Introductory description

The module is an option in the new taught MA in Ancient Visual and Material Culture, complementing other modules concentrating upon epigraphy and numismatics. It will allow students to explore different approaches to the visual imagery of the ancient world and to relate this material to their research interests.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1 - What is ancient art and how can we study it?
Week 2 - Approaching the Divine
Week 3 - Funerary Art and Self-representation
Week 4 - Art and Narrative
Week 5 - Art & Class
Week 6 - Art and Regional Identity
Week 7 - Art and Propaganda.
Week 8 - Cross-cultural influences in Art
Week 9 - Ancient Ceramics
Week 10 - Essay presentations

(NB these will be spread over 2 terms, meeting fortnightly).

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Appreciation of methodological issues in dealing with visual evidence
• Understanding of the ways that the visual arts have been studied since Antiquity

Indicative reading list

Brilliant, R., Visual Narratives (Ithaca and London, 1984)
Castriota, D., Myth, Ethos and Actuality (Madison, 1992)
Davies, P. J., Death and the Emperor (Cambridge, 2000)
Donohue, A. A. and M. D. Fullerton, Ancient Art and Its Historiography (Cambridge, 2003)
Elsner, J. ed., Art and Text in Roman Culture (Cambridge, 1996)
Elsner, J., ‘Image and Ritual: Reflections on the Religious Appreciation of Classical Art’, CQ 46 (1996), 515-531.
Elsner, J., Art and the Roman Viewer (Cambridge, 1995)
Goldhill, S, and Osborne, R. eds, Art and Text in Greek Culture (Cambridge, 1994)
Holliday, P. J. ed., Narrative and Event in Ancient Art (Cambridge, 1993)
Hurwit, J. M., The Art and culture of Early Greece (Ithaca and London, 1985)
Ridgway B. S., Roman Copies of Greek Sculpture (Ann Arbor, 1984)
Spivey, N., Understanding Greek Sculpture (London, 1996)
Steiner, D., Images in Mind (Princeton, 2001)
Stewart, A., Faces of Power (Berkeley, 1003)
Stewart, A., Greek Sculpture, An Exploration (New Haven, 1990)
Stewart, P., Statues in Roman Society (Oxford, 2003)
Zanker, P., The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus

Subject specific skills

• Skills of visual analysis including ability to recognise and interpret different iconographies and to analyse different artistic styles
• Awareness of the constraints and possibilities of different artistic methods and media
• Appreciation of methodological issues in dealing with visual evidence
• Understanding of the ways that visual and material evidence has been studied since Antiquity
• Ability to present structured chain of argument drawing together evidence into cohesive whole
• Ability to select & apply appropriate problem-solving methodologies
• Ability to conduct independent research & analysis

Transferable skills

• Written and oral communication skills
• Organisational skills
• Ability to evaluate intellectual progress
• IT skills - word processing/ use of internet