Watch the Pre-Departure Meeting with Rome Staff

ANCIENT ART OF ROME

ROME 230

Course Description:

The course will introduce the students to the archaeology, art and architecture of Ancient Rome and its Empire as well as to make them aware of their contribution to the multicultural identity of the Mediterranean. Architecture, sculpture and painting will be the main areas discussed in this course, with an emphasis upon their technical, typological, stylistic and iconographic characteristics. At the same time the use of art and architecture in the public and private sphere will be highlighted. Introductory lectures will focus on the Greek and Etruscan legacy and the course will be concluded with a survey of the role the minor arts played in Roman society. Special attention will be given to the building materials and techniques, the "function" of the private house, the use of style and iconography as part of a political program, the problem of the Roman "copies" of Greek originals, etc. The course will cover the time from the Etruscan and Greek phase of preroman Italy (9th-6th cent. BC) until the age of Constantine (4th cent. AD). Examples to illustrate Roman art and architecture will be drawn from Rome, Italy and the rest of the Empire. Readings will complete what is being talked about during the hours of class. The course will be divided up between weekly classroom lectures and half day lectures on site. In order to get credit for the course the student must successfully fulfill the requirements for the midterm, paper and final exam. There will also be a mandatory one-day academic excursion to the Archaeological Museum of Naples and Herculaneum, the smaller city destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.