090029 VO Roman Visual Culture and the Hellenistic Greek World (2025S)

The literature on the reading list and the lectures + slides are exam materials. The questions of the exam are based on the four units of the course:

Unit 1: Rome and the Hellenistic world
The development of Roman visual culture during the Republican period in contact with the Hellenistic world (Lectures 1–3). Students are expected to understand Rome's gradual cultural intertwining with its neighbors (both peaceful and through conquest).

Unit 2: The visual toolbox
This unit focuses on visual tropes in Roman art (Lectures 4–6). Students are expected to demonstrate basic knowledge of key elements in depictions of humans, flora and fauna, as well as their antecedents. The unit includes an understanding of polychromy and Graeco-Roman ideas of naturalistic representation.

Unit 3: Genres in Roman visual culture
The third unit deals with genres within Roman visual culture such as pastoral scenes (Arcadian and Egyptian landscapes), still life, religious settings (sanctuaries and sacrifices), gardens and representations of architecture, mythological and historical scenes (Lectures 7–11). Students are expected to be able to visually analyse a selection of ancient images; identify the genre and the individual elements of the composition; and place it in its Roman cultural context.

Unit 4: The art of building
The final unit covers Roman architecture and its dependence on Hellenistic building types and construction techniques (12–14). Students are expected to have a basic understanding of the origin, style and use of common types of buildings such as houses, basilicas and public baths, and their development during the High Empire.