Classical Archaeology

CLST 06   Introduction to Classical Archaeology Introduces the basic methods and principles of Classical archaeology. Students will acquire an appreciation of the development of material culture in the Mediterranean world from prehistory to the collapse of the Roman Empire.  INT or ART, W.

CLST 12.02 Greek and Roman Engineering and Technology  This special topics course offers an introduction to the most important machines and processes of Greek and Roman technology. Emphasis will be on the practical implications and applications of ancient technologies and engineering. Within the broad range of technologies surveyed, students will focus on specific case studies to provide deeper analysis and understanding of individual topics. Reading will be based on a textbook and selected chapters and articles from secondary sources. Greek and Roman writers will also be read in translation. TAS, W.

CLST 12.03: Who Owns the Past? Modern archaeology grew out of antiquarianism, imperialism, and the attempts of early collectors and scholars to look to the past for aesthetics, to construct identities, and to satisfy their curiosities. This course examines how these legacies influence contemporary archaeology, museum practices, and policies to manage cultural heritage. The central question will be explored utilizing the perspectives of the relevant actors: archaeologists, collectors, museums, developers, descendant communities, national and local governments, and the tourism industry. SOC, CI. 

CLST 20 Greek Archaeology: First Hominids to Mycenean Palaces  Traces the cultural evolution of humanity in the Aegean basin from the era of hunting and gathering into the age of the great palatial cultures of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece. In the latter half of the course, study of the palaces, fortified citadels, and royal tombs at such sites as Knossos, Mycenae, Tiryns, and Troy will lead to discussions of the Greek myths about Atlantis, King Minos' sea empire, and the Trojan War, and their basis in historical fact. Hruby

CLST 21 Greek Archaeology: Early Iron Age and Archaic   This course examines in detail through archaeology the cultural process whereby Greece evolved from a scattered group of isolated and backward villages in the Dark Ages (ca. 1100-750 B.C.) to a series of independent, often cosmopolitan city-states united against the threat of Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 B.C. Where did the Greeks acquire the concept of monumental temple architecture and why did they choose to build temples in only two or three different architectural styles? Where did the Greeks learn to write in an alphabetic script and what did they first write down? Who taught the Greeks the art of sculpture and why did they begin by carving what they did? When and why did the Greeks begin to portray their myths in art? May be taken in partial fulfillment of the major in Art History. SOC, W.

CLST 22  Greek Archaeology: The Classical Period   The history of Greek culture is that of dozens of individual city-states in constant competition for hegemony in a wide variety of different arenas. This course pays particular attention to the material cultural achievements of the city of Athens, when that city developed the western world's first democracy, built the Parthenon, and played host to the schools of Plato and Aristotle. ART, W flyer

CLST 24  The Birth of Rome   This course delves into the foundation story of Rome, its rise to power, and its first inhabitants through the lenses of mythology, recorded legends, and archaeology.Readings will be drawn primarily from Virgil's Aeneid and Livy's Ab urbe condita (From the Foundation of the City). SOC, W

CLST 25 Early Roman Imperial Archaeology: The First Emperors  Through archaeological sites and related artifacts, this course examines the Roman empire as it was transformed under the rule of the emperors. Discussion focuses on how ancient Italic traditions were transformed to suit the needs of the Imperial government, including the development of the Imperial cult. Site analysis will stress the need for an imperial idiom, the accommodation of urban masses and the promotion of a sense of a shared cultural experience. ART, W

CLST 26  Later Roman Imperial Archaeology: The Golden Age and Beyond    Surveys Roman archaeology from Hadrian to Constantine. We study the Antonine and Severan emperors in some detail, then shift focus to Diocletian and the tetrarchy, Constantine, and the move of the capital to Constantinople. The course ends with a look at the great church of Hagia Sophia, and consideration of the debt of early Christianity to pagan religious traditions. ART, W