This course surveys the art and architecture of the Mediterranean world from the rise of Christianity within the Roman Empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries to the fall of the Byzantine empire to the Turks in 1453. It is an exciting period which sees the formation of a distinctly Christian art and architecture drawing upon the religious traditions of Judaism and pagan Rome on one hand, and that of imperial rulership on the other. Our period witnesses the invention of the parchment codex–the ancestor of the modern book–the creation of vast domed spaces for worship on an unprecedented scale, and the innovation of a distinctive portrait form still prevalent in the religious culture of Russia and much of Europe: the icon. We will focus first on the city of Rome (between second and fourth centuries) and then on the Byzantine or East Roman Empire centered at Constantinople. Amongst the high points of the course are the catacombs of Rome, the mosaics of Ravenna, the architecture of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the mosaics and Pala d’Oro of Saint Mark’s in Venice. Particular emphasis will be placed on the theory and function of icons or holy images, the use of art to project imperial ideology, the relationship between written texts and pictorial narrative, the relationship between art/architecture and ritual, and the appropriation of Byzantine forms and iconography for ideological purposes outside the empire–especially in Italy and the Russia.

Course Goals:

Like the art of other cultures, Early Christian and Byzantine art constitute a pictorial language or “iconography” designed to convey their society’s essential beliefs–religious, social and political. The primary aim of this course is to help you comprehend that language, to understand its changing forms and functions and the power that it exercised upon the beholder at the time it was created. Exams will test you not only on your ability to identify works of art and architecture but also to analyze them in terms of their meaning and appropriate functional contexts. Assignments are formulated to reinforce the tools of iconographical analysis introduced in class and to help you read more critically.

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