ARTH 4233 - [Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology]

(crosslisted) ARKEO 4233, CLASS 4746
(HB) (ALC-AS, HA-AS)

Spring. Not offered: 2023-2024. Next offered: 2024-2025. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Co-meets with ARKEO 6233/ARTH 6233/CLASS 7746.

A. Alexandridis.

Topics Rotate. Spring 23 topic: Humans and Animals. As Greek and Roman societies relied fundamentally on hunting and agriculture, animals constituted a crucial point of reference in their conception of the world. Animals occupied different functions and roles for humans, such as foe or protector and companion, food and resource, sacrificial victim, subject and object of prodigies, but also status symbol, pet, object of entertainment, object of scientific study etc. We will look at how the different forms of interaction between humans and animals resulted from man’s views of other species, but also how such interactions themselves helped shape these views. How did they eventually intersect with discourses on gender, age, class, and race? We will investigate written sources covering the whole range of literary genres; images; and archaeological material. Readings will also refer to the modern debate on the relationship between humans and animals.