Courses Spring 2025

M 1:45pm-4:44pm

This course will explore some of the pressing and problematic scholarly debates in the historiography of the Roman imperial period, from the accession of the first emperor, Augustus, to the reign of Justinian (ruled 527-565 CE). Students will gain a familiarity with both the broad historical narratives of the Roman empire and the details of specific scholarly disagreements in the intellectual, political, socio-economic, and cultural history of the period.

 

R 1:45pm-4:45pm

Biographical approaches, long used and despised as a genre that reduces history to the actions of a few protagonists, have been fruitfully repurposed in recent scholarship. Rather than focusing the historical analysis on the usual suspects (from emperors to canonical authors), recent applications of biographical approaches have deliberately decentered the narrative, employed the perspective of those whose position has been marginalized, and revealed influences and patterns that otherwise would remain unnoticed. This course will explore the potential, variations, and pitfalls of approaches that focus on individuals, from biographies that follow a traditional format yet have shaped the field of ancient studies to approaches such as microhistory, group and collective biographies, prosopographical studies, and social network analysis. Using examples from the Hellenistic period to the High Empire, we will discuss methods for reconstructing an individual life despite the general scarcity of sources, how such an approach can transform our understanding of the respective cultural, political, and social circumstances, and what insights into the broader historical processes and dynamics such a focus offers or obscures.

 

T 8:30am-11:29am 

Designed to prepare graduates in any aspect of study in the ancient world to prepare for the dissertation prospectus. Course will be centered around individual presentations and group critique of prospectus' in process, as well the fundamentals of large-project research design and presentation.

 

W 1:45pm-4:45pm

This seminar examines the archaeology of Greek colonization from the Late Bronze Age to ca. 500 B.C. These colonies were highly diverse in their motivations, physical settings, and political and social structures, as well as in their relationships with mother cities and the new worlds they inhabited. Emphasis is placed on the colonial experience as a cross-cultural and negotiated process; several streams of the changing theoretical and conceptual approaches to Greek colonization are explored. In addition to archaeological and epigraphic evidence, literary and historical traditions are examined. Colonies from the southern Balkan peninsula, Black Sea, Ionia, northern Africa, and Magna Graecia will be the focus of reading and reports.

 

W 12pm-2:59pm

This seminar series explores many media and kinds of Roman private and public things, images and monuments (and, sometimes, ancient texts about them) in a range of physical and cultural settings, through an interdisciplinary lens. Special topics range between ca. 400 BCE and 800 CE, from the Hellenistic/ Republican age into the Empire and Late Antiquity, using multiple methodological and theoretical approaches to explore the global Mediterranean world, and its interaction with its neighbors in space and time. Modern archaeologies and the museum institution receive critique. The query "what is Roman about Roman art" continually recurs.

 

MW 12pm-1:29pm 

As the locus of classical architecture and urbanism, the Greek world occupies an important place in the history of architecture and urbanism. This lecture course explores the various periods and different moments of architectural creation during the first two millennia, from the palace complexes of Minoan Crete to the cities of the Hellenistic world (1600-100 BCE), and tackles major concepts, theories and practices of architectural and urban design. In studying a variety of sources - both ancient and modern - lectures examine concepts of organizing space, issues of structure, materials, decoration and proportion. The purpose of the course is to shed light on Greek architectural and urban projects within their social, political, religious, and physical contexts.

 

TR 10:15am-11:45am 

Study of Greek grammar, vocabulary, and stylistic features, combining exercises in analysis, composition, and sight translation.

 

T 1:45pm-4:45pm

An interdisciplinary seminar focusing on the city of Troy both as an archaeological site and as the setting of the legendary Trojan War. We will consider Homer's Iliad (with selected sections read in Greek) together with the topography and archaeology of the site of Troy in order to address a series of interrelated questions: What are the points of continuity and discontinuity between the stories told by the literary tradition and the material record? How do both types of evidence contribute to our understanding of political relations and cultural interactions between Greece and Anatolia in the Bronze Age? How do Hittite sources bear on our reconstruction of the events behind the Troy legend? How have the site and the poem contributed to each other's interpretation in the context of scholarly discovery and debate? We will give some attention to modern receptions of the Troy legend that deliberately combine material and textual elements, such as Cy Twombly's "Fifty Days at Iliam" and Alice Oswald's "Memorial: An Excavation of Homer's Iliad." The seminar will include a visit to the site of Troy during the Spring Break.

 

This course explores the complex relationship between ancient Jewish communities and the phenomenon of violence in the context of their historical, cultural, and religious milieux. Students will delve into key aspects of ancient Jewish history, examining narratives, responses, and interpretations of violence from various perspectives. The course asks: What conditions generated violence against Jews? When and why were Jews violent? What role did different factors – politics, religion, economy, ideology, social fissures, literature and more – play in provoking moments of violence? To what degree was violence top down versus bottom up, official versus unauthorized, widespread versus local? How did Jews respond to moments of violence?

 

W 1:45pm-4:45pm 

This seminar explores ugliness in Roman literature in two areas: writing meant to discomfit, displease, and disgust—i.e. an ugly style—and writing about ugly bodies. We will explore ugliness in literature as it relates to disgust, fear, ridicule, and laughter, including where ugliness blurs with monstrosity. Readings in Latin will emphasize humor, invective, and satire (including Horace, Persius, Petronius) but will also include readings from Cicero, Seneca, Lucan, and Pliny. In addition to familiarizing ourselves with contemporary scholarship on disgust and horror in Roman literature, we will read reflections upon ugliness from outside the field (e.g. Eco, Hilal). In addition to weekly readings, students will be responsible for presentations, midterm exam, work-in-progress workshop, and final research paper.

 

TR 12pm-1:29pm (1/15 to 4/30)

By focusing on the scientific analysis of archaeological remains from organic materials, this course will explore life and death in the past. Plant and animal remains from the archaeological record are studied from a variety of scales from landscapes and individual objects. The course uses laboratories in the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM) at the Penn Museum. Each module will combine laboratory and classroom exercises to give students hands-on experience with archaeological materials. We will examine how organic materials provide key information about past environments, the domestication of plants and animals, and the evolution of human foods and their environmental impacts. We will integrate archaeological data through discussions of topics such as health and disease, inequality, and traditional ecological knowledge. We will also discuss current approaches in archaeological science, including molecular and genomic studies, to explore the complex ways in which humans have interacted with plants and animals over time.

 

F 8:30am-11:29am 

In ancient times, materials such as stone and metals were used to produce artifacts including pigments, jewelry, tools, and weapons. This course is designed to introduce students to research on the early exploitation of mineral resources. Which techniques were used to access and process raw materials in antiquity? Which archaeological methods can be used to investigate these features and artifacts? The course will provide worldwide examples through time, ranging from Stone Age flint mining, Iron Age rock salt mining to Medieval silver mining. Ethnographic studies and hands-on activities will contribute to our understanding of mining in archaeology, and artifacts from the Museum's collections will undergo scientific analysis in the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials.

 

W 10:15am-1:14pm 

Introduction to thin-section petrography of stone and ceramic archaeological materials. Using polarized light microscopy, the first half of this course will cover the basics of mineralogy and the petrography of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The second half will focus on the petrographic description of ceramic materials, mainly pottery, with emphasis on the interpretation of provenance and technology. As part of this course, students will characterize and analyze archaeological samples from various collections. Prior knowledge of geology is not required.

 

F 8:30am-11:29am

The seminar offered under this rubric addresses a variety of topics focusing on the Art and Archaeology of pre-Islamic Iran. They include focus on Bronze Age Iran, Achaemenid period Iran, Interactions on the Iranian plateau, Interactions between Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf and the Iranian plateau. All focus on material excavated from sites in the region.

 

TR 10:15am-11:45am

This course surveys the literature of Ancient Egypt from the Old Kingdom through the Graeco-Roman period, focusing upon theme, structure, and style, as well as historical and social context. A wide range of literary genres are treated, including epics; tales, such as the "world's oldest fairy tale;" poetry, including love poems, songs, and hymns; religious texts, including the "Cannibal Hymn"; magical spells; biographies; didactic literature; drama; royal and other monumental inscriptions; and letters, including personal letters, model letters, and letters to the dead. Issues such as literacy, oral tradition, and the question poetry vs. prose are also discussed. No prior knowledge of Egyptian is required.