Studies in the Ancient Imagination

Course Description

This course will look at Imperial public art and architecture and the representation of ethnic and political realities from Augustus to Justinian and Theodora. We will investigate the Roman conceptualization of the fringe of empire and its portrayal at the administrative core in terms of Roman Imperial expansion and later contraction and collapse. We will review artistic influence and hybrid imagery in terms of transition and flux, both geographically and ideologically, with a focus on the rise of Christian iconography, while the potency of such imagery will be weighted by their legacy and exploitation under Pope Sixtus V, Napoleon and Mussolini.

Recommended Reading:

Strong, D. 1995 (second edition) Roman Art. Yale.

Ward-Perkins, J.B. Roman Imperial Architecture. New Haven ; London.

Zanker, P. 1989 The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus . Ann Arbor.

Further Reading:

Bergmann, B. and Kondoleon, C. (ed.) 1999 The Art of Ancient Spectacle. Washington.

Holscher, Tonio (forward by Jas Elsner, translated by Anthony Snodgrass and Annemarie Kunzl-Snodgrass) 2004 The Language of Images in Roman Art. CUP.