semester, and one of the ways in which you will be judged as you enter the ‘real world’ is how you handle such crises. You will find that I am quite sympathetic to those who notify me as soon as they notice a problem, but I have a ‘tin ear’ for those who send me an email on the morning a paper is due. I want to see everyone in this class succeed, but you need to take responsibility for your own success. My office hours are for you: I guarantee to be there at those designated times, but I am usually in my office at other times as well, and you are encouraged to schedule an appointment with me outside those hours if you like. I will strictly enforce the University policy on academic honesty. The Academic Handbook states: "Academic dishonesty can take many forms, including but not limited to the following: plagiarism, which is the misrepresentation of someone else's words, ideas, research, images, or video clips as one's own; submitting the same paper for credit in more than one course without prior permission; collaborating with other students on papers and submitting them without instructor permission; cheating on examinations; mistreatment of library materials; forgery; and misuse of academic computing facilities.” Read the complete policy at: http://www.ups.edu/x4718.xml. Special Note on Electronic Resources: The Web is both a blessing and a curse. It provides a great deal of information that might otherwise not be easily available, and we will make extensive use its resources. But there is also a tremendous amount of unreliable information on the Web, since anyone can create a website and post anything they want, accurate or not. In order to save you from hours of searching which leads to a pile of rubbish, my policy is that you may not use information taken off the web unless the site is directly linked in Blackboard. Please respect this policy; if you find a website you think is respectable, let me know. I will explore it and create a link it in Blackboard if it checks out. Texts: The following required texts are available at the bookstore. Royster, F. Becoming Cleopatra Shakespeare, W. Antony and Cleopatra Dryden, J. All for Love Chauveau, M. Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra Everitt , A. Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor Coursepack (Items in the Coursepack are indicated by a CP on the schedule below.)
Cleopatra: History and Myth Oral Report Topics (in rough syllabus order)
You should plan to speak for approximately 10 minutes, and to answer questions afterward. You may write out your report entirely as a script, or you may speak from notes or an outline, whichever works best for you. The purpose of these reports is to provide information to your classmates on topics that will help them understand Cleopatra and/or representations of her in a specific cultural context. I will give you some study questions that will vary according to the topic chosen; these can help you focus your attention on certain aspect of the material you discover while researching your topic, but you will still be responsible for organizing that material in a way that makes it comprehensible to your fellow students. You need not develop brilliant insights of your own for these presentations (although such insights are always welcome), but your presentation should be organized with a beginning, middle, and end to present information as clearly and usefully as possible. Your fellow students will fill out evaluation forms following your presentation to help give you feedback. You should also plan to submit to me your notes, script, outline, or whatever you use during your presentation. Please feel free to consult me as often as you like while preparing for your presentation. As a guideline for timing, five pages of printed, double-spaced text takes about 10 minutes to read aloud. I strongly encourage you to run through your presentation out loud at least once prior to your class presentation; you can do this in your room by yourself, or take advantage of the residential nature of our seminar by having a fellow student serve as a test audience. There is no better way to find out how long your presentation will take than by running through it. Cleopatra: History and Myth Film Series Week of: Sept. 11: Cartoons - Speed Racer, Bullwinkle, Scooby Doo Sept. 18: Xena (2000), starring Lucy Loveless; HBO’s Rome (2005), starring Lyndsey Marshal Sept. 25: Two Nights with Cleopatra (1954), starring Sophia Loren Oct. 2: *Cleopatra (1963), starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton (Part I) Oct. 9: *Cleopatra (1963), starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton (Part II) Oct. 16: Cleopatra (1999), starring Leonor Varela, Billy Zane and Timothy Dalton Oct. 23: Fall Break Oct. 30: *Antony & Cleopatra (1974), starring Janet Suzman and Richard Johnson Nov. 6: *Cleopatra (1934), starring Claudette Colbert and Harry Wilcoxen Nov. 13: *Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains Nov. 27: *Cleopatra Jones (1973), starring Tamara Dobson Dec. 4: *Set it Off (1934), starring Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Movies with asterisks are required for all students. Of the other movies, you may miss up to two with no penalty. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbott, Jacob. History of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (1852) Adelman, Janet. The Common Liar, an essay on Antony and Cleopatra (1973) Bianchi, Robert. Cleopatra’s Egypt: Age of the Ptolemies (1988) Brandon, Samuel. The Tragicomoedi of the vertuous Octavia (1598) Brooke, Henry. Antony and Cleopatra (1778) Butts, Mary, Scenes from the Life of Cleopatra (1935) Chase-Ribaud, Barbara, “Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra” (1987) Chauveau, Michel. Cleopatra: Beyond the Myth (2002) Cibber, Colley. Caesar in Egypt: a tragedy (1725) Cixous, Hélène and Clément, Catherine. The Newly Born Woman (1986) Clark, Mary, “Cleopatra’s Soliloquy” (19th cent.) Corneille, Pierre, The Death of Pompey (1643) D’Arienzo, Marco. Cleopatra (1875) Daniel, Samuel. The Tragedie of Cleopatra (1594) de Barnáth, Désiré. Cleopatra: her Life and Reign (1901) de Girardin, Delphine. Cléopâtre (1847) Delayen, Gaston. Cleopatra (1934) Ebers, Georg. Cleopatra, A Romance (1894) Ellis, Oliver Coligny de Champfleur. Cleopatra in the Tide of Time (1947) Feld, Bruce. Cleopatra in the Night and Other Poems (1999) Ferval, Claude (pseudonym), The Private Life of Cleopatra (1930) Fielding, Sarah, The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia (1757) Foss, Michael. The Search for Cleopatra (1987) Grant, Michael, Cleopatra (1972) Haggard, H. Rider, Cleopatra (1889) Herbert, Mary, Antonie (translation of R. Garnier Marc Antoine) (1592) Herbery, Henry W. “Cleopatra” (1807-1858) Houssaye, Henri. Cleopatra, A Study (1890) Hughes-Hallett, Lucy, Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions (1990) Ironmonger, C. Edith. Cleopatra, A Narrative Poem (1924) La Calpranede, Gautier de Costes, Cleopatre 12 vols. (1647-1658) Lindsay, V. “The Trial of the Dead Cleopatra in her Beautiful and Wonderful Tomb” (1923) Mackereth, James A. The Death of Cleopatra, A DRAMATIC POEM (1920) May, Thomas. The Tragedie of Cleopatra Queen of Egypt (1639) Mundy, Talbot. Queen Cleopatra (1929) Nott, Vernon. Cleopatra with Antony, A Poetic Dialogue (1904) O’Shaughnessy, Arthur, An Epic of Women and Other Poems (1870) Saadeh, Khalil, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898) Sedley, Charles. Antony and Cleopatra, a Tragedy (1677) Shaw, George Bernard. Caesar and Cleopatra (1889) Simms, William G. “The Death of Cleopatra” (1853) Stadelmann, Heinrich. Cleopatra, Egypt’s Last Queen (1924) Stahr, Adolph. Cleopatra (1864) Swinburne, Algernon. Cleopatra (1866) Symons, Arthur. Cleopatra (1916) Tyrwhitt-Wilson, Gerald. The Romance of a Nose (1941) Volkmann, Heinrich, Cleopatra: a Study in Politics and Propaganda (1958) von Wertheimer, Oskar. Cleopatra – a Royal Voluptuary (1931) Wilder, Thornton. The Ides of March (1948) ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS (1st c. BCE) bas-relief of Cleopatra & Caesarion from temple at Kom Ombo, Egypt (400’s) Fresco of the death of Cleopatra in Roman catacomb (1405), The Suicide of Cleopatra (illustrating manuscript of Bocaccio) (1473) Johann Zainer, Cleopatra’s Banquet & the Suicides of Antony and Cleopatra (1500’s) Sardonyx Cameos portraying the suicide of Cleopatra (c. 1500) Andrea Solario, Cleopatra (1520) Giampetrino, Cleopatra (1523) Jean van Scorel, The dying Cleopatra (1533-34) Michelangelo, Head of Cleopatra (16th c.) Giulio Clovio, Cleopatra (16th c.) Florentine school, Cleopatra (1622-24) Jan Lys, The Death of Cleopatra (1628) Oliveiro Gatti, Cleopatra and Marc Antony at Table (1630’s) Giovanni Barbieri (Guercino), Cleopatra (1630’s) Massimo Stanzione, Cleopatra (1630’s) Jacques Blanchard, The Death of Cleopatra (1635), Alessandro Turchi, The Death of Antony and Cleopatra (1639) Guido Reni, Cleopatra (1643), Pietro da Cortona, Caesar Restores the Throne of Egypt to Cleopatra (1642-43) Claude Lorrain, The Disembarkation of Cleopatra at Tarsus (1643-57), Claude Vignon (Le Vieux), The Death of Cleopatra (1648) Giovanni Barbieri (Guercino), The Dying Cleopatra (1658) Jan de Bray, The de Bray Family (The Banquet of Antony & Cleopatra) (1659) Guido Cagnacci, The Death of Cleopatra (17th c.) Frans Francken the Younger, Cleopatra Disembarking at Tarsus (1700) Antonio Bellucci, The Death of Cleopatra (1710) Francesco Trevisani, The Banquet of Mark Antony (1725) Francois LeMoyne, Cleopatra (1746-47) Giambattista Tiepolo, Banquet of Antony and Cleopatra (Labia Palace) (1746-47) Giambattista Tiepolo, Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra (1748) John Parker, The Death of Cleopatra (1759) Anton Raphael Mengs, Augustus & Cleopatra (1770) Angelica Kauffman, Cleopatra decorating the tomb of Antony (1774) Louis-Jean-Francois Lagrenée, The Death of Cleopatra (1838) E. Delacroix, Cleopatra and the Peasant (1838-1845) Francis Stephanoff, Antony Taking Leave of Cleopatra (1866) Frederick Sandys, Cleopatra (1866) Jean-Leon Gerome, Cleopatra and Caesar (1874) Jean-Andre Rixens, The Death of Cleopatra (1875?)Valentine Prinsep, The Death of Cleopatra (1880) Georges Rochegrosse, Cleopatra and Her Attendants (1885) Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Antony and Cleopatra (1887) Alexander Cabanel, Cleopatra trying poisons on condemned prisoners (1887) Gustave Moreau, Cleopatra (1896?) Frederick Bridgman, Cleopatra’s Funeral Barge (19th c.) R. Arthur, The Suicide Of Cleopatra (19th c.) Louis-Marie Baader, The Death of Cleopatra (19th c.) T. Buchanan, The Embarcation of Cleopatra (20th c.), S. Daynes-Grassot, Cleopatra Testing her Poisons on her Slaves Directory: facultypages facultypages -> Credibility Versus Confidence in Monetary Policy facultypages -> Introduction to Hispanic Studies Spain's Golden Age: key dates, people and processes facultypages -> Examples of Piagetian Assimilation and Accommodation facultypages -> Normativism and Mental Causation by Justin Thomas Tiehen, B. A. Dissertation Download 95.82 Kb. Share with your friends:
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