Roman Period

Specific Foundation / Core

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

Teaching Results At the end of the course the students must be able to discern the products of the Attic workshop from that of Macedonia, to date them, to recognize their category, to apply the appropriate analytical method, to interpret the scenes and to understand their functions. Τhe students must be able to identify the portraits of the most important emperors and their families, to date private portraits which follow the imperial ones, to understand the stylistic changes in the different provinces and finally to realize the function of these art works in the different commemorative spaces.

The seminar will deal with the Roman period sculpture in Greece, focusing mostly on the production of two centers a) Athens and b) Thessaloniki Issues such as • The different workshops and their production • The different categories of sculpture • Their distribution across the empire • Their function in the public and private space • Their commissioners and their different purposes will all be examined during the course As defined by the programs targets, special emphasis will be given to discussion aiming in that way to initiate the participants in a more active role. At the same time specialists will be invited in order to present topics – issues relevant to the courses theme. 1st week Getting familiar with the audience. This will happen through a written exercise and later a discussion, which will revolve around two portraits, the one bearing idealistic and the other naturalistic-realistic features. 2nd week Discussion will follow the reading of two articles (bibl. No.1 and 2) referring to the artistic production of Athens from the late Hellenistic/ Early Republican period to late antiquity. Special emphasis will be given to terminology (i.e. classicism, eclecticism) but also on the contribution of Athens in the development of the art of the Roman Empire. References will be made to the history of the research of Roman sculpture in Greece. 3d week Visit to the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Study of the imported scultutre from Attica, especially the sarcophagi (in relation to the articles bibl. 4 & 5). The Attic sarchophagi as luxurious sepulchral monuments and their distribution in the Roman Empire, especially their numerous presence in Thessaloniki. A research approach to the sarcophagus with the sea battle scene (bibl. No. 6) 4th week Greek portraits of the Roman imperial period. Their dependence from the Roman models and their particularities (special features). Different interpretation problems of the imperial portraiture. The portrait of the younger Faustina (bibl. No.8) and the female portrait from the Odeion of Thessaloniki (bibl. No.6 and 9) 5th week Introduction to the sculpture of Macedonia during the Roman period. Discussion in relation to the articles 10 -11. Appearance, influences and special features. Attic and Asia Minor imports. 6th week The workshop of Beroia. The Hellenistic origins and the influence in the funerary art of the Roman period Macedonia. Discussion in relation to the articles (bibl. No.12) 7th week Thessaloniki and its artistic production I. Discussion which will revolve around art products (sculpture) of traditional character. The dependence and differences from the production of Beroia. Funerary stelae and reliefs without frame. Discussion in relation to the Catalogue of Sculpture of the Archaeological Museum if Thessaloniki. (bibl. No.6) 8th week Thessaloniki and its artistic production II. Large scale funerary reliefs. Discussion in relation to the Catalogue of Sculpture of the Archaeological Museum if Thessaloniki. (bibl. Articles no. 6 and 13) 9th week Thessaloniki and its artistic production III. Round shaped reliefs (tondi) with family portraits, a unusual category of sculpture. Discussion in relation to the Catalogue of Sculpture of the Archaeological Museum if Thessaloniki. (bibl. Articles no. 6 and 14) 10th week Visit to the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and discussion about the Macedonian sculpture and its differences from the Attic sculpture. 11th week Dr. Eleni Papagianni, appointed lecturer of the Department will present the subject ‘Imitations of attic sarcophagoi in Greek workshops outside Attica’ and will discuss all the related questions and problems. (bibl. No.15) 12th week Dr. Natalie Kazakidi will present the subject “Honorific statues from their appearance to the Roman period” and will discuss all the related questions and problems. (bibl. No.16)

Sculpture workshops, Athens, Thessalonike, Beroia, portraits, reliefs, sarcophagi, grave monuments, classicism

03-12-2013