Study Abroad: Rome Course Details

ARCH 0540 – Art, Archaeology & Civic Life

This course combines study in the Departments of Classics and the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World. This intensive survey course familiarizes students with the art and architecture of Rome during the early Imperial era (ca. 40 BC - AD 140), through investigation of significant sites, monuments and museum collections in Rome and locations throughout southern Italy. The course will be taught with a combination of lectures on topics of Roman art and archaeology and Roman literature as appropriate for each site, art form, or period involved. Items considered will include both monumental and domestic architecture, wall painting, mosaics, sculpture, coins, epigraphic evidence, as well as maps and ancient sources. The lectures on Roman art and archaeology will focus on visual material through the presentation of sites, monuments and artifacts. Lectures on Roman art will also give students a brief history of the archaeology and scholarship of certain monuments and sites. The classical authors discussed will include those works which reflect on the Imperial era and enhance our understanding of the age with first-hand accounts. Readings will help bring to life the sites we visit throughout the course.

Sample Course Schedule

The Rise of Rome and the Period of the Republic: Introduction and Review of Roman History and Roman Art Through Hadrian
In-Class Lecture
Site Visits:  Temples in Largo Argentina, Roman (Republican) Forum, Forum of Caesar, Tabularium, Tomb of Bibulus, Forum Antiquarium, Round Temple near the Tiber, Temple of Portunus, Republican Victory Temples, S. Omobono, Fabricius’ Bridge, Tiber Island Prow & Tiber River Boat, Aristocratic Houses on the Palatine, House of Livia, House of the Griffins, Palatine Museum, Montemartini Power Plant Museum, Via Appia, Tombs of the Servilii and Caecilia Metella on the Via Appia, Catacombs

Augustan Rome
In-Class Lecture
Site Visits: Roman Forum, Palatine House/Apartment of Augustus, Temple of Apollo, Forum of Augustus, Augustus’ Mausoleum, Ara Pacis, Sundial Obelisk, Auditorium of Maecenas, Pyramid of Gaius Cestius, Remains of Republican City Walls, Theater of Marcellus, Temple of Apollo Medicus, Sosianus, Porticus of Octavia, Palazzo Massimo Museum

Rome, Tiberius through Nero
In-Class Lecture
Site Visits: Domus Aurea, Stadium of Domitian, Nero’s Aqueduct & Nymphaeum, Caelian City Gates, Aqua Claudia at Colosseo, Temple of Claudius Platform, Baths of Caracalla, Roman houses on the Caelian, Capitoline Museums, Aqua Claudia/Anio Novus at Porta Maggiore, Tomb of Eurysaces, Aqua Virgo Arcades, Trevi Fountain, Sperlonga & Terracina/Temple of Jove

Rome, the Flavians through Hadrian
In-Class Lecture
Site Visits: Roman Forum, Temple of Roma and Venus, House of the Vestals as rebuilt in AD 113, Arch of Titus, Ramp and Hall at NW angle of Palatine, Domitian’s Palace, Temple of Peace, Horrea on the via Sacra, Temple of Vespasian and Titus, Markets of Trajan, Trajan’s Forum & Column, Forum Transitorium, Temple of Venus Genetrix/Forum of Caes., rebuilt AD 106-113, Basilica Ulpia, Library, Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Meta Sudans, Stadium/Piazza Navona, Ludus Magnus, Pantheon, Saepta Julia, Basilica of Neptune, Hadrian’s Mausoleum/Castel S. Angelo, Aelian Bridge, Vatican Museums, Travertine Quarries; Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli

Trade and Commerce, and Ostia The Port City
In-Class Lecture
Site Visits: Trajan’s Port, Monte Testaccio, Porticus Aemilia, House and Horrea under S. Clemente, Museo Altemps, Plan of Ostia in Gate at Ostiense; Ostia Scavi and Museum

Travel to South
Site Visits: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Villa at Boscoreale, Villa at Oplontis, National Archaeological Museum Naples