Romans designed the best houses, full of mosaics and frescoes, fountains and pools, sunlight and air. This course will teach you how to live in an ancient Roman home: where to put the dining room, what to plant in your garden, and how to hold a meeting in your office. We will analyze apartments at Italian Ostia, townhouses at Pompeii, villas around the Bay of Naples, and palaces in Rome. We will consider what mosaics can tell us about the empire’s networks of cultural exchange, we will compare house plans in the flourishing provinces, and we will survey the palaces that emperors built in their hometowns.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 25

Prerequisites: None. Prior college-level coursework in Art History, Architecture, or Classical Studies recommended

Instructor: Cassibry

Distribution Requirements: ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered

Notes: ARTH 242 focuses on domestic architecture, ARTH 243 focuses on public architecture.