ARTH 274 - Visualizing Ancient Rome

The Roman world may seem distant to many of you today. After all, its empire was formed over 2000 years ago, and choosing a career as a gladiator is certainly far from your mind. And yet, if you stop for a moment and examine the buildings you enter, the literature you read, the language you speak, and the art you admire, you will recognize much that the Romans left behind. Their legacy is found in the Wheaton Campus buildings (check out the faÌ¤ade of the library), in the laws that govern our land (“a man should have the right to face his accusers”), in the stadiums that house our favorite sports team (Romans cheered for the Whites, the Greens, the Reds or the Blues) and even in the American obsession for cleanliness (at one point there were nearly 1000 baths in the city of Rome, and the central building of the Baths of Caracalla covered 6 acres, the same size as the U.S. Capitol). After a brief introduction to the art of the Etruscans as a foundation for Roman art and a fascinating culture on its own, this course will examine the historical, political, and social structure of the Roman world in relation to the art of its three main periods: the Republic, the “Golden Age” of the Roman Empire, and the declining years of the Late Empire in the third and fourth centuries A.D.

Credits 1

Area
Humanities

Connection
20075

Division
Arts and Humanities