ARCH 2500, Fall 2007
The Art and Archaeology of Civic Identity
Mondays 3:00-5:20 PM
Instructor: Diana Ng
Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
70 Waterman Street
Office hours: Thursday 10:00 AM-12:00PM, and by appointment
The scholarship of classical antiquity has divided the ancient Mediterranean into various parts, dependent on the prevailing political, social, or cultural theories. Empire, city, countryside—each have received their fair share of attention in recent years. One can argue, however, that the study of classical empires (Rome, Athens, Macedonian, for example) and the study of rural places both rely upon the city as the basic unit of ancient life. An empire is, among other things, a grouping of cities across a large geographical expanse; one can only have countryside when there are developed centers of population. The city, then, occupies a central place in the consideration of the politics, culture, and society of the ancient Mediterranean. This seminar explores the Greek and Roman city as defined by its inhabitants and then by its neighbors and conquerors by focusing on civic identity and the role of art and architecture in its formation and expression.
This course will be divided into three parts, the first of which will be devoted to an examination of how the Greeks and Romans understood urban life, and that understanding compares with modern theories—political, social, architectural—on communal identities and internal fragmentations. The second part of the course will be based on a series of case studies, drawn from different periods and different cities in classical antiquity. In this part of the course, the art and architecture produced by colonies such as Cosa and Pisidian Antioch, Asian cities such as Ephesos, and the imperial capital of Rome will be discussed and analyzed from the perspective of civic identity formation and promotion. These first two segments of the seminar will involve not only theoretical, archaeological and art historical readings, but will also include readings of primary sources, including selections from the Second Sophistic rhetorical movement. The final part of the seminar consists of class presentations of final projects, the final form of which will be a 25 page paper.
Course assessment:
1) Active and ongoing participation in discussions (35%)
2) Class presentation and 5 page project proposal (25%)
3) Final paper (25 pages) (40%)
Preliminary Seminar Schedule (subject to revision):
Week of:
September 10:Introduction: what is civic identity?
September 17:Approaches to civic and group identity
September 24:Material culture and civic identity
October 1:Rome
October 8:Columbus Day, no class
October 15:Roman colonies: Cosa and Pisidian Antioch
October 22:Pergamon
October 29:Ephesos and the cities of Asia Minor
November 5:Roman Athens
November 12:Civic Rituals and civic identity
November 19:Constantinople and 4th century Rome
November 26:Paper presentation
December 3:Paper presentation
December 10:Paper presentation
Final papers are due December 17.