STUDENTS SHOULD NOT REGISTER FOR BOTH AH 190 and AH 290
Rome City Series - This on-site course considers the art and architecture of ancient Rome through visits to museums and archaeological sites. The course covers the visual culture and architecture of Rome beginning with the Iron Age and ending with the time of Constantine. A broad variety of issues are raised, including patronage, style and iconography, artistic and architectural techniques, Roman religion, business and entertainment.

This is an upper-level survey course exploring the archaeological sites, ancient monuments, and visual art of Rome from its foundation through the Republican, Imperial, and Early Christian periods.  The course offers an exciting opportunity to investigate the history, archaeology, topography, art, and architecture of the Eternal City in an interdisciplinary manner.  We will consider the roles that structures, images, inscriptions, and material objects played in shaping Roman experience—from the creation and dissemination of political ideologies to the means of organizing civic and domestic space, interacting with the gods, imagining the past, and crafting one’s personal image.

The course will focus on placing the archaeological, artistic, and architectural evidence in its topographical context, with an emphasis on changes in art, architecture, and urban spaces through time.  We will also learn to identify and distinguish between elements in art and architecture that are derived from Rome’s extensive contacts with other cultures.  At each class meeting we will explore monuments and sites in a different part of the City, and will discuss specific aspects of Roman life, paying particular attention to the interplay of politics, society, and culture.  Topics will include:

- elite and non-elite domestic and funerary art and architecture, and what they can tell us about personal needs and familial practices, as well as social norms and expectations;

- public baths, theaters, and other types of recreational venues as expression of political statements and imperial ideology;

- aqueducts and other monumental works of large-scale civic projects as manifestations of Roman engineering, aesthetics, and networks.

 Given the advantage of staying in Rome, the course will be conducted entirely on-site around the city.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

1.     Identify, describe, and interpret the most important archaeological monuments in Rome.

2.     Relate the archaeological evidence to the topography of Ancient Rome.

3.  Demonstrate an understanding of the chronology, political events, and institutional structures of the City of Rome.

4.     Critically analyze the social, political, and economic background that informs the archaeological and architectural evidence for Rome from its earliest beginnings to the early Christian transition.

The course will engage with different types of primary evidence, including material culture and literary sources, which will also encourage students to reflect in depth about the balance between preservation and progress in a city as old as Rome. The on-site activities, discussions, and oral assignments will help improve presentation and communication skills in a public and professional environment. The nature of exams and term paper is aimed to further develop critical analysis, evaluation of information (i.e., learning to unpack and assess scholarly arguments), and research skills.

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY:
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify me and the Dean's Office by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed.

 Attendance is mandatory. You are expected to participate in all scheduled classes. Classes start on-site and thus punctuality is essential; three tardy arrivals will count as one unexcused absence. Absences and late arrivals will result in the lowering of the final class grade.

You are responsible for identifying the location of - and route to - the meeting points of the classes. You should calculate around 40-50 minutes travel time to our meeting points (specified below in the class schedule). Please refer to the university catalog for attendance and absence policy.

Class 1. (Mon. July 1)

TOPIC: Introduction to the Course and to Rome; Logistics (oral report and paper topics; JCU Library resources) + Regal and Early Republican Rome: foundation, contacts, influences

MEETING PLACE: JCU Classroom. Second part of class on-site.

SITE VISITS: Palatine and Aventine Hills, Circus Maximus, Forum Boarium (Round Temple and Temple of Portunus), Area Sacra at Sant'Omobono, Capitoline Hill and Capitoline Museums (Capitolium, finds from Sant'Omobono, overview of Forum).

READING: Claridge 2010: 4-59 (history, documentary sources, building types & techniques), 63-67, 75-77, 83-84, 105-111 (Forum Romanum), 132-133 (hut of Romulus),  259-262, 268-70 (Capitoline, Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus), 282-288 (Forum Boarium and Area Sacra at Sant'Omobono), 299-300 (Circus Maximus); Smith 2000: 16-41 (Early and Archaic Rome). [Recommended: Beard M. “Why ancient Rome matters” (20 min, Guardian Article)].

Class 2. (Wed. July 3)

TOPIC: Middle and Late Republican Rome: expansion, competition, and the architecture of the Roman triumph.

SITE VISITS: Lower Campus Martius walk (including Largo Argentina and Theater of Pompey): Temples at Largo Argentina, Theater and Porticus of Pompey,  Circus Flaminius, Porticus of Metellus/Octavia, Temple of Apollo Medicus/Sosianus, Theater of Marcellus, Forum Holitorium (Temples beneath S. Nicola in Carcere). 

MEETING PLACE: At the Tower in Largo Argentina (“Torre del Papito”).

READING: Claridge 2010: 9-12 (history), 239-246, 250-256 (Theatre of Pompey, Largo Argentina, Portico of Metellus/Octavia), 274-282 (Theater of Marcellus, Temple of Apollo Medicus/Sosianus, Forum Holitorium); Favro 1994: 151-164 (triumphal procession).

Class 3. (Mon. July 8)

TOPIC: Transition from Republic to Empire: the transformation of the Ancient City Center. Oral presentations begin!

SITE VISITS: Forum Romanum (Regia, Temple of Vesta, Temple of Saturn, Temple of Castors, Curia, Comitium, Rostra, Basilica Julia, Temple of Divus Julius, Basilica Aemilia, Porticus of Gaius and Lucius), Forum of Julius Caesar, Forum of Augustus. 

MEETING PLACE: At the Column of Trajan.

READING: Claridge 2010: 10-15 (history), 63-75, 85-87, 92-95, 100-103 (Forum Romanum), 60-169 (Forum of Caesar), 177-180 (Forum of Augustus).

Class 4. (Wed, July 10)

TOPIC: The Rome of Augustus: visual "rhetoric," memory and the new Golden Age

SITE VISITS: Augustan Campus Martius: (Claridge 2010: fig. 77): Mausoleum, Res Gestae, Ara Pacis, Solar meridian, Agrippa’s Pantheon and building program. MiC Card needed.

MEETING PLACE: At the entrance to the Ara Pacis Museum (Lungotevere in Augusta).

READING: Claridge 2010: 12-15, 40-43 (history & building materials), 197-216, 232-233 (Augustan Campus Martius); Frischer et al. 2017: 41-45, 51-59, 60-63 (ideology of Augustan visual culture)

Class 5. (Mon. July 15)

Midterm Exam

MEETING PLACE: JCU Classroom.

Exam details will be shared ahead of time and posted on Moodle.

Class 6. (Wed. July 17)

TOPIC: Imperial Residences & The Flavians: patronage and urban appropriation in the Colosseum Valley 

SITE VISITS: Domus Aurea, Colossus, Flavian Amphitheater (exterior), Meta Sudans, Arch of Titus, Temple of Peace, Forum Transitorium; Palatine Hill (Claridge 2010: fig. 50): House of “Augustus” and Temple of Apollo, Domus Transitoria, Domus Tiberiana, Palace of Domitian. Palatine Museum: Augustan & Nerionan rooms.

MEETING PLACE: At the entrance to the Forum Romanum by the Fori Imperiali (near the ticket office at Via della Salaria Vecchia 5/6).

READING: Claridge 2010: 16-18 (history), 121-123 (Arch of Titus), 124-128 (Palatine Hill), 135-154 (House of “Augustus” and Temple of Apollo, Domitian’s Palace), 169-176 (Temple of Peace, Forum of Nerva), 301-308 (Domus Aurea, Meta Sudans), 312-319 (Colosseum).

Class 7. (Mon. July 22)

TOPIC: The Rome of Trajan and Hadrian: engineering, aesthetics, networks, and commemoration

SITE VISITS: Forum, Column, and Markets of Trajan (Claridge 2010: fig. 60); Museum of the Imperial Fora; Baths of Trajan; Imperial Campus Martius Walk: Pantheon, Hadrianeum, Column of Marcus Aurelius. MiC Card needed.

MEETING PLACE: At the Column of Trajan.

READING: Claridge 2010: 18-21 (history), 180-96 (Forum and Markets of Trajan), 197-204 (Campus Martius), 219-221 (Column of Marcus Aurelius), 223-238 (Pantheon and Hadrianeum), 324-326 (Baths of Trajan); Yegül and Favro 2019: 333-355 (Trajan, Hadrian, and Apollodorus).

Class 8. (Wed. July 24)

TOPIC: From the Severans to Constantine the Great: entertainment, water culture, politics (originally planned for Mon, July 29 but the Baths of Caracalla are closed on Mondays)

SITE VISITS: Circus Maximus, Baths of Caracalla, Septizodium, Arch of Constantine, Basilica Nova.

MEETING PLACE: Outside the Metro B “Circo Massimo” Stop (outside the station next to Gusto Massimo Bar).

READING: Claridge 2010: 21-28 (history), 115-117 (Basilica Nova), 118-121 (Temple of Venus and Roma), 299-300 (Circus Maximus), 306-308 (Colossus), 308-312 (Arch of Constantine), 356-365 (Septizodium, Baths of Caracalla).

Class 9. (Mon. July 29)

TOPIC: Papers' final draft overview & peer-review workshop

MEETING PLACE: JCU Classroom.

Bring a computer or tablet with you to class.

Class 10. (Wed. July 31)

TOPIC: Domestic and funerary art: houses and tombs as display of social memory, culture and identity

MEETING PLACE: Outside the Metro B "Piramide" Stop (Piazzale Ostiense). MiC Card needed.

SITE VISITS: Pyramid; Centrale Montemartini Museum (portrait, sculpture, mosaic)

READING: Claridge 2015: 385-387 (Tomb of Eurysaces), 397-401 (Pyramid); Newby 2016 (myth in villa); Patterson 2000 (houses and tombs).

Class 11. (Friday August 2)

FINAL EXAM