Global Humanities

This course aims to provide students with proper knowledge and competence to look, read, and understand Greek and Roman visual culture, its tools, and social impact. The chronological scope of the course extends from the Late Archaic period (6th cent. BC) to the fall of the Roman Empire (5th cent. AD). Through examining mainly sculptural and architectural data (statues, portraits, relief, private residences, religious buildings), students will be able to understand the relationship between artwork and society, and to interpret the language of visual art concerning specifically: forms of self-presentation, political and religious propaganda, expression of personal ambition. To the scope, students will be asked to read texts, describe images and monuments, and understand the messages conveyed by artworks in relation to their specific socio-cultural and political context, with particular attention to material, location, historical period, decoration' style and themes. At the end of the course the student will be familiar with methodologies, basic terminology and arguments for a comparative analysis of visual culture in two different societies, the Greek and Roman ones, throughout all of Antiquity.