Course Overview:
This course surveys the major developments in art and architecture from the Paleolithic period through the high Middle Ages. Emphasis falls on the ancient civilizations of the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, Greece and Rome, the early Christian world, Byzantium, Islam and the Middle Ages in Western Europe. The approach is at once historical, in that visual form and types of images are studied in their development over time and across cultures, and anthropological, in the sense that cultures are studied at isolated moments as a way of better understanding the significant roles art and architecture play within them. Emphasis is placed on the ways in which ancient cultures represented the human form, on the social and religious meanings and contexts of ancient art, and the political uses to which ancient art was used.
How to use this site:
Your course syllabus and calendar can be downloaded using the links to the right.