Course Descriptions

This interdisciplinary course is a holistic survey of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman painting from the eighth century BC through the (so-called) fall of the Roman Empire in the 5^th century AD. The foci of the course will be the development of style in the different areas of the Mediterranean and the cultural significance of painted images in different social contexts. Painted items and artifacts (pottery, panels, frescoes, etc.) were created for a purpose; our guiding questions will focus on who created them, for what purpose, what informed their choices, and what impact did this material have on those who viewed them. To answer these questions we will also engage with the people who created these materials, and thus we will also study the histories, religious beliefs, and daily lives of the Greeks and the Romans to contextualize the painted materials that created and defined their worlds.