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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: Roman Funerary Art (PGHC11138)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course entails the study of the funerary monuments of the Roman world (from the late Republic to the time of Constantine), with particular emphasis on those of the city of Rome. The course focuses on their typology, iconography and significance for our understanding of Roman society and belief.
Course description This course entails the study of the funerary monuments of the Roman world (from the late Republic to the time of Constantine), with particular emphasis on those of the city of Rome. The types of funerary art considered include tomb architecture, tomb painting and other forms of decoration of the interiors of tombs, statues and busts associated with tombs, reliefs and gravestones, and containers of the final remains of the dead such as ash chests and sarcophagi. Some of the regional variations produced in the provinces of the Roman empire may also be studied. These works of art will be considered from the view point of their iconography, style and social context.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate in their essay(s) and contribution to discussion in class a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning representative examples of Roman funerary art and its iconography.
  2. Demonstrate in their essay(s) and contribution to discussion in class an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship concerning the meaning of key motifs in relation to Roman society and beliefs
  3. Demonstrate in their essay(s) and contribution to discussion in class an ability to understand and apply specialised research skills, techniques and practices considered in the course such as reading simple funerary inscriptions and recognising and interpreting common motifs.
  4. Demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral and written form in their essays and contributions to class discussion by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course;
  5. Demonstrate in their essay(s) and contribution to discussion in class originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy.
Reading List
Borbonus, D. (2014) Columbarium Tombs and Collective Identity in Augustan Rome, Dayton

Carroll, M. (2006) Spirits of the dead. Roman funerary Commemoration in Western Europe Oxford.

Davies, G (2003) 'Roman funerary symbolism in the early Empire', in Inhabiting
Symbols: Symbol and Image in the Ancient Mediterranean. Accordia
Research Institute, ed. J. B. Wilkins and E. Herring. London.

Davies, P.J.E. (2000) Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments From Augustus to Marcus Aurelius Cambridge

Elsner, J and Huskinson, J. (2011) Life, Death and Representation. Some New Work on Roman Sarcophagi Berlin and New York

Kockel, V. (1983) Die Grabbauten vor dem Herkulaner Tor in Pompeji Mainz

Koortbojian, M. (1995) Myth, Meaning and Memory on Roman Sarcophagi Berkeley and London

Ross Holloway, R. (1994) The Archaeology of Early Rome and Latium London
Steingräber, S. (1986) Etruscan Painting New York

Stevenson, J.( 1978) The Catacombs: rediscovered monuments of early Christianity London

Zanker, P. and Ewald, B. C. (2011) Living with Myths. The imagery of Roman Sarcophagi Oxford (= Mit Mythen leben. Die Bilderwelt der römischen Sarkophage. Munich 2004).
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsRoman Funerary Art
Contacts
Course organiserDr Glenys Davies
Tel: (0131 6)50 3592
Email: G.M.Davies@ed.ac.uk
Course secretary
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