ABSTRACT
Courtesans and slaves were not Roman citizens and thus were neither recognized by nor protected under Roman law. Their subaltern bodies were not considered to be capable of being sexually violated, nor of experiencing sexual shame. This chapter examines Ovid’s descriptions of the sexual assault of two different subaltern women in the Amores, Corinna in 1.7 and Cypassis in 2.7 and 2.8, and argues that Ovid’s precise depictions of their trauma suggest that women of all social classes can experience sexual trauma. Drawing upon psychological research on trauma in victims of sexual assault, the chapter examines Ovid’s detailed accuracy in depicting the women’s physical and emotional responses to abuse. The courtesan Corinna displays signs of rape trauma syndrome and tonic immobility in response to assault. The slave-girl Cypassis displays similar signs of trauma, but the circumstances of her inferior social status contribute to the additional development of post-traumatic stress disorder. In juxtaposing within these poems the perspective of the predatory male citizen lover with that of the suffering non-citizen women, Ovid enhances the women’s victimization and exposes the unrelenting exploitation of their bodies.
