Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology

The curriculum of the department focuses on the cultures of the Mediterranean regions and Western Asia in antiquity. Courses treat aspects of society and material culture of these civilizations as well as issues of theory, method, and interpretation.

Languages

Majors who contemplate graduate study in Classical fields should incorporate Greek and Latin into their programs. Those who plan graduate work in Near Eastern or Egyptian may take appropriate ancient languages at the University of Pennsylvania, such as Middle Egyptian, Akkadian, and Sumerian. Any student considering graduate study in Classical and Near Eastern archaeology should study French and German.

Study Abroad

A semester of study abroad is encouraged if the program is approved by the department. Students who seek major credit for courses taken abroad must consult with the Major Advisor before enrolling in a program. Major credit is given on a case-by-case basis after review of the syllabus, work submitted for a grade, and a transcript. Credit will not be given for more than one course and not for courses that are ordinarily offered by the department.

Independent Research

Majors who wish to undertake independent research, especially for researching and writing a lengthy paper, must arrange with a professor who is willing to advise them, and consult with the Major Advisor. Such research normally would be conducted by seniors as a unit of supervised work (403), which must be approved by the advising professor before registration. Students planning to do such research should consult with professors in the department in the spring semester of their junior year or no later than the beginning of the fall semester of the senior year.

Additional Major Experiences: Fieldwork and Museum Internships

The department strongly encourages students to gain fieldwork experience over the summer and assists them in getting positions on field projects in North America and overseas. The department is undertaking several field projects in the eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia. Dependig on the College's travel safety policy, advanced undergraduates may participate in these projects.

Museum internships, either during the summer or during the term, also constitute valid major experiences beyond the classroom. The department is awarded annually one fully paid summer internship by the Nicholas P. Goulandris Foundation for students to work for four to six weeks in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece. An announcement inviting applications is normally sent by the department chair in the spring.

Opportunities to work with the College’s archaeology collections are available throughout the academic year and during the summer. Students wishing to work with the collections should consult Marianne Weldon, Collections Manager for Art and Artifacts.

Funding for Summer Learning Opportunities

The department has two funds that support students for summer internships, summer fieldwork projects, and archaeological summer projects of their own design. One, the Elisabeth Packard Fund for internships in Art History and Archaeology is shared with the Department of the History of Art, while the other is the Anna Lerah Keys Memorial Prize. Any declared major may apply for these funds. An announcement calling for applications is normally sent to majors in the spring, and the awards are made public at the annual college awards ceremony in April. To help cover expenses related to archaeological learning opportunities, which can be expensive, the department encourages majors to consider applying for funding offered by Bryn Mawr College and external funding sources.

Major Requirements

The major requires a minimum of 10 courses. Core requirements are two 100-level courses distributed between the ancient Near East and Egypt (ARCH B101 Introduction to Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology) and ancient Greece and Rome (ARCH B102 Introduction to Classical Archaeology), a course on Topics in Archaeological Principles and Methods (ARCH B233 Topics in Archaeological Principles and Methods), and two semesters of the senior conference (ARCH B398 Senior Seminar in Classical Archaeology and ARCH B399 Senior Seminar). At least two upper-level courses should be distributed between Classical and Near Eastern subjects. Additional requirements are determined in consultation with the Major Advisor. A Praxis Independent Study or additional coursework in allied subjects may be presented for major credit, but must be approved in writing by the major advisor; such courses are offered in the Departments of Anthropology, Geology, Greek, Latin and Classical Studies, Growth and Structure of Cities, and History of Art. In consultation with the Major Advisor, one course taken in study abroad may be accepted for credit in the major after review of the syllabus, work submitted for a grade, and a transcript. Credit will not be given for a course that is ordinarily offered by the department. Students can also take courses at the University of Pennsylvania in consultation with the Major Advisor.

The writing requirement for the major consists of two one-semester Writing Attentive courses offered within the department.

Each student’s course of study to meet major requirements will be determined in consultation with the undergraduate major advisor in the spring semester of the sophomore year, at which time a written plan will be designed. Students considering majoring in the department are encouraged to take the introductory courses (ARCH B101 Introduction to Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology and ARCH B102 Introduction to Classical Archaeology) early in their undergraduate career and should also seek advice from departmental faculty. Students who are interested in interdisciplinary concentrations or in study abroad during the junior year are strongly advised to seek assistance in planning their major early in their sophomore year.

Honors

Honors are granted on the basis of academic performance as demonstrated by a cumulative average of 3.50 or better in the major.

ARCH B101 Introduction to Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology (1 Unit)

A historical survey of the archaeology and art of the ancient Near East and Egypt.

ARCH B102 Introduction to Classical Archaeology (1 Unit)

A historical survey of the archaeology and art of Greece, Etruria, and Rome.

ARCH B203 Building the Polis: Ancient Greek Cities and Sanctuaries (1 Unit)

A study of the co-development of the Greek city-states and their sanctuaries. Archaeological evidence is surveyed in its historic context. The political formation of the city-state and the role of religion is presented, and the political, economic, and religious institutions of the city-states are explored with a focus on regional variations in timelines of development, building styles, and connectivity. The logistics of building construction, religious travel, and interregional influences will also be addressed.

ARCH B204 Animals in the Ancient Greek World (1 Unit)

This course focuses on perceptions of animals in ancient Greece from the Geometric to the Classical periods. It examines representations of animals in painting, sculpture, and the minor arts, the treatment of animals as attested in the archaeological record, and how these types of evidence relate to the featuring of animals in contemporary poetry, tragedy, comedy, and medical and philosophical writings. By analyzing this rich body of evidence, the course develops a context in which participants gain insight into the ways ancient Greeks perceived, represented, and treated animals. Juxtaposing the importance of animals in modern society, as attested, for example, by their roles as pets, agents of healing, diplomatic gifts, and even as subjects of specialized studies such as animal law and animal geographies, the course also serves to expand awareness of attitudes towards animals in our own society as well as that of ancient Greece.

ARCH B209 Aegean Archaeology (1 Unit)

This course explores the prehistoric cultures of the Aegean region, concentrating on Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece, the Aegean islands, and Troy during the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1200 BCE). We examine Aegean art, architecture, and archaeology and consider cross-cultural contacts with Egypt and the Near East, including trade and diplomacy, the historicity of the Trojan War, and the enigmatic “Sea Peoples.”

ARCH B210 Daily Life in Ancient Egypt (1 Unit)

In this course, learn about life growing up and getting old in ancient Egypt through their everyday food and drink including ancient recipes and massive factory installations for brewing beer, their clothing and adornment, education, household religion and the real beliefs of your average Egyptian often quite different from the religion sponsored by the pharaoh and the state. Learn about their illnesses and their medical treatments, types of jobs and complaints about lazy coworkers, life in the workmen's village of the great pyramid and the valley of the Kings, curses against enemies, disowning misbehaving adult children and even their leisure and playtime through games, sports, toys, and pets. This course will assess the diverse lives of a laborer, slave, foreigner, high-ranking official, pharaoh and more throughout Egypt from 2600 BC- 1080 BC in the village Lahun, the Egyptian capital Tell el-Amarna, the temple town in South Abydos, and the workman’s village for the Giza pyramids and the Valley of the Kings. It will examine Egyptian life through artifacts including ivory wands and birthing bricks for childbirth, children's toys, weapons and tools, amulets, and more; tomb scenes of daily life; and societal values through fairy tales, love poetry, legal documents, letters, scribal training practice texts, work attendance rosters, and ostraca.

ARCH B212 Visual Culture of the Ancient Mediterranean (1 Unit)

This course explores the visual culture of the ancient Mediterranean world from the second millennium BCE to early Roman times. Drawing from an extensive variety of extant evidence that includes monuments, sculpture, paintings, mosaics, and artifacts deriving from culturally and geographically distinct areas, such as the Minoan world, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, Italy, Tunisia, and Spain, the course explores how such evidence may have been viewed and experienced and how it may have, in turn, shaped the visual culture of the well-interconnected ancient Mediterranean world. Focusing on selected examples of evidence, including its materials, style, and methods of production, the course will also consider how past and current scholarly attitudes, approaches, and terminology have affected the understanding and interpretation of this evidence.

ARCH B214 The Archaeology of Agricultural Revolutions in Western Asia (1 Unit)

This course examines the archaeology of one of the most fundamental shifts to have occurred in human society in the last 12,000 years, the origins of agriculture. Via assigned readings, class work and lectures we will consider the varied factors which led (or did not lead) to the adoption of agriculture, questioning what the core building blocks of agricultural life were across Western Asia and exploring societies that did not experience these changes. We will also discuss the impacts these developments have had, and continue to have, on modern society and culture in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. Themes covered will include societal organization, identity (gender, ethnicity, culture, personhood etc.), communication, and the relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. The class will also begin to address the relationships between colonialism and archaeology in Western Asia and explore what the future of a post-colonial and anti-racist archaeology looks like in this region.

ARCH B215 Classical Art (1 Unit)

A survey of the visual arts of ancient Greece and Rome from the Bronze Age through Late Imperial times (circa 3000 B.C.E. to 300 C.E.). Major categories of artistic production are examined in historical and social context, including interactions with neighboring areas and cultures; methodological and interpretive issues are highlighted.

ARCH B222 Alexander the Great (1 Unit)

This course examines the life, personality, career, and military achievements of Alexander the Great, as well as the extraordinary reception of his legacy in antiquity and through modern times. It uses historical, archaeological and art-historical evidence to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of Alexander’s cultural background and examines the real and imaginary features of his life and afterlife as they developed in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and succeeding periods in both Europe and Asia. Special attention is also placed on the appeal that Alexander’s life and achievements have generated and continue to retain in modern popular visual culture as evidenced from documentary films and motion pictures.

ARCH B227 The Archaeology of Syria (1 Unit)

Home to a wealth of archaeological sites and cultures, Syria is perhaps now more widely known for its almost decade long conflict that has seen the displacement of millions of people and the damage to and destruction of hundreds of archaeological sites. The loss of cultural heritage is just one, very small, part of the human tragedies that have unfolded in Syria. Knowledge of the deep and recent past of this region, however, is integral for understanding its present, and its future. This course will explore human settlement and interaction within Syria over the longue durée. Using a selection of key sites, inhabited for thousands of years, we will explore several major themes including, the archaeology of inequality, the role of urban life and the importance of ritual and religion. The course will also consider the complex relationships that have always existed between Syria and its neighboring countries. Finally, we will turn to the role of archaeology, its future and potential within a post-conflict Syria.

ARCH B228 The Archaeology of Iran: From the Neolithic to Alexander the Great (1 Unit)

This course examines the archaeology of Iran from circa 6000 BC to the coming of Alexander the Great at the end of the fourth century BC. Through the course we examine the beginnings of agriculture, pastoralism and sedentary settlement in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods; Bronze Age interaction between Iran, Mesopotamia, south Asia and the Arabian Gulf; developments within the Iron Age; and the emergence of the Achaemenid Empire (538-332BC).

ARCH B229 Visual Culture of the Ancient Near East (1 Unit)

This course examines the visual culture of the Ancient Near East based on an extensive body of architectural, sculptural, and pictorial evidence dating from prehistoric times through the fifth century BCE. We will explore how a variety of surviving art, artifacts, sculpture, monuments, and architecture deriving from geographically distinct areas of the ancient Near East, such as Mesopotamia, the Eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, and Iran, may have been viewed and experienced in their historical contexts, including the contribution of ancient materials and technologies of production in shaping this viewing and experience. By focusing on selected examples of diverse evidence, we will also consider how past and current scholarly methods and approaches, many of them art-historical, archaeological, and architectural in aim, have affected the understanding and interpretation of this evidence. In doing so, we will pay special attention to critical terms such as aesthetics, style, narrative, representation, and agency.

ARCH B233 Topics in Archaeological Principles and Methods (1 Unit)

This topic course explores methods used in Archaeology. Course content varies.

ARCH B235 Death and Burial in the Ancient Near East (1 Unit)

Death is a shared human experience; however, it provokes a huge variety of responses; from the ad hoc and hasty burial of the deceased through to elaborate and lengthy funerary rituals. One of the most direct forms of evidence we have as archaeologists for the people who lived thousands of years ago are burials. The Ancient Near East also offers a rich corpus of textual and visual material, which can be used to explore the ways in which ancient societies conceptualized and thought about death, from the nature of the afterlife to the role of malevolent or helpful ghosts.

ARCH B237 Art and Archaeology of Central Asia (1 Unit)

Exploring the rich and vibrant cultural heritage of Central Asia, this course delves into the region's history, art, and archaeology spanning from the third millennium BCE to the eighth century CE. Central Asia, constituting the territory between western China and eastern Iran, served as the heartland of the ancient Silk Road. Despite its significance, the region's history and culture often remain shrouded in mystery, largely unknown to the academic community. This course sheds light on topics related to Central Asia, such as state formation, nomadism, religious beliefs, trade, and arts and crafts production of Central Asia, while emphasizing the region’s interconnectedness with the broader world.

ARCH B240 Archaeology and History of Ancient Mesopotamia (1 Unit)

A survey of the material culture of ancient Mesopotamia, modern Iraq, from the earliest phases of state formation (circa 3500 B.C.E.) through the Achaemenid Persian occupation of the Near East (circa 331 B.C.E.). Emphasis will be on art, artifacts, monuments, religion, kingship, and the cuneiform tradition. The survival of the cultural legacy of Mesopotamia into later ancient and Islamic traditions will also be addressed.

ARCH B242 Colonies and Colonization in the Ancient Mediterranean (1 Unit)

This course focuses on the character and consequences of colonization, colonialism, and imperialism in the ancient Mediterranean. Using archaeological and textual evidence, we will examine the history, practice, and physical manifestations of colonization from the earliest Phoenician and Greek colonies through the imperial world of the Roman Empire. We will discuss a variety of approaches and frameworks used to explore the intersection of migration and mobility, colonization and colonialism, and imperial states and identities in the Classical world, and will explore the impact of these processes on the development of wider Mediterranean networks, identities, and histories.

ARCH B244 Great Empires of the Ancient Near East (1 Unit)

A survey of the history, material culture, political and religious ideologies of, and interactions among, the five great empires of the ancient Near East of the second and first millennia B.C.E.: New Kingdom Egypt, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia, the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires in Mesopotamia, and the Persian Empire in Iran.

ARCH B246 Classical Antiquity in Movies (1 Unit)

This course explores the visual representations and the narratives of the Graeco-Roman times on screen. From silent films to modern Hollywood productions through Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming services productions, students will discuss the impact of classical antiquity in the film-making industry. We will be looking into how the depiction of different aspects of the Greek and Roman past (literature, history, art, archaeology) are used (and misused) on screen and in which way these productions influence the way we understand the ancient world.

ARCH B247 The World of Gilgamesh (1 Unit)

This course explores how the people of ancient Mesopotamia perceive and comprehend the fundamental questions of human existence, such as the intricacies of life and death, gender and sexuality, the relationship between humans and the divine, and the definition of self-identity in relation to the outside world, through an examination of the literary works and archaeological remains from the ancient Near East. Guided by the epic tale of Gilgamesh, the legendary king of Uruk in Mesopotamian mythology, we will journey back to the mesmerizing world of the fourth and third millennium BCE, when human civilizations first emerged and thrived. This course offers an immersive experience, enabling students to unleash their intellectual creativity through dramatic performances and curation of a digital exhibit showcasing early Mesopotamian civilization.

ARCH B248 Food and Foodways in the Ancient Near East (1 Unit)

Food and foodways play essential roles in all human societies, both ancient and modern, forming fundamental components of cultural identities. The study of the acquisition, preparation, and consumption of food intersects with many aspects of life, such as agriculture and pastoralism, nutrition and diet, social relationships and culinary practices. They also involve religious practices, including sacrifices, food offerings, and feasting. Drawing on visual and material culture, texts, and bio-archaeological data, this course explores the rich and diverse food cultures of the ancient Near East, from prehistorical times to the early medieval period. The course combines lectures, discussions, museum visits, and hands-on experiments.

ARCH B249 The Archaeology of Urban Revolutions in Western Asia (1 Unit)

This course examines the archaeology of one of the most fundamental developments to have occurred in human society in the last 6,000 years, the origins of cities. Via assigned readings, class work and lectures we will consider the varied factors which led (or did not lead) to the emergence of cities, questioning what cities were (and are) and how they functioned in the ancient world. We will explore different trajectories towards urbanism that can be identified in the archaeological record and consider societies that did not experience these changes. By exploring processes and practices over the long-term, students will address issues of inequality in the earliest urban societies, developing an understanding of how axes of power and difference interacted to produce inequalities and hierarchies. We will also discuss the impacts these developments have had, and continue to have, on modern society and culture in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. Themes covered will include the ‘urban revolution’, rurality and urbanism, urban planning and growth, houses and households, communication and mobility, climate and environment, power and inequality.

ARCH B250 Digital Archaeology (1 Unit)

This course covers the innovative changes that have been brought about in Archaeology and Heritage Studies by new technologies and methodological approaches. Remote sensing data analysis, augmented reality, machine learning software, online collaborative platforms, and 3D tools are revolutionizing the way in which data is collected, managed, conserved, and disseminated. A combination of a survey of cutting-edge digital methods and applications, select case studies from Eurasia, and hands-on sessions enables students to gain a good understanding of the potential of digital tools. Prerequisite: ARCH B233.

ARCH B252 Pompeii (1 Unit)

Introduces students to a nearly intact archaeological site whose destruction by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. was recorded by contemporaries. The discovery of Pompeii in the mid-1700s had an enormous impact on 18th- and 19th-century views of the Roman past as well as styles and preferences of the modern era. Informs students in classical antiquity, urban life, city structure, residential architecture, home decoration and furnishing, wall painting, minor arts and craft and mercantile activities within a Roman city.

ARCH B253 Gender Archaeology in Pre-Islamic Western Asia (1 Unit)

This course explores the intersections of gender and archaeology in Western Asia during the pre-Islamic periods. It examines how diverse social groups use multiple means to construct, perform, and negotiate gender, sex, identities. The course discusses gender's intricate relationship with class, sexuality, and religion through analysis of texts, visual representations, spatial organization, and other material traces of the past. Grounded in the tradition of gender archaeology, this course draws on various discourses and interpretive frameworks to offer new archaeological approaches for understanding and discussing gender dynamics in both past and present societies.

ARCH B254 Cleopatra (1 Unit)

This course examines the life and rule of Cleopatra VII, the last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, and the reception of her legacy in the Early Roman Empire and the western world from the Renaissance to modern times. The first part of the course explores extant literary evidence regarding the upbringing, education, and rule of Cleopatra within the contexts of Egyptian and Ptolemaic cultures, her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, her conflict with Octavian, and her death by suicide in 30 BCE. The second part examines constructions of Cleopatra in Roman literature, her iconography in surviving art, and her contributions to and influence on both Ptolemaic and Roman art. A detailed account is also provided of the afterlife of Cleopatra in the literature, visual arts, scholarship, and film of both Europe and the United States, extending from the papal courts of Renaissance Italy and Shakespearean drama, to Thomas Jefferson’s art collection at Monticello and Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1963 epic film, Cleopatra.

ARCH B256 Classical Myths in Art and in the Sky (1 Unit)

This course explores Greek and Roman mythology using an archaeological and art historical approach, focusing on the ways in which the traditional tales of the gods and heroes were depicted, developed and transmitted in the visual arts such as vase painting and architectural sculpture, as well as projected into the natural environment.

ARCH B257 Aromas of Antiquity: The Politics of Smell, Past and Present (1 Unit)

Have you ever wondered how something as unassuming as scent can shape entire civilizations? This course explores the silent power of smell and its influence on how societies interpret concepts like power and being. We’ll begin by examining how scent affects daily life in the US. With activities like scent walks and experiments, you’ll discover how smell shapes our ideas about medicine, relationships, and wealth. Meanwhile, we’ll dive into the fragrant world of the ancient Mediterranean, exploring how the ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Greeks, Romans, and the early Abrahamic religions perceived scent and its entanglement with their belief systems, social lives, and power negotiations.

ARCH B260 Daily Life in Ancient Greece and Rome (1 Unit)

The often-praised achievements of the classical cultures arose from the realities of day-to-day life. This course surveys the rich body of material and textual evidence pertaining to how ancient Greeks and Romans -- famous and obscure alike -- lived and died. Topics include housing, food, clothing, work, leisure, and family and social life.

ARCH B265 Landscape Archaeology (1 Unit)

This course explores the principles and methodologies of landscape archaeology, examining how past communities have consciously and unconsciously shaped their environments and physical space. Through a combination of archaeological and historical evidence, students will investigate the cultural, economic, religious, and social practices that influenced landscape organization and the construction and maintenance of space in the ancient world. The course will also examine how natural surroundings have, in turn, shaped and modified socio-economic structures, and symbolic expressions. Focusing on the Mediterranean and South-West Asia, primarily, the course also aims to equipping students with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills essential for understanding the long-terms dynamics and the complex relationship between people and their environments across time and space.

ARCH B301 Greek Vase-Painting (1 Unit)

This course is an introduction to the world of painted pottery of the Greek world, from the 10th to the 4th centuries B.C.E. We will interpret these images from an art-historical and socio-economic viewpoint. We will also explore how these images relate to other forms of representation. Prerequisite: one course in classical archaeology or permission of instructor.

ARCH B304 Archaeology of Greek Religion (1 Unit)

This course approaches the topic of ancient Greek religion by focusing on surviving archaeological, architectural, epigraphical, artistic and literary evidence that dates from the Archaic and Classical periods. By examining a wealth of diverse evidence that ranges, for example, from temple architecture, and feasting and banqueting equipment to inscriptions, statues, vase paintings, and descriptive texts, the course enables the participants to analyze the value and complexity of the archaeology of Greek religion and to recognize its significance for the reconstruction of daily life in ancient Greece. Special emphasis is placed on subjects such as the duties of priests and priestesses, the violence of animal sacrifice, the function of cult statues and votive offerings and also the important position of festivals and hero and mystery cults in ancient Greek religious thought and experience.

ARCH B308 Ceramic Analysis (1 Unit)

Pottery is one of the most common artifacts recovered during archaeological excavation. It is fundamental for reconstructing human behavior in the past and establishing the relative chronology of archaeological sites. This course focuses on the myriad of ways archaeologists study ceramics including the theories, methods, and techniques that bridge the gap between, on the one hand, the identification and description of pottery and, on the other, its analysis and interpretation. Topics covered include typology, seriation, production, function, exchange, specialization and standardization, site formation processes, ceramic characterization, and data management. The course will consist of lectures, discussions, student presentations on a chosen case study, and laboratory work. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

ARCH B312 Bronze Age Internationalism (1 Unit)

This course explores the rise and fall of the first international age in the eastern mediterranean. We will focus on the cultural and diplomatic connections between Egypt, Syria, Anatolia and the Aegean during the Bronze Age, c. 2000-1200BCE.. Prerequisites: ARCH B101 and 102; ARCH B101 and a 200-level ARCH course; or ARCH B102 and a 200-level ARCH course; or two 200-level ARCH courses; or permission by instructor.

ARCH B314 Ancient Greek Seafaring and Shipwrecks (1 Unit)

This course examines the diverse evidence for ancient Greek seafaring and shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea from prehistory to the beginning of the Roman Empire. By focusing on archaeological, literary, iconographic, and epigraphic evidence, the course explores ancient Greek, Phoenician, Etruscan, and Roman interconnections in the Mediterranean Sea, through special attention to trade routes, commerce, colonization, economy, naval and maritime technology, cultural interactions, sea exploration, and piracy.

ARCH B316 Trade and Transport in the Ancient World (1 Unit)

Issues of trade, commerce and production of export goods are addressed with regard to the Bronze Age and Iron Age cultures of Mesopotamia, Arabia, Iran and south Asia. Crucial to these systems is the development of means of transport via maritime routes and on land. Archaeological evidence for traded goods and shipwrecks is used to map the emergence of sea-faring across the Indian Ocean and Gulf.

ARCH B317 Cultural Heritage and Endangered Archaeology (1 Unit)

This course will examine how and why archaeological sites are ‘endangered’. Primarily focusing on the Near East and North Africa (the MENA region), we will examine the different types of archaeological and heritage sites found across this broad region, and some of the threats and disturbances affecting them. We will consider how different interest groups and stakeholders view, value and present historical and archaeological sites to the general public, as well as the success of modern initiatives and projects to safeguard the heritage of the MENA region. Our research will consider the ethics of cultural preservation, as well as the issues and problems encountered by heritage specialists working in areas of modern conflict. Whilst not all damage can be prevented, the course will consider how different threats and disturbances might be mitigated. Prerequisite: Upper level 300-level course. Students should have completed at least two 100 level/200 level courses in either classical or near eastern archaeology.

ARCH B328 The Roman Empire in South West Asia (1 Unit)

This course examines the impact – or lack thereof – the Roman Empire had on the visual and material culture in the Eastern Mediterranean and South-West Asia from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE. To understand the local response to Rome’s expansion, we study the complex political and social structures that were in place in these regions long before the arrival of Rome as well as the agents that continuously negotiated between Rome, local polities, and external factors (i.e., nomadic tribes). We will explore the multi-faceted world of the easternmost provinces of the Roman Empire with reference to archaeological, visual, and textual sources and adopt counter-narrative approaches to critically discuss the nature of colonial and imperial encounters. The completion of ARCH B101 (Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology) or 102 (Classical Archaeology) is a prerequisite for this course.

ARCH B329 Archaeology and National Imagination in Modern Greece (1 Unit)

This course explores the link between archaeology, antiquity and the national imagination in modern Greece from the establishment of the Greek state in the early nineteenth century to present times. Drawing from a variety of disciplines, including history, archaeology, art history, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, and political science, the course examines the pivotal role of archaeology and the classical past in the construction of national Greek identity. Special emphasis is placed on the concepts of Hellenism and nationalism, the European rediscovery of Greece in the Romantic era, and the connection between classical archaeology and Philhellenism from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Additional topics of study include the presence of foreign archaeological schools in Greece, the Greek perception of archaeology, the politics of display in Greek museums, and the importance and power of specific ancient sites, monuments, and events, such as the Athenian Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Olympic Games, in the construction and preservation of Greek national identity.

ARCH B330 Archaeological Theory and Method (1 Unit)

A history of archaeology from the Renaissance to the present with attention to the formation of theory and method.

ARCH B335 Sensory Worlds, Material Lives: Archaeology and the Senses (1 Unit)

How did the past feel, smell, sound, taste, and move? This graduate seminar explores the role of the senses in archaeological thought and practice. We examine how sensory experiences shaped ancient lifeways and how archaeologists today reconstruct—or invent—those experiences through theory, method, and imagination. Readings draw from archaeology, anthropology, history, and sensory studies, with special attention to embodiment, perception, colonial legacies, and the politics of interpretation. Students will engage critically with key debates while experimenting with creative, multisensory approaches to primary sources. Weekly reading journals, seminar discussions, and a hands-on midterm project will build toward a final project that explores how the sensory might shift archaeological storytelling, pedagogy, or public engagement. Throughout, we ask: Whose senses are centered? What senses are valued, and why? And what is at stake when trying to sense the past? Prerequisite: ARCH B101 and ARCH B102 or ARCH B101 and a 200-level ARCH course, or ARCH B102 and a 200-level ARCH course, or two 200-level ARCH courses, or permission by instructor.

ARCH B345 The Archaeology of Inequality (1 Unit)

Archaeology offers a unique perspective to study and analyze how past inequalities developed over time, how they were maintained, negated, or transformed, and how societies responded to them or rejected them. Drawing upon different sets of data- including visual and material culture as well as bio-archaeological remains – and employing anthropological, social, and critical theory approaches, this course explores inequalities with reference to society, ethnicity, gender, and economy. We will use a wide range of case studies across the ancient Mediterranean, from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, to explore different trajectories of inequality and their manifestations in large-scale and long-term phenomena of war, economic crises, environmental transformation, and colonialism. Prerequisite(s): ARCH B101 and 102; or ARCH B101 and a 200-level ARCH course; or ARCH B102 and a 200-level ARCH course; or two 200-level ARCH courses

ARCH B347 Ancient Artifacts in the Bryn Mawr Special Collections (1 Unit)

Centered on the question, how we can learn from and through objects, this course explores a selected corpus of artifacts from the ancient Mediterranean in the Bryn Mawr Special Collections with the aim to uncover how these objects were made and used and what they might have meant to their ancient users. Students will handle, study, and interpret a variety of artifacts made of clay, metal, stone, and glass, ranging from vessels, mirrors, and statuettes to mosaics and frescoes used originally in a variety of contexts of ancient Mediterranean daily life and spanning now their second-life as constituents of the Bryn Mawr Special Collections. Through close observation and analysis of the procurement and trade of the raw materials of these objects and their manufacturing techniques and decoration, including its themes, which extend from daily scenes and mythological tales to colorful abstract motifs and intriguing inscriptions, students will examine the use and function of these artifacts as evidence of meaningful ancient Mediterranean cultural thought, behavior, and experience. Interpretation will be based on close observation and active and experiential learning, through tactile engagement with these objects, comparing and contrasting them, studying their conservation, and inquiring, through deep critical thinking, archival work, and reflexivity, about their provenience, collecting, and digital itineraries. Prerequisites: ARCH B101 and B102.

ARCH B352 Ancient Egyptian Archaeology (1 Unit)

This course will examine two aspects of ancient Egyptian Archaeology. This first is the history of archaeological work in Egypt: tracing methodological developments, the impact of imperialism, colonialism, and race-based theories of the 19th and early 20th centuries on the development of archaeological thought, and where the field of archaeology in Egypt stands today. The second will examine settlements in ancient Egypt - from workmen's villages to planned "temple towns" to "lost cities" - in order to understand the built environment inhabited by the ancient Egyptians. Although the material that the ancient Egyptians used to build their homes, as well as their location in the flood-plain, often makes finding and studying settlements difficult, there are sources of evidence that can help us to rediscover where and how the ancient Egyptians lived, and allow us to reevaluate older theories about ancient Egyptian culture and society.

ARCH B354 Money in the Ancient World (1 Unit)

In this course we shall investigate the ancient world through one of its most fundamental institutions: money. We will learn about different types of ancient money, including coinage, bullion, grain and credit, the various coins used by the Greeks and Romans (as well as other groups, such as ancient Mesopotamians, Persians, Indians and Jews), and about the different methods used to study them. The seminar takes an interdisciplinary approach to major topics in the history of money, including the origins of coinage, monetization, imitations and forgeries, debasement, trade, and the politics of issuing coins. We shall think about economics and social history, as well as the role played by coins in archaeology, and the complex ethical (and legal) issues surrounding the modern practice of coin collecting.

ARCH B355 The Achaemenid Empire (1 Unit)

This course explores the art, history, and archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire. Between 550 and 330 B.C., the Achaemenid kings of Iran controlled the largest and greatest empire the world has seen up until that time. By studying the art, architecture, politics, religion, burial customs, administration, economy, and warfare of Achaemenid Persia, the course offers a unique insight into the wealth, splendor, and diversity of one of the most powerful empires of the ancient Near East. Because the Achaemenid Empire exerted great influence on the ancient Mediterranean world, the contacts and conflict between ancient Greece and Persia will be also examined, from an ancient Greek perspective, in order to understand how this perspective contributed to the misapprehension of the Achaemenid Empire in modern Western thought.

ARCH B357 The Hellenistic Age: Art in a Multicultural World (1 Unit)

Following the campaigns of Alexander, the Greeks spread across the Middle East as far as Egypt, Central Asia and India, where they encountered many cultures vastly different from their own. The result was the creation of a diverse, multicultural world, connected by shared elements such as the use of the Greek language, but in which every individual region and society was unique. This diversity is especially evident in the art produced in this period, where we see the Greek obsession with human form, preferably nude, mixing with older artistic traditions in Egypt and Mesopotamia that relied on hierarchy and repetition to perform their functions. In Italy the Romans adopted aspects of Greek art as a means of disrupting their rather stodgy political ideology, with mixed results, whereas in India Greek motifs, popular for reasons as yet unknown, were pressed into the service of Buddhism. In this course we shall examine the art of this dynamic period from ca. 300 to 30 BCE. It is organized geographically, beginning in the Greek mainland and moving across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe to Iran, Central Asia and India. We will focus especially on themes of interaction – how do old and new artistic traditions combine? – and identity – what did these combinations mean to the people who made and used them? – as well as on the roles of power and resistance. Prerequisites: ARCH B101 and 102; or ARCH B101 and a 200-level ARCH course; or ARCH B102 and a 200-level ARCH course; or two 200-level ARCH courses; or permission by instructor.

ARCH B398 Senior Seminar in Classical Archaeology (1 Unit)

A weekly seminar on topics to be determined with assigned readings and oral and written reports.

ARCH B399 Senior Seminar (1 Unit)

A weekly seminar on common topics with assigned readings and oral and written reports.

ARCH B403 Supervised Work (1 Unit)

Supervised Work

ARCH B425 Praxis III: Independent Study (1 Unit)

Note: Students are eligible to take up to two Praxis Fieldwork Seminars or Praxis Independent Studies during their time at Bryn Mawr.

ARCH B501 Greek Vase Painting (1 Unit)

ARCH B504 Archaeology of Greek Religion (1 Unit)

ARCH B505 Topics in Ancient Athens (1 Unit)

This is a topics course. Topics vary.

ARCH B506 The Archaeology of Greece and Asia Minor during the Archaic and Classical Periods (1 Unit)

This course discusses the material culture discovered in Archaic and Classical sanctuaries, cemeteries, and settlements in Greece and Asia Minor, taking into consideration past and present archaeological theory and interpretive trends. Key topics include human interaction with material culture, social change, and the use of space, landscape, and religion.

ARCH B508 Ceramic Analysis (1 Unit)

ARCH B512 Bronze Age Internationalism (1 Unit)

This course explores the rise and fall of the first international age in the eastern Mediterranean. We will focus on the cultural and diplomatic connections between Egypt, Syria, Anatolia and the Aegean during the Bronze Age, c. 2000-1200BCE.

ARCH B514 Ancient Greek Seafaring and Shipwrecks (1 Unit)

ARCH B516 Trade and Transport in the Ancient World (1 Unit)

ARCH B517 Cultural Heritage and Endangered Archaeology (1 Unit)

ARCH B524 Topics in Art and Archaeology of Iran (1 Unit)

This course examines the relationships between texts and material culture of ancient Iran, following two lines of inquiry. First, it explores possible connections between the iconography on seals and carved stone objects from Bronze Age sites in southeastern Iran and certain fundamental themes in the Zoroastrian traditions embedded in the later Avestan texts. Second, it investigates the location of the ancient polity of Marhashi mentioned in ancient Mesopotamian texts. The course evaluates the likelihood that at least some roots of Avestan religious mythology can be traced back to the Bronze Age civilization of southeastern Iran. It also scrutinizes theories identifying Bronze Age sites in Kerman, southeastern Iran, or sites in western Central Asia such as Gonur Tepe in Turkmenistan as the location of Marhashi. The course adopts an interdisciplinary approach, engaging art historical, archaeological, historical and anthropological methods.

ARCH B528 The Roman Empire in South West Asia (1 Unit)

ARCH B529 Archaeology and National Imagination in Modern Greece (1 Unit)

ARCH B530 Archaeological Theory & Method (1 Unit)

A history of archaeology from the Renaissance to the present with attention to the formation of theory and method.

ARCH B535 Sensory Worlds, Material Lives: Archaeology and the Senses (1 Unit)

ARCH B545 The Archaeology of Inequality (1 Unit)

ARCH B547 Ancient Artifacts in the Bryn Mawr Special Collections (1 Unit)

ARCH B552 Egyptian Architecture: New Kingdom (1 Unit)

A proseminar that concentrates on the principles of ancient Egyptian monumental architecture with an emphasis on the New Kingdom. The primary focus of the course is temple design, but palaces, representative settlements, and examples of Graeco-Roman temples of the Nile Valley will also be dealt with.

ARCH B554 Money in the Ancient World (1 Unit)

ARCH B555 The Achaemenid Empire (1 Unit)

ARCH B557 The Hellenistic Age: Art in a Multicultural World (1 Unit)

ARCH B570 Geoarchaeology (1 Unit)

Societies in the past depended on our human ancestors’ ability to interact with their environment. Geoarchaeology analyzes these interactions by combining archaeological and geological techniques to document human behavior while also reconstructing the past environment. Course meets twice weekly for lecture, discussion of readings and hands on exercises. Prerequisite: one course in anthropology, archaeology or geology.

ARCH B602 Graduate Intensive Survey (0.5 Unit)

This course introduces the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East and Egypt, from ca. 10,000 to 330 BCE. Supplementing the lectures, discussions, and readings of ARCH B101, graduate students will participate in an additional weekly discussion of methodological and interpretive issues and topical debates in the field, based on the reading of relevant case-studies and analyses.

ARCH B603 Graduate Intensive Survey (0.5 Unit)

A historical survey of the archaeology and art of Greece, Etruria, and Rome.

ARCH B605 The Concept of Style (1 Unit)

This seminar examines the development and uses of concepts of "style" in the criticism, analysis, and historiography of textual and material culture. Particular attention is paid to the recognition and description of style, explanations of stylistic change, and the meanings attached to style, particularly but not exclusively in classical and related traditions.

ARCH B608 Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology (1 Unit)

This course explores a range of approaches to the study of landscapes that relates to core principles of the field of archaeology. It also discusses the construction of specific landscapes in the Mediterranean (e.g., gardens, sacred landscapes, and memoryscapes).

ARCH B613 Interrogating the Dead (1 Unit)

One of the most direct forms of evidence we have for ancient societies are graves. From these contexts we often find skeletal remains; vestiges of once living people. The burial record, however, raises as many questions as it does answers. This graduate seminar will draw upon archaeological and anthropological literature to explore the different ways in which mortuary archaeology can inform us on wider socio-cultural phenomenon. When, for example, can we see individuality emerging? What was the impact of mono-theistic religions upon the treatment and conceptualization of the body? How were burial assemblages manipulated by living populations? Using cases studies from the Neolithic through to the Islamic periods, we will also explore patterns of similarity and difference that can be identified across this broad region over time and space.

ARCH B615 Mystery Cults (1 Unit)

An investigation of the phenomenon of mystery cults, their foundation and dispersal from the Classical through Hellensistic and early Roman periods. A study of the topography and monuments of specific cults and of representation of mysteries in sculpture and painting.

ARCH B616 Maritime Networks and the Archaeology of the Levant (1 Unit)

This course will explore the history and archaeology of the Levant, and its key role in the maritime networks of the Eastern Mediterranean. We will use case studies from the Neolithic through to the late medieval period, to discover how ‘seascapes’ have shaped and influenced Levantine economies, industries, identities and political interconnections throughout the history of this region. The class will draw upon archaeological (both underwater and coastal), literary and iconographic evidence, alongside ongoing geomorphological and environmental studies in the region to take an interdisciplinary approach to this topic.

ARCH B617 Herculaneum: Villa dei Papiri (1 Unit)

The Villa of the Papyri is a 'villa suburbana' that housed a large collection of sculptures. Its reconstruction became famous as the Getty Villa. This Villa will serve as an 'exemplum' of a Roman villa to explore topics including early excavation techniques, libraries and the Epicurean philosophy, the concepts and meanings of villae, as well as the placement of statues and copy criticism

ARCH B622 Classical Conceptions of the Human Figure (1 Unit)

The representation of the human figure is so central to the art of the West that it is easy to accept it as a natural and inevitable concern and to overlook the problems it raises. This seminar will focus on some of the fundamental artistic, cultural, and ideological issues surrounding the conceptions of the human form in classically based representations. The material to be considered will range from the art and literature of classical antiquity through contemporary critical approaches. Post-antique, non-classical, and non-Western traditions perspectives are welcome. Proposed topics include: knowledge of the human body (including medical texts); individual and type; physiognomic analysis, proportions and canons; the ideal; representations of mental states; representation of movement (including drama and dance); anthropomorphism and the divine; masks; costumes, and alterations.

ARCH B623 On the Trail of Alexander the Great (1 Unit)

This course explores the world of Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic world based on a variety of sources. Particular focus is put on the material culture of Macedonia and Alexander’s campaigns that changed forever the nature and boundaries of the Greek world. Prerequisite: a course in Classical Archaeology or permission of the instructor.

ARCH B625 Historiography of Ancient Art (1 Unit)

Our understanding of the material culture of classical antiquity and related civilizations, including the post-antique West, rests on information and interpretive frameworks derived from ancient texts. This pro-seminar explores how the history of ancient art has been and continues to be written, with emphasis on the ancient texts, their historical and intellectual contexts, and the uses to which they have been put in a variety of historical formulations from antiquity through modern times.

ARCH B628 Assyria and the West: Neo-Hittite States (1 Unit)

This seminar revolves around the art and architecture of the Neo-Hittite states of the Iron Age in Syro-Anatolia from the lens of their relations with the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

ARCH B633 Nomads and Archaeology (1 Unit)

This course will explore the historical importance of mobile groups in regions such as the Ancient Near East and some of the archaeological traces they may leave behind. Using ethnographic, anthropological and archaeological literature we will discuss the different ways in which mobile populations have been conceptualized, portrayed and treated by non-mobile societies and the relationship between these different groups. The course will also consider how new technologies and archaeological methods might enable us to fill in some of the gaps in our understanding and how we might be able to place mobile populations at the center, rather than at the periphery, of our archaeological narratives.

ARCH B634 Problems in Classical Art (1 Unit)

This is a topics course. Topics vary. A seminar dealing with current issues in the art of ancient Greece and related traditions.

ARCH B635 Power, politics, and the cityscape of Rome (1 Unit)

The city of Rome served as both a symbolic center of the Roman world and a physical space in which this symbolic role was monumentalized and negotiated. This course explores the ways in which political and social competition were inscribed on the cityscape from its earliest years through the end of the Republic and beyond, both in its topography and in the specific monuments constructed as the result of individual and group initiatives. Case studies explored in this course include the triumph and the process of memory construction in the city, the association of political movements and conflicts with specific urban topographies, the function of Rome and specific spaces within it as “museums” for foreign plunder, elite tombs as sites of competing elite identities, the shifting relationship between public and private in the Forum, and the competitive monumentalization of the city at the end of the Republic, especially in the Campus Martius.

ARCH B636 Mycenaean Archaeology (1 Unit)

An intensive survey of the archaeology of Late Bronze Age Greece focusing on the sites of the Mycenaean culture.

ARCH B638 Archaeology of Assyria (1 Unit)

A seminar focused on the art and architecture of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (883-612 BCE). Emphasis will be on the cities, palaces, and decorative programs of the major Neo-Assyrian kings.

ARCH B639 The Iranian Iron Age (1 Unit)

In this course we examine the archaeology of Iran and its neighbors to the south, north and east from c. 1300 to 300 BC. Through an analysis of archaeological data, we will examine questions related to subsistence strategies, trade and the response to imperial powers. The course incorporates an examination of the archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire.

ARCH B640 East Mediterranean Interconnections (1 Unit)

ARCH B643 Mortuary Practices (1 Unit)

This seminar focuses on the mortuary practices of the ancient Greek and Macedonian worlds from the Iron Age to the end of the Hellenistic period. Special emphasis is placed on the examination of skeletal remains, funerary offerings, the art, and architecture of specific archaeological sites and on the study of various issues in the archaeology of death.

ARCH B654 The Archaeology of Prehistoric Arabia (1 Unit)

In this course we examine the archaeology of prehistoric Arabia from c. 8000 to 500 BC. Particular emphasis is placed upon how the archaeological evidence illuminates social and economic structures.

ARCH B669 Ancient Greece and the Near East (1 Unit)

Approaches to the study of interconnections between Ancient Greece and the Near East, mainly in the Iron Age, with emphasis on art, architecture, and intellectual perspective.

ARCH B672 Archaeology of Rubbish (1 Unit)

This course explores a range of approaches to the study of waste and dirt as well as practices and processes of disposal and recycling in past and present societies. Particular attention will be paid to understanding and interpreting spacial disposal patterns, identifying votive deposits (bothroi), and analyzing the use of dirt(y waste) in negotiating social differences.

ARCH B680 Problems in the Archaeology of Mesopotamia (1 Unit)

This course will explore the different approaches and technologies used to study Mesopotamia. We will problematize existing terminologies for this historical region and consider how research methods and questions have changed in recent years. Topics covered may include: ancient gender roles, cultural heritage, landscape theory and approaches, new technologies and religion and ritual amongst others.

ARCH B691 The Uruk Period in Western Asia (1 Unit)

ARCH B692 Archaeology of Achaemenid Era (1 Unit)

The course explores the archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire. It will be offered in conjunction with Professor Lauren Ristvet (UPENN) and will cover the archaeology of the regions from Libya to India fro 538 to 332 BC. Students will be expected to provide presentations as well as written work.

ARCH B701 Supervised Work (1 Unit)

Unit of supervised work

ARCH B705 Curatorial Praxis (1 Unit)

For students completing a curatorial internship only. Students on a F1 VISA require CPT authorization to engage in an internship off campus and must register for the course.

ARCH B800 Continuing Enrollment (0 Unit)

CHEM B208 Topics in Art Analysis (1 Unit)

This is a topics course and topics will vary. All courses will cover a variety of methods of analysis of works of art centered around a specific theme. Using both completed case studies and their own analysis of objects in the Bryn Mawr College collection, students will investigate a number of instrumental methods of obtaining both quantitative and qualitative information about the manufacture, use and history of the objects. This course counts towards the major in History of Art.

CITY B201 Introduction to GIS for Social and Environmental Analysis (1 Unit)

This course is designed to introduce the foundations of GIS with emphasis on applications for social and environmental analysis. It deals with basic principles of GIS and its use in spatial analysis and information management. Ultimately, students will design and carry out research projects on topics of their own choosing. Prerequisite: At least sophomore standing and Quantitative Readiness are required (i.e.the quantitative readiness assessment or Quan B001).

CSTS B208 The Roman Empire (1 Unit)

Imperial history from the principate of Augustus to the House of Constantine with focus on the evolution of Roman culture and society as presented in the surviving ancient evidence, both literary and archaeological.

CSTS B639 Italy and the Rise of Rome (1 Unit)

This course examines the archaeology and history of the Italian peninsula in the first millennium BCE, with a particular focus on the dynamics of Rome’s rise from small settlement to the dominant power on the Italian peninsula. Through an examination of the textual, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological evidence from Rome and the other major powers in Italy in this period, including the Etruscans, Samnites, and Greek colonial cities, we investigate the major debates and issues surrounding Rome’s rise to power, including the nature of Roman imperialism, processes of “Romanization” or acculturation among non-Romans, and the social and political conflicts and pressures which played a role in shaping the character of the Roman state in the first millennium BCE.

GSEM B608 Material Geologies (1 Unit)

This course mobilizes a humanistically informed approach to the study of geological materials, with a focus on late antique and medieval understandings of stones, minerals, metals, and land formation(s). Readings will encompass current perspectives on the diverse epistemologies of geology in the pre-modern world, from the magical and medicinal properties of gems, to the relation of stone and earth to concepts of empire, to mythologies of landscape and geomorphology. Students will explore primary textual sources such as ancient and medieval magical treatises, travel literature, and lapidaries, including works by Pliny the Elder, Procopius, Paul the Silentiary, and Michael Psellos. The course will also foreground visual and material culture, introducing students to both conventional and innovative methodologies and theoretical frameworks for exploring human understandings of the natural world from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will work with Bryn Mawr’s outstanding collection of geological samples and will learn fundamentals of mineral identification and crystallography. Final projects are expected to build from students’ primary research interests and disciplinary investments. Course enrollment is limited to graduate students in the departments of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology; Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies; and History of Art.

GSEM B619 Death and Beyond (1 Unit)

The question of what happens after the moment of death has always fascinated humanity - at one moment there is a living person, the next only a corpse; where did the person go? Every culture struggles with these questions of death and afterlife - what does it mean to die and what happens after death? This seminar will examine a variety of types of evidence - archaeological, poetic, and philosophical - to uncover ideas of death and afterlife in some of the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world, with particular attention to the similarities and differences between ideas of death and beyond in the cultures of Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. Van Gennep's model of death as a rite de passage provides the basic structure for the class, which is divided into three sections, each concerned with one section of the transition: Dying - leaving the world of the living; Liminality - the transition between the worlds; and Afterlife - existence after death. This anthropological model allows us to analyze the different discourses about death and afterlife.

GSEM B623 Figures of Resistance: Classical and Modern (1 Unit)

The GSem will explore classical figures of resistance such as Prometheus, Antigone, Electra, Medea, and Lysistrata and their reception in modern art and cinema. The focus will be on films and other works of art that re-appropriate and transform the ancient characters and their stories. We will discuss in particular how modern filmmakers re-contextualize the classical figures to shed light on contemporary historical, political, and social issues. Films will include Tony Harrison, Prometheus (Great Britain, 1998), Liliana Cavani, The Year of the Cannibals (Italy, 1970), Amy Greenfield, Antigone/Rites of Passion (USA, 1991), Ingmar Bergman, Persona (Sweden, 1966), Miklós Jancsó, Electra, My Love (Hungary, 1974), Arthur Ripstein, Asi Es La Vida (Mexico, 2000), and Spike Lee, Chi-raq (USA, 2015). Readings will be drawn from texts on reception studies, film and gender theory, psychoanalysis, and political theory.

GSEM B624 Greek Tragedy in Performance (1 Unit)

In this seminar we will approach Greek dramatic texts from two angles: theoretically and experientially. On the one hand, we will be reading (in English translation) the tragedies of the three great playwrights of Classical Athens—Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—while examining their treatment of myth, systems of metaphor and imagery, and the role of the chorus, as well as the relevance of Greek tragedy for subsequent centuries down to the present day. Special attention will be given to such themes as fate and predestination; relation between mortals and immortals; disability; euthanasia; slavery; and the impact of war on women and children. On the other, concurrent with our textual analysis, we will be reading Constantin Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov and other modern theater theorists. We will be applying these acting techniques to the texts in practice (i.e., performing them in class!) as we ask the question, What can be gained from stepping inside the plays and trying them on? No prior acting experience is necessary: just a curiosity about bringing ancient texts to life through the medium of one’s body!

GSEM B625 Dots and Loops: Form and Aesthetics Across Time and Media (1 Unit)

Though it has long been at the heart of aesthetic criticism, the subject of form as an axis of methodological inquiry has regained conspicuous popularity in recent years. Scholars working across, and at the intersection of, various media--including but not limited to material culture, visual art, sound, film, and literature--have been thinking through the ways that form both informs and is informed by what were considered its various antitheses, such as history, politics, and the material archive. The presumed extrication of external “context” was integral to a hermeneutic of form. This was a driving factor, for instance, in nineteenth-century formalism, used to construct coherent narratives surrounding Classical Antiquity through archaeological and art historical understandings of ornament and architecture. These interests continued with the inception of Russian literary Formalism in the early twentieth century, and then French narratology of the midcentury, for whom Homeric form was particularly important. This seminar will examine the various modes of formalist analysis that have emerged in contemporary criticism and their relationships to the formalisms that have come before, studying them alongside artworks across media and through various global histories. How can form speak across Art History, Classics, and Archaeology and to projects that vary widely in their temporal and geographic scopes, we will ask? What does attention to form yield for interdisciplinary scholars, specifically? What are the scope and limits of thinking with lines, dots, loops, circles, squares, parabolas, and shapes of any kind?

GSEM B652 Interdepartmental Seminar: History and Memory (1 Unit)

The seminar will begin by establishing the categories of history and memory, as they have been constituted across the humanistic disciplines, defining and refining the epistemological and ontological distinctions between the two. Readings will be drawn first from the writings of Nietzsche and Freud and then move to the work of Barthes, Caruth, Connerton, Foucault, Guha, Gundaker, La Capra, Margolit, Nora, Sebald, Todorov, and Yerushalmi. Once a grounding context is established, the second half of the seminar will be organized around a set of categories, ranging from the material to the theoretical, through which we will continue our explorations in history and memory, among them, the following: trauma, witness, archive, document, evidence, monument, memorial, relic, trace. It is here that we would each draw specifically on our own disciplinary formations and call upon students to do the same. The seminar would, of course, be open to all students in the graduate group.

GSEM B654 War and Peace in the Ancient World (1 Unit)

For centuries history has been perceived, written and taught as a series of wars and periods of peace. Yet, the question remains: what does it mean when a city, a state or a nation is at war, and how do different cultures and societies conceptualize peace? This interdisciplinary seminar explores theories and practices of war and peace in the ancient world, examining the archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence. The archaeology of warfare will include battlefields, fortifications, arms and weapons, siege machines, war memorials, funerary monuments as well as the iconography of victors and victims. The literary sources that we will be reading, among them the Homeric epics, select passages from Greek and Roman historiography, philosophical and rhetorical works and ancient handbooks and manuals of warfare, will shed light on the recording of conflicts, the conduct of war, notions of power and peace, the depiction of leaders, the representation of violence, and strategies of commemoration. Investigating bodies of evidence, which are normally studied separately and within specific disciplinary formations, we aim to challenge the entrenched oppositions between archaeology, philology, and history and to engage in a discourse about the complex and changing conceptualizations of war and peace in the ancient world. We plan to have several guest lecturers. Students participating in this seminar will be expected to give oral presentations and to develop their special areas of interests in their research projects applying a variety of methods. No previous classics or archaeology training is required.

Academic Catalog