This seminar, which is offered every two or three years, is intended to introduce graduate students—both archaeologists and non-archaeologists—to the discipline of classical archaeology, its history and evolution, and its research tools and bibliography. Since it is both impossible and undesirable to attempt to cover the entire discipline in one semester, after two introductory presentations on the history of the field, we will address a selection of topics or “case studies” that seems representative of its concerns.

Each participant will be expected to produce a bibliography on his/her topic the week after it has been assigned, and present a short report on it the week after that.

Prerequisites: a working knowledge of Latin or Greek; willingness to tackle limited secondary reading in German, French, or Italian, as appropriate.