Visual Cultures of Ancient Rome
Roman rulers waged war with images, vying with each other in life-and-death battles for supreme control of the ancient Roman world. Cities were aggrandized from Britain to Syria with great marble monuments to Roman leisure and wealth. Private individuals set up complex sculpted memorials to family, inserting their loved-ones into the material fabric of the city's, and the Empire's, claim to stability and status. Meanwhile, Roman homes glowed with multi-coloured mosaics and frescos, mapped onto floors, ceilings, walls, and matched in the carved detail of wooden furniture, and precious trinkets of silver and gems. The Roman Empire was awash with a rich and lively visual culture. This course surveys these vibrant visual arts of the Roman world from the late Republican period, down to the reign of Constantine (100BC – AD 336). It explores Roman visual culture across the provinces, and in a range of social spheres: civic, funerary, and domestic, among them. Students will be introduced to major objects and monuments produced for Roman patrons, as well as to lesser known works, which remain intriguing for the window they offer onto Roman aesthetic and social paradigms. Through this survey, the course will address the problematic question of how Roman art is ultimately to be defined. We will pay special attention to the function and significance of prominent themes such as portraiture, copying, naturalism, and classicism in Roman art. We will also engage with the difficult issue of how our own instincts about art, and our taxonomies of visual production, may actually hinder us in our attempt to grasp the priorities of effect inherent in Roman visual culture.
Textbooks/Other Materials: All readings will be available through Canvas, or on course reserve.
Course Requirements:
Intended Audience: Undergraduate - all welcome
Class Format: Two 80 minute lectures a week, with discussion and activities
Estimated Cost of Materials: $0-50
HISTART Concentration Distributions: Europe and the US, Middle East, Ancient
Keywords: Money; painting; fashion; architecture; army; women
