This seminar, which is offered biennially, 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 we cannot cover the entire discipline in one semester, after two introductory lectures on its history we shall address some topics that seem to be representative of current concerns, e.g. (from previous years’ syllabi):

    (1) A context: Tomb II at Vergina, its occupants and date;
    (2) A crux: the Mir Zakah medallion;
    (3) Epigraphy and topography: the Hekatompedon inscription;
    (4) Cultural Exchange: Gunter, Greek Art and the Orient;
    (5) A Discovery: The Cleveland Apollo Sauroktonos;
    (6) Text and image: Snodgrass, Homer and the Artists;
    (7) Interpretation: Shanks, Art and the Early Greek State;
    (8) Ancient criticism: the new Poseidippos papyrus;
    (9) Gender: Praxiteles’ Knidian Aphrodite;
    (10) Copying: Kousser, Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture;
    (11) Chronology in Roman art: Zeitgesicht–the period face;
    (12) Ethnic identity: The mummy portraits of Roman Egypt;
    (13) Material culture: Wallace-Hadrill, Rome’s Cultural Revolution.
 

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.

This seminar fulfills the AHMA methodology requirement.