Amy Richlin
Professor & Graduate Advisor
Latin Literature, History of Sexuality, Feminist Theory
Dodd 254C
310-825-4274
richlin@humnet.ucla.edu

"THIRTY YEARS"

Amy Richlin took her B.A. from Princeton in 1973 and her Ph.D. from Yale in 1978.  At Princeton she wrote her senior thesis on "Defense Problems in the Roman Occupation of Britain" and otherwise focused on rowing; she founded the Princeton women's crew and on graduation won the Class of 1916 Cup, "awarded each year to the Princeton varsity letterman who continuing in competition in his senior year achieved at graduation the highest academic standing."  At Yale she wrote a dissertation on "Sexual Terms and Themes in Roman Satire and Related Genres" under the direction of Gordon Williams.  Since then she has taught at Rutgers University, Dartmouth College, Lehigh University, and the University of Southern California, joining the UCLA faculty in 2005. 

She is the author of The Garden of Priapus:  Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor (Yale 1983; rev. ed. Oxford 1992), editor of Pornography and Representation in Greece and Rome (Oxford 1992), and co-editor, with Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, of Feminist Theory and the Classics (Routledge 1993).  Recent and forthcoming publications include: Rome and the Mysterious Orient (University of California Press, 2005), translations of three plays by Plautus with notes and introductions, focusing on Roman attitudes to the Near East and Africa; and Marcus Aurelius in Love (University of Chicago, 2007), translations of the letters of Marcus Aurelius and Cornelius Fronto.  She has also published many articles on sex and gender in antiquity, the history of sexuality, and feminist theory.

Professor Richlin teaches undergraduate courses on comedy, Roman law, women's history, and Roman civilization, as well as in Latin language and literature; her graduate courses include "Roman History and the Theory of History" and "Sex and Gender in the Ancient Mediterranean" . She has been active in the Women's Classical Caucus and in the American Philological Association.  At UCLA, she serves as Graduate Director.  Her favorite places in Los Angeles are the Museum of Jurassic Technology, the Velaslavasay Panorama, the Gamble House, and the Central Library.