28798 - Archaeology and History of Ancient Roman Art (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student acquires the methods, instruments, competences and abilities necessary to a historical and cultural definition and contestualization of some important questions in Roman archaeology. The student - with the help of different types of resources (archaeological, historical, litterary resources) - will be capable of conducting a research in an appropriate way and of employing an adequate scientific bibliography. Moreover, he will be able to expose the results of his work, both in oral and written form, employing an appropriate iconography.

Course contents

REDISCOVERING THE ROMAN CITY AND ITS TERRITORY

The course intends to make the students discover potentialities and results of a contestualized observation of the archaeological evidence thanks to the analysis of some important case studies both from the public and private domain.

A particular attention will be payed to the hosmotic and synergic relation between space and decoration.

Frontal lessons will be integrated by seminars (not mandatory) and by a cycle of conferences about projects in progress, held by professors and researchers from various universities and institutions.

At the end there will be a school trip (period and schedule will be defined together with students).

 

(6 CFU: Module 1; 12 CFU: Module 1 and 2)

 

I. City and territory

II. The public scene

III. Markets

IV. The private scene

 

Module !:

- Case studies from Italy

Module II:

- Cases studies from Tunisia

 

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

 

The preparation for the exam includes a general complete knowledge of Roman art from origins to Late Antiquity.

Students who never passed an exam of Classical Archaeology or Roman Archaeology will have to acquire those fundamentals notions.

The following bibliography is advised:

Option 1:

1.a – R. Bianchi Bandinelli, Roma. L’arte romana nel centro del potere, Milano, BUR, 1976;

1.b - R. Bianchi Bandinelli,Roma. La fine dell’arte antica, Milano, BUR, 1976

1.c – R. Bianchi Bandinelli – M. Torelli, Etruria e Roma, Torino, UTET, 1976 (just the Roman section)

or

Option 2:

2 – M. Torelli – M. Menichetti – G.L. Grassigli, Arte e archeologia del mondo romano, Milano, Longanesi, 2008

or

Option 3:

3 - M. Papini, Arte Romana, Milano, Mondadori, 2016

 

I.A. All the students preparing the exam valid for 6 CFU need to study on this bibliography:

Option A:

A.1 - P. Gros, L' architettura romana. Dagli inizi del III secolo a. C. alla fine dell'alto impero. I monumenti pubblici, Milano, Longanesi, 2001

or,

Option B:

G.A. Mansuelli, Roma e il mondo romano, I-II, Torino 1981

 

or

Option C:

D. Favro, F.K. Yegul, Roman Architecture and Urbanism: From the Origins to Late Antiquity, Cambridge, CUP, 2019.

 

or

Option D

B. Borg (ed.), A Companion to Roman Art, 2015

 

I.B - All the students preparing the exam valid for 12 CFU need to study on this bibliography:

Option I:

I.1 - P. Gros, L' architettura romana. Dagli inizi del III secolo a. C. alla fine dell'alto impero. I monumenti pubblici, Milano, Longanesi, 2001

I.2 - P. Gros, L'architecture romaine du début du IIIe siècle av. J.C. à la fin du Haut-Empire, 2. Maisons, palais, villas et tombeaux, Paris : Picard, 2001

or

II.1. G.A. Mansuelli, Roma e il mondo romano, I-II, Torino 1981

II.2. J.R. Clarke, The houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C. - A.D. 250. Ritual, space, and decoration, Berkeley 1991

or

III.1. D. Favro, F.K. Yegul, Roman Architecture and Urbanism: From the Origins to Late Antiquity, Cambridge, CUP, 2019.

III.2. - E. De Albentiis, La Casa dei Romani, Bari 1990

or

 

IV.1. B. Borg (ed.), A Companion to Roman Art, 2015

IV.2. R.E. Ukrich, C.K. Quenemoen (eds.), A Companion to Roman Architecture, 2013

 

Further information for more readings will be given during the course.

Students not attending the course will add one 6 CFU) or two (12 CFU) readings, to be agreed with the teacher.

 

Foreign students must know

for 6 cfu:

- J.R. Clarke, The houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C. - A.D. 250. Ritual, space, and decoration, Berkeley 1991

- A. Wallace-Hadrill, Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum, 1994

for 12 cfu:

- P. Gros, L' architettura romana. Dagli inizi del III secolo a. C. alla fine dell'alto impero. I monumenti pubblici, Milano, Longanesi, 2001

- J.R. Clarke, The houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C. - A.D. 250. Ritual, space, and decoration, Berkeley 1991

 

All the students (both attending and not attending the course lessons) need to prepare one (6 CFU) or two (12 CFU) written works (status quaestionis or review), whose topics have to be decided together with the professor. Those works must be given to the professor at least a week before the exam.

Methods of preparation and redaction will be discussed in class.

Length have to be proportioned to the number of credits needed. 12 CFU: status quaestionis and review; 6 CFU: status quaestionis.

 

SCHEMES FOR THE WRITTEN WORKS

 

A. REVIEW (5/6 pages)

• Bibliographycal information

• Purpose of the contribution and its position in the studies tradition

• Critical analysis

• Short description of the most important critic positions towards the contribution (consultation advices: GNOMON,The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, Bryn Mawr Reviews, ecc)

• Conclusive critical evaluation

Scientifical aspects: correct method, an updated complete work, innovation and utility for future research;

Technical aspects: images, notes, indexes, text-image relation.

For useful specimina, http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/archive.html.

Students must join:

• index

• images

• eventual copies of other reviews

B. STATUS QUAESTIONIS

• Critic redaction about each contribution (same scheme described above, but more synthetic)

• Personal comparison between the contributions choosen.

Students must join images and indexes.

 

Teaching methods

The course promotes different approaches in order to develop the ability of tstudents in the domain of scientific research.

Frontal lessons, conducted in form of critic discussion, will make use of a great number of images: at the end of the course they will be given to students in pdf form.

Seminars, not mandatory, will treat in depth some specific themes: in order to promote the attitude of working in group, to participants will be asked to work together and then to prepare written works and video presentations. Results will be taken into consideration for the exam note.

At the end of the course, students will have the possibilty to participate in

 a study trip;

- educational archaeological excavations organized by the Vesuviana Program.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

 

The evaluation consists in an oral exam (questions about general or specific themes, recognition and description of monuments using photos and plans). It intends to evaluate:

• knowledge and critical comprehension of the lessons contents and bibliography,

  ability to relate some themes treated during the course,

  written work or works,

  fundamental notions of the discipline.

For attending students final exam will be aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussing during frontal lectures (only for attending students) as well as those treated in the program's texts.

Non-attending students will have to take an oral final exam about the themes treated in the program's texts.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.                        
Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.
A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Foreign students will have the possibility to hold a written exam in the form of short questions: answers in English, French and Spanish are accepted.

Individual works and reserches could be done in one of these languages as well; however, the discussion will be in Italian.

Teaching tools

Video presentations

Office hours

See the website of Antonella Coralini