CAAH Mods 2011 - Balliol College - University of Oxford

Course Descriptions
7.1 Core Subjects: Approaches to Classical Archaeology and
Ancient History
These core subjects look at two periods of revolution and rapid re-orientation, one Greek, one
Roman. The periods are approached simultaneously from historical and archaeological
perspectives, and are designed to introduce the methods and materials available for the study of
the ancient world and to cut across and between periods studied in Finals. Opportunity is taken to
introduce the history of the two converging disciplines of ancient history and classical
archaeology, and attention is paid to methodology and the complementary nature of written,
material, and visual evidence. The broad subjects engaged are the effects of two quite different
historical upheavals on the political, social, material, and visual environments of Early Greece on
the one hand and Late Republican Rome on the other – as well as their effects on the forms and
character of the surviving historical and archaeological records of the two periods and the ways
they can be studied. Both these courses are taught in small classes led by an ancient historian
and an archaeologist together.
I. Aristocracy and democracy in the Greek world 550-450 BC
The course studies the history and archaeology of the far reaching changes that occurred in the
culture of the Greek polis states (and in particular Athens) between the heyday of the archaic
aristocracies in the later sixth century and the emergence of the new demos culture in the first half
of the fifth century, which involved far more people in the political process all across the Greek
world, in aristocracies as well as democracies. The central themes of aristocracy and democracy
are pursued throughout the period, as well as the history of the interacting archaic states and
individuals; the Achaemenids and the Greek collision with Persia; competing models of social and
political culture after the invasion; the archaeology of sanctuaries and cities; the demes, and
cemeteries of Attica; and the visual revolution in statues, reliefs, and painted images. Typically,
there would be classes on: 1. Aristocracy and Democracy; 2. Aristocratic Lifestyles; 3. Sanctuaries
and Contests; 4. Tyrants; 5. Kingdoms of the East; 6. Athenian Ideology c. 510-475; 7. The
Persian War; 8. Democratic Politics c. 475-450. (Convenor: J. Ma, Corpus)
II. Republic to Empire: Rome 50 BC to AD 50
The course studies the impact of the first emperors on the history and archaeology of Rome and
its subject states in the period of revolution and transition from Late Republic to Early Empire.
Some themes and topics are: Roman political culture in crisis, Republican war-lords to Augustan
princeps; emperor, senate, and the evolving administration; the Julio-Claudian dynasty and court
culture; the city of Rome, imperial building, and imperial representation; villas and villa culture –
wallpainting, marbles, gardens and suburban parks; municipal culture - houses, amenities, tombs,
and freedman art; land-use and the countryside – estates, vici, and centuriated settlement;
manufacture, trade, and natural resources – coins, amphorae, and quarries; the archaeology of
the frontier armies; traditional religion and emperor cult. Typically, there would be classes on 1.
Augustan Political Culture; 2. The Army and the Frontiers; 3. Municipal Culture; 4. Villas; 5.
Julio-Claudian Self-Representation; 6. Manufacture, Commerce and Trade; 7. Romanisation
and Colonisation; 8. Imperial Cult (Convenor: J. Quinn, Worcester)
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