ARTH220 - GREEK ART AND ARTIFACT

This course surveys Greek art and artifacts from Sicily to the Black Sea from the 10th BCE up to the 2nd centuries BCE reaching the Age of Alexander and the Hellenistic Kingdoms. Our objects range from public sculpture and painting on and around grand buildings and gardens, to domestic luxury arts like jewelry, cups and vases, mosaic floors, and the humbler objects of worship and every-day life. Greek addressed heroic epic, religous and political themes, engaged viewers' emotions, and served mundane as well as monumental aims. Current themes include Greek ways of looking at art and space, and ideas of invention and progress; the roll of monuments, makers and patrons in Greek society; and connections with the other cultures that inspired and made use of Greek artists and styles. To understand ancient viewers' encounters, you will meet the spaces of sanctuary and tomb, house and city, garden and private collection; your readings will sample ancient peoples' art writing. Diverse approaches introduce art historical aims and methods, and their relationships to archaeology, anthropology and other disciplines -- also to modern kinds of museums, not least our own University Museum of Archaeology. No prerequisites. This course fulfills the 'global requirement'. Of interest to students of classical, middle-eastern, visual and religious studies, anthropology, history, communications and the GSD programs.