Download ARCH 1140: The Death of the Ancient City? Roman Cities after the

ARCH 1140:
THE DEATH OF THE ANCIENT CITY?
ROMAN CITIES AFTER THE FALL OF ROME
Fall 2015
Tues/Thurs, 1:00-2:20 pm
Instructor: Margaret M. Andrews
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
214 Rhode Island Hall
[email protected]
Office Hours: Mondays, 1:00-3:00 pm, or by appointment
OVERVIEW AND DESCRIPTION
The Roman empire was an urban state. Its cities were the engines that drove its political
and economic success and defined the cultural heritage of the Western world. But what
happened to these iconic sites after Rome “fell”? This course will examine the multiple
trajectories that Roman cities took during the gradual disintegration of the empire in the
period of Late Antiquity (4th-7th centuries C.E.). We will analyze the shifting political,
economic, religious, and social climates that defined the period and explore how different
spaces of the city (e.g. administrative, commercial, domestic, spectacle, and burial)
transformed within them. Major themes will include political and economic
fragmentation, the rise of Christianity and “Christianization,” and increasing ethnic
diversity from immigration/invasion. Although many aspects of urban life remained the
same for Romans in Late Antiquity, we will see how the transformation of many Roman
towns and cities signaled the beginning of the Middle Ages. When appropriate, we will
draw comparisons to modern US cities that are experiencing similar changes as a result of
the same processes (e.g. Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore).
GOALS
At the conclusion of the course, the students will have a firm understanding of ancient
urbanism in the Roman world, i.e. the basic features of Roman cities and the functions of
its major buildings and spaces, as well as the major historiographical debates in the study
of Late Antiquity. By considering multiple types of urban spaces and the various factors
that contributed to their transformation, students will gain experience in analyzing and
reconciling different forms of evidence for the ancient world. Students will also consider
urban transformation at a theoretical level and will thus be able to analyze the
phenomenon of urban transformation in other historical periods and geographical
locations.
FORMAT
The class will meet for two sessions each week. These meetings will be a combination of
instructor lecture and group discussion. The course will make significant use of visual
material and spatial analysis, relying heavily on maps, plans, and images of ancient sites.
Students will have two written assignments: 1) a shorter, more technical site report on a
Roman city of the student’s choosing and due in the middle of the semester (7-10 pp.); 2)
a longer research paper that incorporates a broader and more thematic analysis of one or
more sites (12-15 pp.). At the end of the semester, students will give short (10-15
minutes) in-class presentations on the topic and conclusions of their final papers.
EVALUATION
Attendance and Participation in Discussion: 15%
Short Paper (Site Report): 20%
Midterm Exam (in class): 25%
In-Class Presentation/Discussion: 15%
Long Paper: 25%
SCHEDULE
Week 1: Introduction
Thursday (9/10): Overview of the Course
Week 2: Introduction to Roman Cities and Urbanism
Tuesday (9/15): Roman Cities in the Western Empire
 R. Laurence, S. Cleary, and G. Sears, The City in the Roman West, c. 250
BC-250 AD (2011): Introduction, Chapters 1, 6-10 (skim), 11 [PDF]
Thursday (9/17): Roman Cities in the Eastern Empire
 D. Parrish, “The Urban Plan and its Constituent Elements,” in Urbanism
in Western Asia Minor (2001), pp. 8-42 [PDF]
 R. Raja, Urban Development and Regional Identity in the Eastern Roman
Provinces, 50 BC-AD 250 (2012), Chapter 6, pp. 191-218 [PDF]
Week 3: Late Antiquity in Theory and Practice
Tuesday (9/22): Overview of Late Antiquity
 G. Clark, Late Antiquity: A Very Short Introduction (2011) [PDF]
 B. Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, Chapter 1
[PDF]
Thursday (9/24): Late Antiquity in the Urban Archaeological Record
 L. Grig, “Cities in the ‘Long’ Late Antiquity, 2000-2012, a survey essay”
(2013) [PDF]
 W. Liebescheutz, Decline and Fall of the Roman City (2001), Chapters 12 [PDF]
 L. Lavan, “Late Antique Urban Topography: From Architecture to Human
Space,” in Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology (2003), pp.
171-195 [PDF]
Week 4: Political Shifts
Tuesday (9/29): Transformation of Political and Administrative Spaces
 L. Lavan, “Political Space in Late Antiquity,” in Objects in Context,
Objects in Use: Material Spatiality in Late Antiquity (2008), 111-128
[PDF]
 L. Lavan, “The Political Topography of the Late Antique City,” in Late
Antique Archaeology (2003), 314-337 [PDF]
Thursday (10/1): Case Study: The Forum of Rome
 G. Kalas, The Restoration of the Roman Forum in Late Antiquity (2015),
Introduction, Chapters 3-4, Chapter 6, Conclusion [PDF]
**SITE REPORT DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS**
Week 5: Religious Shifts (I)
Tuesday (10/6): The End of the Temples and the Rise of Religious Diversity
 D. Gwynn and S. Bangert, “Religious Diversity in Late Antiquity: An
Introduction,” in Religious Diversity in Late Antiquity (2010), 1-12 [PDF]
 J. Maxwell, “Paganism and Christianity,” in The Oxford Handbook of Late
Antiquity (2012) [PDF]
Thursday (10/8): A New Christian Topography
 G. Wataghin, “Christian Topography in the Late Antique Town: Recent
Results and Open Questions,” in Theory and Practice in Late Antique
Archaeology (2003), pp. 224-256 [PDF]
 A. Busine, “Religious Practices and Christianization of the Late Antique
City,” in Religious Practices and Christianization of the Late Antique City
(4th-7th centuries) (2015), 1-18 [PDF]
 J. Hahn, “Public Rituals of Depaganization in Late Antiquity,” in
Religious Practices and Christianization of the Late Antique City (4th-7th
centuries) (2015), 115-14 [PDF]
Week 6: Religious Shifts (II)
Tuesday (10/13): Case Studies
 H. Saradi, “Late Antique Paganism and Christianization in Greece,” in
The Archaeology of Late Antique Paganism (2011), 263-310 [PDF]
 D. Gwynn, “Christian Controversy and the Transformation of FourthCentury Constantinople,” in Religious Practices and Christianization of
the Late Antique City (4th-7th centuries) (2015), 206-220 [PDF]
 L. Spera, “The Christianization of space along the Via Appia: changing
landscape in the suburbs of Rome,” AJA 107 (2003): 23-43 [PDF]
Thursday (10/15): MIDTERM EXAM
Week 7: Economic Shifts
Tuesday (10/20): General Economic Trends in Late Antiquity
 B. Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, Chapters
5-6 (ca. 50 pp.) [PDF]
 S. Loseby, “The Mediterranean Economy,” in The New Cambridge
Mediaeval History, Vol. 1: c. 500–c.700 (2005), 605–638. [PDF]
Thursday (10/22): Focused Studies: Dura Europos and Palestine
 J. Baird, “Shopping, Eating and Drinking at Dura Europos,” in Objects in
Context, Objects in Use: Material Spatiality in Late Antiquity (2008), 413438
 S. Kingsley, “Decline in the Ports of Palestine in Late Antiquity” [PDF]
 A. Harris, “Shops, retailing, and the local economy in the Early Byzantine
World: the example of Sardis” [PDF]
Week 8: Residential Shifts
Tuesday (10/27): Transformations in Domestic Spaces
 B. Polci, “Some Aspects of the Transformation of the Roman Domus
between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages,” in Theory and
Practice in Late Antique Archaeology (2003), pp. 79-109 [PDF]
 S. Ellis, “The End of the Roman House” [PDF]
 S. Ellis, “Housing and the Uses of Residential Buildings: an Overview,” in
Housing in Late Antiquity: from Palaces to Shops (2007), 1-24 [PDF]
Thursday (10/29): Regional Studies
 S. Ellis, “Early Byzantine housing,” in Secular Buildings and the
Archaeology of Everyday Life in the Byzantine Empire (2004), 37-52
[PDF]
 C. Machado, “Aristocratic Houses and the Making of Late Antique Rome
and Constantinople,” in Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in Late
Antiquity (2013), pp. 136-159 [PDF]
Week 9: Shifting Ideologies and Public Amenities: Water, Games, and Water
Games
Tuesday (11/3): Public Water Supply and Baths
 B. Ward-Perkins, “Water and Water Supply,” in From Classical Antiquity
to the Middle Ages: Urban Public Building in Northern and Central Italy,
AD 300-850, 119-150 [PDF]
 F. Yegul, Bathing in the Roman World, Chapters 10-11 (pp. 181-206)
[PDF]
Thursday (11/5): Games and Spectacles
 R. Lim, “People as Power: Games, Munificence, and Contested
Topography,” in The Transformations of Urbs Roma in Late Antiquity
(1999), 265-281 [PDF]
 B. Ward-Perkins, “The Buildings of Secular Entertainment,” in From
Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages: Urban Public Building in
Northern and Central Italy, AD 300-850, 92-118 [PDF]
 Z. Weiss, Public Spectacles in Late Roman and Late Antique Palestine
(2014), Chapter 6, pp. 227-254 [PDF]
Week 10: Invasion and Immigration: Ethnic Shifts
Tuesday (11/10): Barbarian Invasions and Immigration at Rome and in the West
 G. Halsall, “The Barbarian Invasions,” in The New Cambridge Medieval
History, Vol. 1:500-700 C.E. (2005) [PDF]
 B. Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (2005),
Chapters 1-4 [PDF]
Thursday (11/12): The Arab Conquest in the East
 H. Kennedy, “From Polis to Madina: Urban Change in Late Antique and
Early Islamic Syria,” Past & Present 106 (1985): 3-27 [PDF]
 H. Kennedy, “Inherited Cities,” in The City in the Islamic World (2008),
93-113 [PDF]
 G. Avni, “From Polis to Madina Revisited: Urban Change in Byzantine
and Early Islamic Palestine” JSAH [PDF]
Week 11: Funerary Customs and Burial Spaces
Tuesday (11/17): General Shifts in Burial Attitudes and Topographies
 G. Wataghin, “The ideology of urban burials,” in The Idea and Ideal of the
Town Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (1999), 147-180
[PDF]
 E. Rebillard, “The Church, the Living, and the Dead,” in A Companion to
Late Antiquity (2009), pp. 220-230
 E. Ivison, “Burial and Urbanism at Late Antique and Early Byzantine
Corinth (c. AD 400-700),” in Towns in Transition: Urban Evolution in
Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (1998), 99-125 [PDF]
Thursday (11/19): Case Study: Intramural Burial at Rome
 R. Meneghini and S. Santangeli Valenzani, “Intra-mural burials at Rome
between the fifth and seventh centuries AD,” in Burial, Society, and
Context in the Roman World (2000), 263-269 [PDF]
 M. Costambeys, “Burial Topography and the Power of the Church in
Fifth- and Sixth-Century Rome,” PBSR 69 (2001) [PDF]
Week 12: Student Presentations
Tuesday (11/24): Student/Group Presentations
Thursday: NO CLASS (THANKSGIVING BREAK)
Week 13: Student Presentations
Tuesday (12/1): Student/Group Presentations
Thursday (12/3): Student/Group Presentations
Week 14
NO CLASSES (READING PERIOD)
Week 15
EXAM WEEK