About Art of Ancient Greece and Rome

In this course, we will study the art of Classical Antiquity. The different units of the course reflect the main chronological stages in art development in Ancient Greece and Rome, from the coming together of the Greek city-state and the emergence of "geometric art" (around 900 B.C.) to the fourth century A.D. shift that took place within Roman culture and art due to the growing influence of Christianity. We will begin by underlining the unity of our subject matter: Rome not only conquered Greece, but it assimilated Greeces cultural and artistic accomplishments. In fact, much of what we know of Greek art today we learned through Roman copies. We will also explore the development of Greek architecture, sculpture, and painting up to the Hellenistic period, when Greek art began to influence new parts of the globe through the conquests of Alexander the Great. We will also study the ways in which naturalism and idealism came together as Greek art developed over time. Next, we will turn our attention to Roman art, studying its development from the time of the Roman Republic, a period that overlaps with Greeces Classical and Hellenistic periods, to the waning of the Western Roman Empire. You will learn that while Roman art was, to a large extent, inspired by Greek art, it also developed its own distinctive characteristics. The artistic traditions of Ancient Greece and Rome ultimately served as the foundation for the art of the Western world; these traditions continue to reverberate to the present day.