Beyond the Boundaries of Fantasia: An ancient imagining of the future of leadership

Readings: Plutarch's Antony

First, read Plutarch, Life of Antony (Dryden translation). As you are reading, make a chart that tracks gender presentation and its consequences for Antony, Fulvia, Cleopatra, and Octavia. For each character, you should produce a chart that looks something like this:
 
Masculine Trait/Action
1.
2.
3.		Consequences
1.
2.
3.		Plutarch’s Evaluation
1.
2.
3.
Feminine Trait/Action
1.
2.
3.		Consequences
1.
2.
3.		Plutarch’s Evalution
1.
2.
3.

Then, read the following pieces of modern scholarship on the Antony, on Plutarch's views of women in leadership positions, and on Roman treatments of Fulvia in literature and material culture. Take time at the end of each piece to review the questions on the module's homepage: what new insights does each piece bring into ancient views on gender and leadership? Are the new questions you think should be added?

Jeffrey Beneker, "Eros and the Fall of Mark Antony", in The Passionate Statesman: Eros and Politics in Plutarch's Lives. Oxford: 2012.
Karin Blomqvist, "From Olympias to Aretaphila: Women in Politics in Plutarch", in Plutarch and his Intellectual World, ed. J.Mossman. Duckworth: 1997.
Judith Hallett, "Fulvia: The Representation of an Elite Roman Warrior Woman", in Women & War in Antiquity, eds. J. Fabre-Serris and A. Keith. Johns Hopkins: 2015.

Finally, let's consider how different or similar our modern political landscape is to the world of Antony, Fulvia, Octavia, and Cleopatra. 
*Some relevant election-related gender and leadership piece. I don't want to commit to one now because I'm sure this cycle won't stop producing more material, and I want to pick something as topical as possible. One example: Jill Lepore's "The Sovereignty of Women". Another great one: Kay Steiger on Vox.

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