Παρουσίαση/Προβολή

Course Syllabus

Spring 2025

Module: Greek Art: Images and Meanings

Instructor: Adjunct lecturer Nicholas Harokopos (nickchar@arch.uoa.gr)

Addressed

This course is addressed to 2nd year students with some basic background in archaeology, Greek history, and classics.

Description/Objectives

This course surveys the methods for approaching, analyzing and contextualizing pictorial representation in Greek art, particularly during the Archaic and Classical periods (7th to 4th centuries BC). Carefully selected examples and case studies will be used to demonstrate how to "read" and interpret the themes and narratives in Greek visual culture, and how to reconstruct the context in which the pictorial media were disseminated, used and/or reused, and even destroyed or discarded. The course explores a variety of media on both larger and smaller scales, including sculpture, pottery, painting, terracotta, and metalwork. It also provides an important background study of Greek myths based on their visual representations and their literary narrations, particularly in epic and tragedy. Moreover, it addresses broader cultural questions by touching upon topics such as identity, gender, and relationships with surrounding cultures.

The introductory lectures present fundamental aspects and idiosyncrasies of Greek pictorial representation, and offer an overview of important methodological tools for their study, as well as a concise and critical assessment of influential interpretative approaches. The following lectures survey how narrative is constructed and communicated, by taking an interdisciplinary approach based on contemporary interpretative modes, while the beginnings of narrative in the Early Iron Age are also examined. The various parameters of the viewer’s interaction with the images are explored through notable case studies with composite pictorial program such as the Treasury of the Siphnians in Delphi and the Parthenon. Other lectures explore visual constructions of various important areas and trends of Greek culture such as the emphasis on naturalism, dance and theatre, the religious sphere, as well as some notable cases deviating from the classical ideal.  

Requirements and assessment

Students are required to attend all classes. Attendance is taken at each class. Students are expected to take an active role by participating in class discussions.

Assessment for this course is based on a midterm test (on material taught in classes 1-5) and a written final exam at the end of the semester. A successful midterm will count towards 10% of your final grade in this module.

Course textbooks

M. Stansbury-O' Donell. Pictorial Narrative in Ancient Greek Art. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 

— Looking at Greek Art. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.