Course Description
Painting produced in the Greek and Roman worlds from 800 BC to AD 300 with an emphasis on the art's social-historical development and display, materials and techniques, literary exphrasis, and the culture of painting and viewing. Critical methodological issues, recent archaeological discoveries, and on-going debates are highlighted.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to produce a detailed
research paper on a chosen topic or theme. The paper will
demonstrate appropriately advanced research skills and
engagement with the rich critical apparatus of Greek and Roman
art historical scholarship, including the ability to read the
relevant literature in foreign languages.
Athena Title
ROMAN VILLA
Prerequisite
(Two ARHI 3000-level courses and permission of major) or (two from CLAS 1000 or CLAS 1000H or CLAS 1010 or CLAS 1010H or CLAS 1020 or CLAS 1020H or CLAS 2000)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course offers an interdisciplinary examination of the Roman villa, one of the defining phenomena of elite Roman art and culture. Students learn how to visually analyze ancient types of architectural and art historical materials, weigh different forms of textual and archaeological evidence in its assessment, and apply different methodologies in art historical research. Direct object study is emphasized to develop the visual skill of connoisseurship and the technical appreciation of ancient art as artifact. Students give illustrated class presentations, write a research paper on a topic selected in consultation with the teacher, and demonstrate their skills in two written examinations covering the lectures, class discussion, and assigned readings.
Topical Outline
I: Introduction and Historiography of the Roman Villa II: Origins: Ambiguities and Controversies III: Looking and Reading: The Social Functions of the Roman Villa IV: Mid Republican Villas: Precedents and Decoration V: Late Republican Villas: Rhetoric and Function VI: Augustan and Julio-Claudian: Rome and Its Environs VII: Augustan and Julio-Claudian: Campania VIII: Flavian and Trajanic: Italy and Elsewhere IX: Hadrianic: Tibur and Beyond X: Antonine and Severan: West and East X: The New Language of Military Crisis XI: Late Antiquity: Changing Functions XII: Late Antiquity and Post-Antique Revivals