Material Culture and Classics

In this course, we will explore the material and visual culture of the Mediterranean lands and beyond, that is Greece, Italy, Spain, North Africa, Asia Minor, Ancient Near East etc. Of course, facing the immensity of the topic and the bibliography we will be necessarily selective and experimental. We will alternate between reading ancient classical sources, secondary treatments, theoretical and conceptual readings, excavation reports, archaeological guides, and actual artifacts and images. The goal is to familiarize Classics students with trends in the study of material culture and to apply interdisciplinarity in research. We will aim to hold every other session in a museum in the New York region (Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn museum, etc). The selection of artifacts below is chose to complement and complicate the readings, but other choices are perfectly possible according to student interests and the evolution of our discussions.