ART H 342 A: Roman Art and Archaeology

Autumn 2025
View in MyPlan View in Time Schedule
Meeting:
MWF 1:00pm - 2:20pm / ART 229
SLN:
10577
Section Type:
Lecture
Joint Sections:
CL AR 342 A
Instructor:
Syllabus Description (from Canvas):

ARTH/CLAR 342: Roman Art and Archaeology

5 credits

Fall 2025

MWF 1-2:20pm

ART 229

 

Prof. Levin-Richardson (you can call me Professor Levin-Richardson, Professor L-R, or just Professor)

Pronouns: she/her/hers

sarahlr@uw.edu

Office Hours: Mondays 2:30-3:20pm and Wednesdays 10:30-11:20am (Zoom option available, too—please email me in advance so I can set it up); and by appointment

Office: Denny 227; enter the main doors of Denny, pass the water fountain and elevator, and it’s the first office on the left

 

Description

This class explores the art, architecture, and archaeology of the ancient Romans and those living under Roman colonization from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century CE. From monuments created by women and enslaved individuals, to the public structures of the city of Rome (such as the Colosseum and the Pantheon), to the local art that persisted in Roman-occupied Britain, Egypt, Libya, Spain, and Syria, this class pays particular attention to how identities were created through art and architecture.

 

Learning Objectives

  1. Be able to identify and correctly apply art-historical terminology and concepts
  2. Be able to situate Roman art and architecture within its geographic context
  3. Be able to discuss Roman art, architecture, and archaeology within its geographical, historical, and social/cultural context
  4. Be able to analyze and discuss the intersection of Roman art, architecture, and archaeology with power and various types of identities

 

Supporting your learning and well being

I will post powerpoints and record all lectures. If you know of something that might affect your learning (technology problems; health or family crisis; religious observance) please contact me as soon as possible, ideally at the beginning of the quarter, so that I can try to find ways to support you. Below you can find further resources:

  • UW Food Pantry: https://www.washington.edu/anyhungryhusky/the-uw-food-pantry/
  • Department of Classics Undergraduate Textbook fund (for majors and minors in Classics): https://classics.washington.edu/undergraduate-textbook-fund
  • Disability Resources for Students: http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/
    • If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.
    • If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to: mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at uwdrs@uw.edu or uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.
  • Religious Accommodations:
    • Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy . Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form .

 

Required Readings

The required textbook (called Fullerton on the schedule of readings below) is listed below. A digital version can be rented from the publisher for around $54 plus tax; print copies can be purchased from the U bookstore (https://www.ubookstore.com/) for around $123 plus tax. There will be a copy on reserve in Odegaard for anyone to read, scan, or consult. Classics majors and minors are eligible for the Department of Classics Undergraduate Textbook fund. Other required readings can be found on the course website.

 

Fullerton, Mark. 2019. Roman Art & Archaeology: 753 BCE to 337 CE. Thames & Hudson.

 

Each lecture in the schedule below has one or more readings to be read in advance of that class session. For the second class, for example, please have read the Talbot article and assigned selections from Koch and Koch-Brinkmann (both in the week 1 folder) before coming to class. These readings are a starting point for class lectures, which often will expand upon the assigned readings and/or present new material. Thus, I strongly recommend careful reading of the assigned material as well as attending class.

 

Assignments and Grading

AI/Chat GPT is not allowed for any assignment, including studying for or taking quizzes/exams/assignments. Use of AI/Chat GPT will be considered an academic integrity violation and be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.

 

  • Canvas Quizzes: see schedule below. The lowest three quizzes will be dropped. 30%
  • Exam 1: Friday October 31, in-person during class time. Covers readings, lectures, and other class material from Week 1 W – Week 6 W. 30%
  • Exam 2: Monday Dec 8, 2:30-4:20pm. Covers readings, lectures, and other class material from Week 7 M-Week 11 F. 30%
  • Reaction/Response: Submit on Canvas by 11:59 pm on Friday December 5. Covers readings, lectures, and other class material from the whole course. 10%

 

Canvas quizzes (multiple choice and true/false) will assess the vocabulary/terminology from a particular class session (see learning objective 1 above). Exams will assess your knowledge of geography (learning objective 2 above) and ask you to analyze Roman art and architecture in its historical, cultural, and social contexts (learning objective 3 above). The final assignment asks you, in whatever medium you prefer (writing, visual art, audio clip, etc.), to engage with four examples from class of identity being created through art and architecture (learning objective 4 above). More information about each assignment will be posted in advance on Canvas.

 

Your final course grade is calculated from these assignments in the proportions given. Please prepare carefully for these assignments and please contact me in advance if you have any questions about how to best prepare. There is no extra credit.

 

Further Expectations

  • Illness
    • Keep yourself and the rest of our community healthy! If you are feeling unwell, please stay home until you are better (no need to email me unless you are missing an exam; since each student is allowed to drop 3 quizzes, no make-up quizzes will be given).
    • UW’s current mask recommendations are as follows:
      • Masks are strongly recommended when resuming normal activities after having COVID-19 or another respiratory illness, indoors when around others, for the next five days.
      • Masks are strongly recommended after COVID-19 exposure,indoors when around others, until five days have passed from when you were exposed. In addition, follow the Public Health Flowchart for COVID-19 and Respiratory Virus Symptoms.
    • Free masks are available at the information and circulation desks at Suzzalo Library
  • No recording, photographing, posting, or distributing of course materials of any kind is permitted without my written authorization.
  • Getting in touch with each other
    • Please check Canvas and your UW email daily; this is how I will communicate with you about pertinent information. You are responsible for all information disseminated over email and through the course website, in addition to information discussed in class.
    • I’m available in office hours for you! If you are anxious about assignments, please set up a time well in advance of the assignment or exam so we can discuss strategies. I’m also happy to chat about any other class-related concerns you have, or study abroad opportunities, how to follow your interest in archaeology or ancient history, etc. I am happy to answer questions over email, but please check the syllabus first to see whether the answer is there.
    • I will respond to emails by the end of the next working day (which means that if you email me on Friday afternoon, I may not respond until Monday afternoon).
  • Grading
    • Students are expected to adhere to ethical behavior in their work, including following guidelines posted for each assignment concerning group work and plagiarism/cheating. AI/Chat GPT is not allowed for any assignment, including studying for or taking quizzes/exams/assignments. Use of AI/Chat GPT will be considered an academic integrity violation and be reported to the Office of Student Conduct. Failure to adhere to these policies will be considered an academic integrity violation and can be reported to the Office of Student Conduct, and you might receive a zero on the assignment. If you have any questions about what is or is not allowable for an assignment, I’d be more than happy to clarify!
    • I’d be happy to discuss any of your graded work with you, but I ask that you wait twenty-four hours after receiving your assignment back in order to begin to process my feedback. After the twenty-four-hour period, please feel free to email me to set up a time for a meeting. Due to University policy, I cannot discuss grades over email.

 

Schedule of Topics and Required Readings

Week 1: The Mediterranean from 1000-500 BCE

W September 24: Introduction

F September 26: The Greeks and Italy [practice quiz available on this day's vocab]

  • Margaret Talbot. “The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture.” New Yorker. October 29 2018. (Week 1 folder)
  • Selections (see at end of entry) of: Brinkmann, Vinzenz, and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann. 2017. “On the Polychromy of Ancient Sculpture.” In Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Pp. 26-51. (Week 1 folder; read pp. 26-28 (stop before the section on “Archaic and Early Classical Periods”), skim through images on pp. 28-46, and read pp. 47 (beginning with section on “Hellenism: Looking Ahead to the Roman Imperial Period”-end]

 

Week 2: The Mediterranean from 1000-500 BCE

M September 29: The Etruscans and Italy

  • Selections of Fullerton 20-33 (skip “Romulus’s Rome” on p. 22, and stop before section on “The François Tomb at Vulci” on p. 33), 36-37 (start with section on “Etruscan Sculpture;” stop at end of p. 37 before “During Classical and Hellenistic times”), 46 (box on “Terracotta Sculpture”)

W October 1: NO CLASS (PROF. L-R GIVING TALK AT OXFORD); DO HOMEWORK AND WATCH PANTOPO ON: The Phoenicians and Italy

  • Doak, Brian R. and Carolina López-Ruiz. 2019. “Introduction.” The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, ed. Brian R. Doak and Carolina López-Ruiz Oxford. (week 2 folder; or access e-book through UW Libraries)
  • Hayne, Jeremy Mark. 2019. “The Italian Peninsula.” The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, ed. Brian R. Doak and Carolina López-Ruiz Oxford. (week 2 folder; week 2 folder; or access e-book through UW Libraries)

F October 3: NO CLASS (PROF. L-R GIVING TALK AT OXFORD)

 

Week 3: Art, Architecture and Identities during the Roman Republic

M October 6: Roman Regal Period and transition to Republic.

  • Selections of Fullerton 18-19, 22 (the box on “Romulus’s Rome), 44-47 (stop before section “The Legacy of Etruscan Art”)
  • Selections (see at end of entry) of: Torelli, Mario. 2006. “The Topography and Archaeology of Republican Rome,” in A Companion to the Roman Republic, eds. N. Rosenstein and R. Morestein-Marx. Blackwell. 81-101. (week 3 folder or access e-book through UW Libraries; read only pages 81-84 (stop before the heading “The Patrician Republic”); 88 (beginning with paragraph “The ruling class of the mid-Republic…”)-94 (stop before heading “Luxuria Asiatica”))

W October 8: Public Art during the Republic. QUIZ 1 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 3 M)

  • Fullerton 48-73

F October 10: Art of the Household during the Republic. QUIZ 2 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab

from Week 3 W)

  • Fullerton 74-99

 

Week 4: From Republic to Empire

M October 13: From Republic to Empire. QUIZ 3 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 3 F)

  • Fullerton 100-125

W October 15: Culture contact; Etruscans during the Roman Republic. QUIZ 4 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 4 M)

  • Selections (see at end of entry) of: Versluys, Miguel John. 2013. “Material Culture and Identity in the Late Roman Republic ( 200–c. 20),” in Companion to the Archaeology of the Roman Republic, ed. J. D. Evans. Blackwell. 429-440. (week 4 folder or access e-book through UW Libraries; read only sections 2, 3; and 6: pages 431-432; 436-438)
  • Selections of Fullerton 33-36 (“The François Tomb at Vulci”), 37-43 (starting with “During Classical and Hellenistic times”), 47 (section beginning “The Legacy of Etruscan Art”)

F October 17: Augustus. QUIZ 5 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 4 W)

  • Fullerton 128-151

 

Week 5: Art, Architecture, and Identities during the Early Empire

M October 20: The Flavians. QUIZ 6 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 4 F)

  • Fullerton 168-176 (stop before "Cancelleria Reliefs")
  • Fullerton 178-183 (stop before section on "Domus Flavia")
  • Fullerton 194-203 (start with paragraph beginning “This entire area…”)

W October 22: The Art and Archaeology of Sexuality. QUIZ 7 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 5 M)

  • Selections (see at end of entry) of Beard, Mary. 2008. The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found. Belknap. (week 5 folder; read section on "Visiting the Brothel")
  • Selections (see at end of entry) of Åshede, Linnea. 2020. “Neutrumque et Utrumque Videntur: Reappraising the Gender Role(s) of Hermaphroditus in Ancient Art.” In Exploring Gender Diversity in the Ancient World, ed. Allison Surtees and Jennifer Dyer. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Pp. 81-94. (week 5 folder or access e-book through UW Libraries; skip section on "What Posthumanism has to offer" on  p. 83)

F October 24: Provincial and Private Art in the Early Empire. QUIZ 8 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 5 W)

  • Fullerton 204-231

 

Week 6: Art, Architecture, and Identities during the Empire

M October 27: Black Individuals in Roman Art. QUIZ 9 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 5 F)

  • Sarah Derbew. “An Investigation of Black Figures in Classical Greek Art.” The Iris. April 25 2018. http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/an-investigation-of-black-figures-in-classical-greek-art/
  • Excerpts from Snowden, Frank M., Jr. 2010 [1976]. “Iconographical Evidence on the Black Populations in Greco-Roman Antiquity.” In The Image of the Black in Western Art: From the Pharaohs to the Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates Jr. New Edition. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. (week 6 folder)

W October 29: Review

F October 31: Midterm (in person): Art, Architecture, and Identities through the Early Empire

 

Week 7: Art, Architecture, and Identities during the High Empire

M November 3: Trajan

  • Fullerton 234-259

W November 5: Hadrian and Antonines. QUIZ 10 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 7 M)

  • Fullerton 260-286

F November 7: Provincial Art during the High Empire. QUIZ 11 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 7 W)

  • Selections from Fullerton 286-300, 304 (starting with the section on “Hadrian’s Wall and the “Limits of Empire”)-310 (stop before section on Funerary Art and Sarcophagi)

 

Week 8: Art, Architecture, and Identities during the High Empire

M November 10: Northwest Provinces. QUIZ 12 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 7 F)

  • Selections (see at end of entry) of: Hingley, Richard. 2012. “Exploitation and Assimilation: The Western Roman Empire from Augustus to Trajan.” In A Companion to Roman Imperialism. Brill. 265-276. (week 8 folder or access e-book through UW Libraries; read sections 4-5)
  • Chimirri-Russell, Geraldine. 2008. “Taking an Oblique Point of View: The Challenges of Interpretation and Display in Museums.” The International Journal of the Humanities 5: 115-126. (week 8 folder)

W November 12: Rome and Egypt. QUIZ 13 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 8 M)

  • Riggs, Christina. 2018. “Art and Identity in Roman Egypt.” In Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World, Jeffery Spier, Timothy Potts, and Sarah E. Cole. Los Angles: J. Paul Getty Museum. Pp. 218-223. (week 8 folder)
  • Selections (see at end of entry) of: Beyond the Nile (week 8 folder; catalogue entries 138-146)

F November 14: Slavery. QUIZ 14 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 8 W)

  • Lenski, Noel. 2013. “Working Models: Functional Art and Roman Conceptions

of Slavery,” in Roman Slavery and Roman Material Culture, ed. M. George. University of

Toronto Press. 130-157. (week 8 folder or access e-book online through UW Libraries)

 

Week 9: Art, Architecture, and Identities in the Late Empire

M November 17: Severans. QUIZ 15 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 8 F)

  • Fullerton 316-341

W November 19: Soldier Emperors and the Tetrarchy. QUIZ 16 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 9 M)

  • Fullerton 342-365

F November 21: Children. QUIZ 17 DUE BY CLASS TIME (on vocab from Week 9 W)

  • Huntley, Katherine. 2011. “Identifying Children’s Graffiti in Roman Campania,” in Ancient Graffiti in Context, eds. J.A. Baird and Claire Taylor, Routledge. 69-89. (week 7 folder or access e-book through UW Libraries; read pages 73-76 (the section on “A Developmental Psychological approach”) and pages 78-79 (section on “The Graffiti of Ancient Campanian Children” and “The Distribution of Children’s Graffiti”))
  • Reading TBD

 

Week 10: Religion in the Late Empire

M November 24: Dura Europos

  • Reading TBD

W November 26: NO CLASS (THANKSGIVING)

F November 28: NO CLASS (THANKSGIVING)

 

Week 11: Late Antiquity; Legacies

M December 1: Constantine

  • Fullerton 366-381

W December 3: Fascist Appropriations of the Roman Past.

  • Gessert, Genevieve. 2014. “Ideological Applications: Roman Architecture and Fascist Romanità,” in A Companion to Roman Architecture, ed. R. B. Ulrich and C. K. Quenemoen. Blackwell. 426-445.) (week 11 folder or access e-book online through UW Libraries)

F December 5: Review; Reaction/Response due at 11:59 pm via uploading to Canvas

 

Exam 2: Monday Dec 8, 2:30-4:20pm, ART 229

 

 

 

 

The grading scale used in this class is as follows

Grade Scale Conversion

Percentage Earned 

Grade-Point Equivalent

100-96

4.0

95

3.9

94

3.8

93

3.7

92-91

3.6

90

3.5

89-88

3.4

87

3.3

86

3.2

85

3.1

84

3.0

83

2.9

82

2.8

81

2.7

80

2.6

79

2.5

78

2.4

77

2.3

76

2.2

75

2.1

74

2.0

73

1.9

72

1.8

71

1.7

70

1.6

69

1.5

68

1.4

67

1.3

66

1.2

65

1.1

64

1.0

63

0.9

62-61

0.8

60

0.7 [lowest passing grade]

59 and x < 59

0.0

 

Catalog Description:
Roman architecture and art, with emphasis on the innovations of the Romans; illustrated by slides. Offered: jointly with CL AR 342.
GE Requirements Met:
Arts and Humanities (A&H)
Credits:
5.0
Status:
Active
Last updated:
September 30, 2025 - 2:17 am