CLAS/ARTH 1509: Trash and Treasure, Temples and Tombs: Art and Archaeology of the Ancient World

This course introduces the art and archaeology of ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, and Rome, seeking to gain greater understanding of these cultures' approaches to power, religion, death, and the human body. Different types of evidence elucidate different aspects of ancient societies: trash, the stuff of archaeology, shows us as much about how people really lived as monumental architecture does about how they wished to portray themselves. The course thus examines art, architecture, and rubbish to learn about ancient humanity. Readings will include primary sources in translation as well as standard texts; Web-based projects help students travel widely on the Internet. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Literature & the Arts, and Historical Context.

CLAS/ANTH 2009: Modern Issues, Ancient Times

This course examines issues that matter to us now, considering them in Greek and Roman times. Topics will vary: the course may focus on, for instance, food, death, sex, family, literacy, power, or the uses of art in political contexts. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Historical Context.

The course might be taught, for instance, as one on Food in the Ancient Mediterranean World:
Everyone eats food. But the ways people eat and drink, and what they eat and drink, vary between individuals and between cultures. Patterns of eating and drinking can thus serve as powerful forms of identification and differentiation for individuals and for societies. This course will consider what kinds of food were available in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as how food was prepared. We will also look at the effects of food consumption on people's health. We will investigate ways in which styles of consumption marked real and symbolic boundaries of class, cult, and gender: how people displayed wealth through food and drink, how religious cults might impose special diets, how men and women ate different foods. We will analyze ancient parties for their social significance and compare them with modern parties. The course will draw on both literary and archaeological evidence to consider consumption in ancient Greece and Rome.

 

CLAS/ARTH 2019: Pompeii and the Cities of Vesuvius

This course introduces the remains of the towns and villas buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. It explores the designs and decoration of ancient Roman buildings, as well as the variety of artifacts uncovered as evidence for daily life. The history of the region from the eighth century B.C.E. to 79 C.E. will be covered in detail. Topics to be discussed in relation to the archaeological evidence include ancient diet, funerary practices, family and marriage, education, entertainment and athletics, theatrical productions, trade and commerce, coins and the economy, civic politics, literature and graffiti, gladiatorial games, luxury items. We will also examine the history of the excavations in Campania, the impact of the discoveries on modern cultures, the relocation of Campanian art and artifacts to museum galleries, and the future of explorations in this region. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Historical Context.

CLAS/FINE 3039: Greek Art and Archaeology

This course introduces the art and archaeology of ancient Greece, from prehistoric times to the Hellenistic period. The chronological range is great (ca. 3000 years) and the cultural developments profound (from the beginnings of agriculture through the construction of the Parthenon to the conquests of Alexander the Great). We will focus on particular themes and concepts through the course, tracing their developments in this most exciting and beautiful of cultural sequences. Emphasis will be on cultural history as well as art history: we will return to the question of why people create the monuments they do, drawing parallels to modern examples to further our understanding of the distant past. The course will also help develop your ability to read and analyze texts and works of art and architecture critically and to discuss them with facility and insight in writing. We will focus on the ability to organize, support, and communicate ideas drawn from texts and material culture, pulling them into coherent and persuasive discussions. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Literature & the Arts (upper level).

CLAS/ARTH 3049: Roman Art and Architecture

Ancient Rome was both a city and a vast empire of many nationalities and religions. For centuries people have been fascinated with how a small community of farmers gradually grew in power eventually to control most of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The Romans inherited ideas, technologies and prejudices from earlier and contemporary cultures. This is especially true in the creative fields of literature, drama, art and architecture. Without question, Rome was most influenced by the traditions of ancient Greece. In fact, it was Rome's interest "in all things Greek" that preserved for us much of the cultural remains of the Greek world. However, with respect to art and architecture, Rome borrowed foreign forms and then changed them to suit her own purposes and tastes. In fact, Roman art and architecture are unique expressions of cultural power and of individuals living within a multicultural imperial system. In this course, we will explore the uses, messages and production of Roman images and structures from the 2nd century B.C. to the 4th century A.D. We will examine how art and architecture were used as tools to evoke various ideas about individual identity, political power, social and economic status, inclusion/exclusion from the accepted norms, gender, and divine will. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Literature & the Arts (upper level).

CLAS/ARTH 4109: Ancient Italian Painting

This course will explore the problems, theories and methods for understanding the iconography, style, context (historical and architectural) and techniques of images painted on walls in ancient Italy. The first few weeks of the semester will be spent on tomb paintings created by or for the Etruscans from sixth to the first centuries B.C.E. The remainder of the course will concentrate on wall paintings from Rome and Campania in southern Italy (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis) dated to the Roman republican and imperial periods. We will wrap upwith a brief review of later Roman wall painting, including the painted images on the walls of early catacombs. Previous coursework on ancient Italy or the history of pre-modern art is highly recommended.

CLAS/ARTH 4119/5119: Roman Sculpture

This is an advanced course that focuses on the display, iconography and production of private and public sculpted monuments in the Roman Empire. We will explore sculpture as evidence for Roman historical developments, societal and gender attitudes, state ideologies and aesthetic preferences. Topics covered include Etruscan antecedants, Republican and imperial portraiture, numismatic iconography, "copies," sculpture in contexts, historical reliefs, decorative/mythological reliefs, classicism, and sarcophagi. Previous coursework in classics or pre-modern art is highly recommended.

CLAS/FINE/ANTH 4129/5129: Aegean Art and Archaeology

The scope of this course is the prehistoric art and archaeology of mainland Greece, Crete and the Aegean islands, seen in their wider Mediterranean and Near Eastern context, from earliest human settlement in the Aegean area in the Palaeolithic, through the development of civilization in the various regious, down to the end of the Bronze Age at about 1100 B.C. We will consider a wide range of sites, artifacts, and works of art. The course is thus a detailed study of the cultures of prehistoric Greece, the Cycladic Islands, and Crete, their monuments, and their history within the context of the eastern Mediterranean. This will entail examination of a variety of issues such as the origins of farming, metal-working, writing, trade, etc., as well as considering the evidence of language and mythology, and the special problems posed by the iconography of prehistoric cultures. We will pay particular attention to the origins and functions of palaces and their societies.

 

CLAS/FINE 4139/5139: Greek Vase Painting

This course will examine the remains of ancient Greek painting from the Geometric period (ca. 800 BCE) until the late 4th century BCE. We will focus on Greek vase painting but will try to examine the scanty remains of monumental Greek painting too, to help us think in appropriately complex ways about the ways painting functioned in society. We will consider vases as utilitarian objects as well as prettily-painted ones. In this way we will use them as a lens to consider social history as well as one through which to view various methodological issues.

 

CLAS/FINE 4149/5149: Greek Cities and Sanctuaries

This course is an advanced survey of the primary archaeological sites of the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Greek world, considering cities and sanctuaries located on the Greek mainland, the Asia minor coast, and in South Italy and Sicily. We will study developments in town planning and building programs both architecturally and on a more theoretical level as responses to important Greek institutions such as colonization and democracy. Readings will be drawn from primary as well as secondary sources, including ancient literary descriptions of the sites as well as published excavation reports. This course thus introduces students to the fundamentals of Greek architecture, tracing its development from the 9th century BCE into the Hellenistic period. It considers the use of space, both in religious and in civic settings. And it draws together the study of material culture and textual sources to try to understand ways we may best arrive at understandings of the cultures of historical time-periods. Emphasis is placed on developing analytical skills and critical thinking, with some consideration of critical theory to assist in interpreting the material remains.

CLAS/FINE 4169/5169 Topics: Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

This course focuses on the civilizations of the Iran-Iraq region from the rise of urbanism in Mesopotamia through the era of the first "world empire" of the Achaemenid Persian kings. The chronological range (c. 3500-330 BCE) is vast; the cultural traditions represented are complex and diverse. The goal of the course is thus to introduce major art forms rather broadly in a thematic and issue-oriented mode, but within the framework of an historical survey. The course will emphasize the material record of the religious and state institutions of the ancient Near East as well as individuals, especially as derived from documented historical contexts. It will pay particular thematic attention to monuments that provide critical information on concepts of kingship. The course will explore selected examples of palace and temple architecture, architectural decoration and representational programming; selected examples of freestanding sculpture and rock carving; and the continuous tradition of glyptic art (stamp and cylinder seals). It will consider issues of style, symbolism, visual rhetoric and text-image synthesis, patronage, the concept of creativity, and the position of the artist. Lectures and readings will be positioned within the context of critical theory: emphasis will be placed on Orientalism and ways it has shaped our approach to the ancient Near East.

CLAS/FINE 4169/5169 Topics: Greek Sculpture

An advanced course that explores the development of Greek sculpture in stone, bronze, terracotta and other media from the Geometric to late Classical periods.  Students will explore the subjects, designs and purposes of free-standng pieces, votive reliefs, funerary monuments and architectural decoration. This course focuses on the role of sculpture in Greek society, especially as it relates to gender relationships, patronage patterns, political developments and religious ritual. In addition to examining stylistic, iconographic and technical developments, students also explore the critical influence of concepts such as symmetria, rhythmos, ethos and pathos. Prior coursework in classics or art history is highly recommended.

CLAS/ARTH 4199/5199: Roman Architecture

An upper level course that examines the designs, functions and construction methods of ancient Roman public architecture, including temples, baths, fora and civic structures as well as utilitarian structures, including roads and aqueducts. Emphasizes Roman architectural forms and spaces as vehicles for political propaganda and empire consolidation. In addition to exploring the types and functions of standard Roman building designs, we will focus our attention on the specific features of structure in the capital, such as the Forum of Trajan, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Baths of Caracalla and the Basilica of Maxentius. Graduate students also will read the entire treatise of Vitruvius in translation. Previous coursework on ancient Italy or the history of pre-modern architecture is highly recommended.

 

CLAS 4849: Independent Study

May be repeated for a total of 7 credit hours.

CLAS 5109 : Ancient Italian Painting

In this graduate seminar, we will examine the history of wall painting in ancient Italy with a focus on current approaches to the material remains, including reception, narrative, replication, gender, decorum, humor and erotica. We will explore the painted tombs of Etruria as well as the vast body of evidence from Rome & Campania.

 

CLAS/ARTH 5159: Hellenistic Art and Archaeology

A graduate seminar that focuses on art, architecture and archaeological sites from the period preceding the death of Alexander the Great (the fourth century BCE) to the conquest of Greece by the Romans (middle second century BCE). Discussion topics include artistic personalities (Praxiteles, Skopas, Lysippos), images of masculinity, female identities, temple design, civic planning, funerary monuments, Pergamon, style topologies, regionalism, retrospection, patronage, and artistic reproduction.

 

CLAS/FINE 5179: Periklean Athens

A graduate level course that explores in detail the buildings, sculptures, pots, and foreign imports of Athens under the leadership of Perikles in the fifth century BCE. The class will consider the material culture of individuals as much as civic programs. Emphasis is on ways in which the textual and archaeological evidence complement and/or contradict one another.

 

CLAS/ARTH 5189: Augustan Rome

A graduate level course that focuses on the sculptures, paintings, and buildings constructed in the city of Rome during the reign of the first emperor Augustus (27 BCE to 14 CE). The political chaos of the last decades of the Roman Republic ended with the violent rise to power of Julius Caesar's grandnephew and adopted heir, Augustus Caesar. Through illustrated lectures and in-class discussions, this course examines the images, artifacts and buildings of the "Golden Age" of Augustan Rome with respect to the socio-historical context. How did sculpture, architecture, wall paintings, terracottas, metalwork and coins celebrate the political ideals, religious conservatism and social reforms of Rome's first emperor? What role did Augustus and his advisors play in the creation of Augustan art? How did these monuments speak to the average Roman citizen or the visiting foreigner? Which artistic currents influenced the eclectic character of early imperial imagery? Students will re-evaluate recent assessments of the originality, aesthetic traditions and visual language of Augustan art and architecture. Substantial attention will be paid to the precedents set by Republican and Hellenistic monuments. Undergraduates interested in taking this course must speak with Prof. Conlin to review prior coursework in classics or art history.

 

CLAS 6109 Topics: Roman Relief Sculpture

This is graduate seminar that focuses on the display, iconography and production of sculpted stone reliefs in the Roman Empire. We will explore the content, style and display of figural relief sculpture as evidence for Roman historical developments, societal and gender attitudes, state ideologies and aesthetic preferences. Monuments covered include the Paris/Munich Reliefs, the Ara Pacis Augustae, the Ara Pietatis, the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias, the Arch of Titus, the Cancelleria Reliefs, the Column of Trajan, the Province panels from the Hadrianeum, the Column Base of Antoninus Pius, the Antonine altar at Ephesus, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Severan reliefs from Leptis Magna, the Arch of the Argentarii, the Tetrarchic Decennalia Base and the Arch of Constantine. We will also explore decorative and funerary relief sculpture.

CLAS 6109 Topics: Narrative in the Ancient World: The Art of Story-Telling

How did people in the ancient world tell stories? How did they manipulate time, characters, the place or pace of telling to increase the impact of a tale? Did narrative techniques differ between spoken and written stories, between poetry and prose? Stories can also be told with art rather than words, as visual narratives. Can we think about artistic narratives in the same way as verbal ones? This course is an introduction to narrative theory, considering its development in connection with ancient verbal narratives and then moving on to explore ways in which it must be reconstructed when dealing with a medium other than that for which it was originally derived. Emphasis is on developing analytical skills and facility with dealing with literary theory in textual and artistic spectra.

 

CLAS 6109 Topics: Power and Ideology in Achaemenid Persia

The Achaemenid Persian empire (ca. 550-330 BCE), founded by Cyrus II, centered on southwest Iran and lower Mesopotamia. Under Darius I (521-486 BCE) it reached its greatest extent, stretching from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River, from Egypt to the modern Central Asian Republics. The empire was vast and its people diverse. The Achaemenid kings had to devise a system of empire strong enough to keep themselves in control and flexible enough to provide for the needs of all their subjects. Imperial rhetoric, both verbal and visual, emphasized ideas of power and stability, of resolution of conflict. The art and architecture of the period both reflect the diversity of the empire and proclaim a single central theme: a harmonious world order thanks to a benevolent and beneficent king. But reality was significantly more complicated.

This seminar considers the history and archaeology of this vast ancient empire, considering both the rhetoric of the Achaemenid dynasts who ruled from their capital cities at the heartland, and the reality of the empire as it came to exist in the different provinces — from Greece to India, from Egypt to Afghanistan.

Grades will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, article reviews, and a final research project which will culminate in a 30-minute oral presentation plus discussion and a 15-page paper. There are no prerequisites for the class; students may elect to do historical readings in translation or in the original languages. Scholarly emphases will include not only understanding the history of the empire itself, but also the historiographic traditions of study.

CLAS 6119: Graduate Independent Study in Ancient Art and Archaeology

May be repeated for a total of 7 credit hours.

Archaeological Theories

The course is concerned with the nature and epistemological basis of archaeological knowledge, and with the theoretical and methodological approaches that are employed in the study of the past. The course has two primary goals: 1) to provide an overview of the major theoretical and methodological issues that have characterized the continuing development of contemporary archaeology; and 2) to examine critically the process by which theory, method, and data are integrated in the design and conduct of archaeological research

CLAS 7109: Graduate Seminar

Topics will vary. Emphasis will be on gaining expertise in using archaeological reports in tandem with (or contradiction to) textual sources, on reading and using critical theory, on improving analytical skills and discussion, and on honing discussion leadership abilities.

Historical Archaeology as the "Handmaiden of History?"

This course has several main goals: (1) to introduce Classics students who are familiar with textual analysis to the study of archaeological records and help them learn to read them in a thoughtful, analytic fashion; (2) to read some critical theory relevant to the topics we consider and see how it can be applied in practice to archaeological research, to read and critique other people's wirting as models for the applications of theory, and to learn to apply it ourselves; (3) to help students understand ways in which texts and material culture may complement (or contradict) one another; (4) to improve students' skills in writing about important issues and ideas, and to enhance their ability to lead and participate in group discussion.