AHIS/CLAS 322:
Roman Art and Archaeology
Spring 2011
Mon/Wed 2-3:20, VKC 259
Prof. Yasin
Office hours: Mon & Wed 3:30-4:30,or by appointment (THH 256J)
Description:
This course examines art and architectural production of the Roman world from the rise of Rome as an imperial superpower to the crises and transformations of the third and fourth centuries CE.
Our work will aim to understand the social, cultural and religious contexts of artistic production and the roles that images, material objects and structures played in shaping Roman experience—from the creation and dissemination of political ideologies, to the means of organizing civic space, interacting with the gods, imagining the past, and expressing personal identity.
Course Materials:
Textbook:Fred S. Kleiner, A History of Roman Art, enhanced edition. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010 (= "HRA" in the course schedule below). ISBN: 0-495-90987-4. Available for purchase at the University bookstore.
Additional readings posted on the course Blackboard site or to be found on the web when indicated in schedule below.
Class Participation and Reading:
Your attendance andactive participation are fundamental requirements of the course. Required readings are listed below the date for each class in the schedule below, and you should come to each class prepared to discuss the assigned reading for the day. *NOTE: Be sure to bring a copy of the assigned reading with you to class. At the professor's discretion, there may be occasional, in-class writing assignments related to the day's assigned reading. Your preparation and involvement in discussion of assigned readings and visual material during class form the basis of the class participation portion of the final grade.
Monument Presentation:
Working in teams, students will be responsible for presenting one monument or archaeological site to the rest of the class. Presentations should be 10-12 minutes long and include a Powerpoint slideshow of relevant images to be posted afterwards on the course Blackboard site. Sign-up sheets and presentation guidelines will be distributed in class.
Research Project:
For your term project you are asked to select a Roman object currently on display at the Getty Villa(you may work on an object from a different museum collection by special arrangement with the professor). Detailed guidelines will be distributed in class.
-Part I: Annotated Critical Bibliography and Issue Outline. Provide a critical reading of at least four substantial (article-, chapter- or book-length), scholarly sources relevant to your selected object (maximum total length: 4 pgs, double-spaced). Then, based on this work, provide an abstract (not to exceed 250 words) of a particular issue raised by your object which you plan to pursue in your final paper.
- Due: Friday, Feb 25, 4:30pm (to be submitted in hard-copy to my box in the Art History Dept. Office, VKC 351, AND uploaded to Turnitin via course Blackboard site)
-Part II: Final Research Paper. An analysis of an issue/question raised by your object that supports a thesis with visual, historical and comparative evidence. 8-10 pages, double-spaced.
- Due: Friday, Apr 22, 4:30pm (to be submitted in hard-copy to my box in the Art History Dept. Office, VKC 351, AND uploaded to Turnitin via course Blackboard site)
Midterm and Final Exams:
There will be a midterm (Mon., Mar. 7, during class) and a final examination (Mon, May 9, 2-4pm) for this course. Exams will be held in our regular classroom, and you will be required to bring a clean blue book (available for purchase from the University bookstore). Midterm and final exams will include discussion of slides seen in class as well as "unknown" objects, short answer identifications, and essay questions. Study images of "known" monuments covered on exams will be available on the course Blackboard site.
Dates for exams are firm. Please note them in your calendar and plan accordingly. A make-up midterm will be administered only in the case of documented illness or family emergency. The scheduling of the final exam is determined by the University Registrar and cannot be altered by the instructor.
Museum Visit:
Each student will be required to visit the Getty Villa, Malibu ( for the research project. One regular lecture meeting (Wed., Feb. 9) has been canceled, and you may choose to use this extra flexibility in your schedule accommodate the museum visit, though you are not required to go on any particular day.
The Villa museum is open Wed-Mon 10am-5pm (closed Tue). Admission to the Getty Villa is free, but tickets are required in advance from the website (they cannot be obtained on site), and parking is $15 per car. Consult the museum website for additional details.
Evaluation:
Grades are not assigned on a "curve" (excellent quality work merits high marks no matter how many people achieve it), but do conform to University standards (A: work of excellent quality, B: work of good quality, C: work of fair quality, D-: work of minimum passing quality). Course evaluation will be determined according to the following scale:
Class Participation: 10%
In-Class Monument Presentation:5%
Research Project
pt. I: Annotated Bibliography and Issue Outline:15%
pt. II: Final Paper:25%
Midterm:20%
Final Exam: 25%
Policies:
Course Blackboard: Course documents, images and announcements will be posted regularly on the class Blackboard site. To access, sign in at
Electronic Devices: Please turn off all cell phones before class. Laptop computers are allowed in class for taking notes and viewing assigned readings only. Do not send texts, check email, or surf the web in class. It is disrespectful and disruptive to both me and your fellow students.
Office Hours and Email: My office hours and email address are listed at the top of this document. You are welcome to drop by unannounced during office hours, but if I am with another student I may not be able to see you, so I would recommend that you email me in advance whenever possible. I do my best to respond to student email messages within 24 hours, Mon-Fri.
Special Needs: Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP, located in STU 301 (open M-F 8:30-5; tel: (213) 740-0776). Please be sure that the letter is delivered to the professor as early in the term as possible.
Withdraw Date: In keeping with University policy, you may not withdraw from a course after the 12th week of the semester. If an emergency occurs after this date, you may receive a grade of "Incomplete" if you have a documented illness or similar crisis. Please contact the professor as soon as you realize that you may not be able to complete the course requirements. If repeated absences or similar lack of preparation is detected, you may be advised to withdraw.
Paper Submission: Papers must be submitted both in hard copy and uploaded to Turnitin (on Blackboard) by the due date (and time) to avoid being considered late.
Course Changes: The terms of this syllabus may be changed at the professor's discretion at any time with written notice (via email or Blackboard posting).
Academic Integrity: USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one's own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another's work as one's own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. In this class, any acts of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, will be handled in accordance to the guidelines and recommended sanctions listed in the Student Conduct Code, as published in the SCampus guidebook, section 11.00 and Appendix A (e.g. plagiarism or cheating on a test: an "F" for the course): Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. A description of the review process can be found at: Please read through carefully the guidelines published by the University for avoiding plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty:
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Schedule
Week 1: Beginnings
M Jan 10. Introduction: Imagining Ancient Rome: "The Grandeur that Was…"
W Jan 12. Victory and Expansion
• HRA, Chaps. 1 & 4, pp. 1-15, 45-59.
Weeks 2-3: Roman Cities: Idea and Structure
M Jan 17. No class meeting – MLK Jr. holiday
W Jan 19. Encountering Greece
• HRA, Chap. 3, pp. 30-45.
• Tonio Hölscher, "The Transformation of Victory into Power: From Event to Structure," in Representations of Was in Ancient Rome, ed. Sheila Dillon and Katherine E. Welch. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 2006, 27-48.
M Jan 24. Building and Town Planning
• HRA, Chaps. 2 & 7, pp. 16-29, 88-101.
• Roman Concrete:
• Terraces and Substructures:
• Paul Zanker, "The City as Symbol: Rome and the Creation of an Urban Image," in Romanization and the City: Creation, Transformations, and Failures. ed., Elizabeth Fentress, Portsmouth, RI: JRA, 2000, pp. 25-41.
W Jan 26. Urbanism and Ceremony
• William L. MacDonald, The Architecture of the Roman Empire, vol. 2. An Urban Appraisal. New Haven: Yale Univ. Pr., 1986, chap. 3, "Connective Architecture," pp. 32-73.
• Diane Favro, "The Street Triumphant: The Urban Impact of Roman Triumphal Parades," in Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space. ed. Zeynep Çelik, Diane Favro and Richard Ingersoll, Berkeley: Univ. of California Pr., 1994. pp. 151-164.
Weeks 4-5: Ritual and Politics in the Late Republic and Early Empire
M Jan 31. Crafting Self-Image
• Sheldon Nodelman, "How to Read a Roman Portrait," Art in America (1975): 27-33.
• Charles Brian Rose, "Forging Identity in the Roman Republic: Trojan Ancestry and Veristic Portraiture," in Role Models in the Roman World: Identity and Assimilation. ed. Sinclair Bell and Inge Lyse Hansen, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Supp. 7, Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Pr., 2008, pp. 97-131.
W Feb 2. Augustus and his Legacy
• HRA Chap. 5, pp. 60-77.
• Virgil, Aeneid, book 1 (selection) [Robert Lattimore, trans. The Aeneid. Virgil. New York: Vintage, 1981, pp. 3-14]
• Augustus, Res Gestae, 19-35:
M Feb. 7. The Emperor's Image: Ideology, Propaganda and Cult
• Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Pr., 1988. chap. 2, "Rival Images: Octavian, Antony, and the Struggle for Sole Power," pp. 33-77.
• Suna Güven, "Displaying the Res Gestae of Augustus: A Monument of Imperial Image for All," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 57:1 (1998): 30-45.
W Feb. 9. Research/Museum Day – No class meeting
Weeks 6-7: Representing Status: Between Private and Public
M Feb 14. Roman Women, guest lecture: Prof. Danny Richter
•Mary T. Boatwright, "The City Gate of Plancia Magna in Perge," in Roman Art in Context: An Anthology. ed. Eve d'Ambra. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993, pp. 189-207.
W Feb 16. Houses and Social Identity
• HRA Chap.10, pp. 138-51.
• Shelly Hales, The Roman House and Social Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 2003, chap. 4, "Finding a Way into the Pompeian House," pp. 97-134.
M Feb 21. No class – Presidents' Day
W Feb 23. Collecting and Copying
Bettina Bergmann, "Greek Masterpieces and Roman Recreative Fictions," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 97 (1995): 79-120.
Elaine K. Gazda, "Roman Sculpture and the Ethos of Emulation: Reconsidering Repetition," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 97 (1995): 121-56.
Fri., Feb 25, 4:30pm. * RESEARCH PROJECT PART I DUE: Annotated Bibliography and Abstract to be submitted in hard-copy (to my box in the Art History Dept. Office, VKC 351) AND uploaded to Turnitin (via course Blackboard site)
Weeks 8-10: Imperial Tradition
M Feb 28. Building on Past Emperors
• HRA Chaps. 8 & 9, pp. 102-37.
W Mar 2. Spectacle and Entertainment
• Katherine E. Welch, The Roman Amphitheatre: From its Origins to the Colosseum. Cambridge: Cambidge Univ. Pr., 2007, chap. 5, "The Colosseum: Canonization of the Amphitheatre Building Type," pp. 128-62.
• Elizabeth Bartman, "The Mock Face of Battle," Journal of Roman Archaeology 18 (2005): 99-119.
M Mar 7. MIDTERM EXAM
W Mar 9. Monuments and Memory
• HRA Chaps. 11-13, pp. 152-201.
☼ SPRING BREAK ☼
M Mar 21. Imperial Story-Telling
• Valérie Huet, "Stories One Might Tell of Roman Art: Reading Trajan's Column and the Tiberius Cup," in Art and Text in Roman Culture, ed. Jaś Elsner, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996, pp. 9-31.
W Mar 23. Classicism and Cosmopolitanism
• Jaś Elsner, Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1998, chap. 7, "Art and the Past: Antiquarian Eclecticism," pp. 169-97.
Week 11: Gods and Graves
M Mar 28. Religion, Gaze and the Divine
• Jaś Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer. The Transformation of Art From the Pagan World to Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1995. chap. 3 (selection) "Viewing and the Sacred: Pagan, Christian and the Vision of God," pp. 88-97.
• Verity Platt, "Viewing, Desiring, Believing: Confronting the Divine in the Roman House," Art History 25 (2002): 87-112.
W Mar 30 Funerary Monuments
• HRA Chap. 6 & 15, pp. 78-87, 217-29.
• Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, "Housing the Dead: The Tomb as House in Roman Italy," in Commemorating the Dead: Texts and Artifacts in Context. Studies of Roman, Jewish and Christian Burials. ed. Laurie Brink and Deborah Green. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008, pp. 39-78.
Weeks 12-13: Archaeologies of Center and Periphery
M Apr 4. Networks and Amenities
• Water Supply Systems: Cisterns, Resevoirs, Aqueducts:
• Roads and Highways:
• Andrew Wilson, "Deliveries Extra Urbem: Aqueducts and the Countryside," Journal of Roman Archaeology 12:1 (1999): 314-31.
• Janet Delaine, The Baths of Caracalla. A Study in the Design, Construction, and Economics of Large-Scale Building Projects in Imperial Rome. Portsmouth, RI: JRA, 1997, chap. 4, "Materials: Sources," pp. 85-102.
W Apr 6. Materials and Craft
•J. B. Ward-Perkins, "Materials, Quarries and Transportation," "The Trade in Sarcophagi," and "Taste and Technology: The Baltimore Sarcophogi," in Marble in Antiquity: Collected Papers of J. B. Ward-Perkins, ed. B. Ward-Perkins and H. Dodge, Rome: British School at Rome, 1992, pp. 13-22, 31-54.
M Apr. 11. Beyond Roman Italy
• HRA Chaps. 16-17, pp. 230-61.
W Apr. 13. Romanization?
• Peter Stewart, Social History of Roman Art, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 2008, chap. 5, "The Art of Empire," pp. 143-72.
Week 14:Empire and Its Limits
M Apr 18. The Third Century and The Tetrarchy
• HRA Chaps 18 & 19, pp. 262-89.
W Apr 20. Constantine's World
• HRA Chap. 20, pp. 290-306.
• Elizabeth Marlowe, "Framing the Sun: The Arch of Constantine and the Roman Cityscape," Art Bulletin88 (2006): 223-42.
Fri., Apr 22, 4:30pm. * FINAL PROJECT, PART II DUE: to be submitted in hard-copy (to my box in the Art History Dept. Office, VKC 351) AND uploaded to Turnitin (via course Blackboard site)
Week 15: Appropriations
M Apr 25. Decline? Fall? Writing the End of Rome
• Bryan Ward-Perkins, "Re-using the Architectural Legacy of the Past, Entre Idéologie et Pragmatisme," in The idea and ideal of the town between late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. eds. G.P. Brogiolo and Bryan Ward-Perkins. Leiden: Brill, 1999, pp. 225-244.
W Apr 27. Recarving Rome
• Richard Krautheimer, The Rome of Alexander VII, 1655-1657. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Pr., 1985. chap. 7, "Roma Antica e Moderna," pp. 102-13.
• Peter Bondanella, The Eternal City. Roman Images in the Modern World. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Pr., 1987. chap. 7, "Mussolini's Fascism and the Imperial Vision of Rome," pp. 172-206.
FINAL EXAM: Mon, May 9, 2-4pm
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