The Mediterranean is a region of tremendous diversity and vibrancy, with a long history of travel, trade, tourism, intellectual exchange, piracy, conquest, and war. This interdisciplinary course studies the Mediterranean Sea as a geographical space and contact zone, and as a field of study, from antiquity to the modern period. It incorporates visual and material culture, as well as historical and literary sources from the Mediterranean basin, between Iberia and Mesopotamia, and from Venice to Algiers. The course is divided into three tracks—Art History (HISTART253), Judaic Studies (JUDAIC253), and Classical Studies (CLCIV253). Students follow one of these tracks by enrolling in the related seminar. The three tracks meet together for a shared lecture on Fridays, given by inter-departmental faculty and outside speakers, and break into separate seminar groups devoted to the respective tracks on Mondays and Wednesdays.

This track, CLCIV253 The Mediterranean: Classical Studies, examines major social and historical developments in the ancient Mediterranean, through the lens of the Age of Heroes. In the first part of the course, we will explore the period that was thought by later Greeks and Romans to have been populated with legendary figures like king Agamemnon, beautiful Helen, and bold Hector—what we now call the Bronze Age. Our modern understanding of the Bronze Age is based primarily on archaeological data. However, in antiquity, this period was understood through myriad retellings—both literary and artistic—of stories like those associated with the Trojan War saga. Thus, in the second part of the course, we will consider how ancient Greeks and Romans reimagined those myth-historical tales in different sociopolitical contexts, from the age of colonization and birth of democracy to the foundation of empire. As part of the course, we will examine material, iconographic, and literary evidence; we will also explore objects housed in the Kelsey Museum.

Intended Audience:

Everyone. No prior knowledge required.

Class Format:

Seminars on Mondays and Wednesdays. Lectures on Fridays, which meets with the other section of the course.