The Syllabus

CLAS308I
ITALY: GREEK AND ROMAN CULTURE IN CONTEXT.
WINTER TERM 2007
January 3-22, 2007

Professor Steven H. Rutledge
Phone: 301-405-2360
Email: shr@deans.umd.edu
Professor Ian Sutherland
Phone
Email: ian.sutherland@gallaudet.edu

*This is a three credit CORE HL (humanities/literature) course.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is designed for students to examine in depth classical (i.e. Greek and Roman) society and the continuity of that society in the Renaissance. Students will be expected to read primary texts that will be focused on the culture and history of the sites visited, as well as do the essential background readings for the course and attend lectures. In addition, there is a heavy archaeological element to the course designed to give the students a deeper appreciation of the daily lives and physical environment of the ancients. Mornings and sometimes afternoons will consist of outings to various sites; most evenings will be free (for reading or going out), though there will be one evening in which you will be taken out for a group dinner.

LECTURES:

Most lectures will be on site. Students will be taken through a site and given the pertinent historical, archaeological, and cultural background needed to make sense out of the remains of the antiquities they will be seeing. Subjects touched on in individual site lectures will include a wide range of cultural material, from Roman houses, to gladiators, to Roman mosaics. There will be ample time, after each lecture, for further exploration.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Mary Beard and John Henderson, Classical Art from Greece to Rome, (Oxford University Press 2001). ISBN: 0192842374
Mary Beard and John Henderson, Classics. A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford 1995). ISBN: 0192853856
Amanda Claridge, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide, (Oxford University Press 1998). ISBN: 0192880039
Alison Cooley, Pompeii. A Sourcebook, (Routledge 2004). ISBN 0415262127

A brief course packet that will contain a number of maps and readings (to be handed out at orientation).

For Italian (recommended):

Shirley Baldwin and Sarah Boas, Conversational Italian in Seven Days (McGraw-Hill
NTC, 1991).

A RECOMMENDED READING.

The Blue Guide to Rome will also serve you very well in this course and can be picked up at most book stores.

COURSE EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

Students are required to attend all lectures. Grading will be based on 1. your travel journals (which should show interest and engagement in the materials and subject matter), 2. a final essay (which should bring together a substantial swathe of material covered in the course and show that you have done the reading), 3. and participation and citizenship (are you a good traveler, are you attentive, do you participate in the class).

JOURNALS:

We will ask that you keep a daily log of our activities. Each day in which there is a scheduled activity we will ask that you enter into your journal what you found most interesting about a specific site and why. In addition, we ask that you enter one thing, outside of the site, that you would not see in this country and to comment on it. At some point in your journal we will ask that you comment on the two books by Beard and North; we would like to know what you found most interesting about the books and how they helped you to better appreciate the sites visited. We ask in addition that you do the same with the Cooley at some point for your entry on Pompeii. One specific task we will ask each of you to complete in either the museum in Naples or in Paestum is to pick a figure from either a Roman painting or on a Greek vase and to sketch it. You will need to tell from what museum it comes and from what type of artifact as well. Once you sketch it, we would like you to tell us what you learned about the level of skill it takes to competently complete such a work. Journals are to be handed in at the end of the course.

ESSAY:

You will be required to hand in a 10 page essay on ONE from the following THREE topics, to be based on your readings and lecture notes. It is to be double-spaced, with 12 point times font. It will be due January 24th, though there should be computer access and you can also work on your rough copies during the course of the trip.

1. The Greek community had a powerful influence on life in ancient Italy. How was that influence manifested in Roman art, architecture, civic life and culture? What are some of the divergences we see between the Greeks and Romans in these areas? That is, how do the Romans create an original and dynamic society based, in part, on Greek models? What are some of the problems we face in reconstructing our understanding of Greek influence on Roman visual culture in particular (according to Beard and Henderson)?

2. What does Roman domestic architecture and the contents of a Roman house tell us about Roman life and culture?

3. What universals do we see in terms of urban architecture and planning throughout antiquity in Italy? That is, what similarities do we see in places such as Rome, Pompeii, Paestum, or Herculaneum, that alert us instantly that they are Roman cities or cities colonized by the Romans? What political, cultural, and economic factors contribute to making them appear as they do?

DO NOT GET INFORMATION OFF THE WEB FOR THESE ESSAYS. THE WEB, WHILE OCCASIONALLY A GREAT TOOL, HAS INFO THAT IS FREQUENTLY WRONG AND MISLEADING AND HAS RESULTED IN STUDENTS WITH LOWER GRADES AS A RESULT.

Please note that there are links for sites where you can do a bit of reading and find maps and images of the places we will visit. In addition, there are links for the Hotel Mimosa and for the city of Stabia, as well as to hotels in Florence and the Italian National Rail system.

SYLLABUS:

College Park

Tues. Jan. 2

Depart

Wed. Jan. 3:

Arrive at Stabiae.

AT STABIAE:

Thurs. Jan. 4:

Day Trip: Ancient Stabiae.

Fri. Jan. 5:

Herculanaeum.
Site Lecture: The Science of Archaeology.
Oplontis.
Site Lecture: Nero.

Sat. Jan. 6:

Naples, The National Museum.
Site Lecture: Ancient Art, a Brief Overview.
Reading Due: Finish Beard and Henderson.

Sun. Jan. 7:

Pompeii:

Site Lecture: Roman Architecture and Public Life.
Reading Due: Read the Cooley by today.

Mon. Jan. 8:

Pompeii:

Roman Houses and Villas.
Site Lecture: Roman Domestic Architecture and Life.

Tues. Jan. 9:

Free Day

Wed. Jan. 10:

Free Day

Thurs. Jan. 11:

Free Day.

Fri. Jan. 12:

Day Trip: Paestum.
Site Lecture: The Greeks in Italy.

Sat. Jan. 13:

Day Trip: The Northern Region of the Bay of Naples (Cumae, Pozzuoli, etc.)

Sun. Jan. 14:

Day Trip: Capri.

ROME:

Mon. Jan. 15:

Transfer to Rome.
The Villa Adriana.

Tues. Jan. 16:

Day Trip: The Forum, The Palatine, Imperial Fora, and Colosseum.
Site Lecture: The History of the Forum.
Reading Due: Claridge pp. 60-173; 266-304.

Wed. Jan. 17:

Day Trip: The Vatican Collection and St. Peters.

Thurs. Jan. 18:

Day Trip: The Capitoline and Museum.
Site Lecture: The History of the Capitoline; tour of the Capitoline Museum collection.
Reading Due: Claridge pp. 229-41.

Fri. Jan. 19:

Day Trip: The Palazzo Massimo(this link is not in English); walking tour of the Campus Martius.
Reading Due: Claridge pp. 174-228; 242-63.

Sat. Jan. 20:

Optional trip: Ostia Antica.

Sun. Jan. 21:

Free Day.

Fri. Jan. 22:

Depart for U.S.

ADDRESSES AND CONTACTS:

Istituto Salesiano “San Michele”
Via Salario 12
Castellammare di Stabia (Napoli)
Tel. +39-081-871-7114
Fax: +39-081-8715260
Emai: cmareime@libero.it


HOTEL MIMOSA
Via di Santa Chiara 61
00186 Roma, Italy
Tel.0668801753 - Fax 066833557
Email: hotelmimosa@tin.it

DAY TRIPS

If you intend to take day trips, then you will need to make arrangements yourself for overnight lodging, and bear in mind that you will have already paid for lodging in Stabiae and Rome. Below is the web address for the Italian state rail system – you can punch in a city and find out schedules from it.

http://www.fs-on-line.com/

If you want to go to Florence, I have stayed at the Hotel Eden (click the link). It is near the train station and run by a nice family. The link should bring up other cheap but clean hotels as well.