The course aims to present, in their historical and cultural context, the most significant artistic expressions of a hinge period between classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages for which the historiography of the last century coined the term of Late Antiquity and whose chronological and geographical areas are still the subject of debate and comparison among scholars.

However, it is an era extremely rich in political (the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire; the birth of the Eastern Roman Empire; the affirmation of Islam), religious (the ever-increasing spread of Christianity and its relationship with the persistence of cults and traditions linked to the pagan heritage) and cultural ferments (the meeting between the tradition of classical culture and the new demands that manifested themselves in society), which did not fail to leave a sign in the artistic production of all territories involved, whose common denominator was their economic and cultural relationship with the Mediterranean Sea.

The rich papyrological documentation that has come down to us has made Egypt a privileged observatory to learn about the economic, social, cultural and religious dynamics of this territory in the late ancient era. it's not by chance that a seminal study of a quarter of a century ago (Egypt in Late Antiquity) is due to the papyrologist Robert Bagnall. In this course, referring also to these evidences, but above all by questioning the monuments and the artistic production, we will try to focus on the different facets of this fascinating world, where the great religious tradition of Pharaonic Egypt still persisted, where the light of the classical culture of Alexandria still shone (like the lighthouse that was its symbol), but also where the ferments of the new Christian religion stirred. Christianity confronted itself, sometimes even in a heated way, with the pagan tradition and, on an exquisitely art historical level, contributed to profoundly reshape the architectural and monumental panorama of the region, with a rich harvest of episcopal churches, monasteries and pilgrimage shrines, where workshops of sculptors and painters with a strong local accent worked, albeit in relation to the other artistic modes circulating in the Mediterranean.

At the same time, attention will be paid to the phenomenon of Egyptomania, that is, to that fascination for the symbolic and representative content of the valuable materials and artifacts of Ancient Egypt. Egyptomania, already matured from the late Republican age, will be expressed in Late Antiquity through specific aristocratic patronage in Rome, Constantinople and other centers of the empire.

The main case studies and topics of the course include:

- Cultural and artistic relations between Rome and Egypt in the late republican and early imperial ages

- The economic role of Egypt in the late antiquity: wheat and valuable marbles for Rome and Constantinople

- The egyptizing decorations of Diocletian's palace in Split

- The imperial statuary in red porphyry

- Obelisks in exile: the hyppodromes of Rome and Constantinople

 - Rediscovery and revaluation of Coptic art in historiography and the art market between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

- Alexandria in Late Antiquity: topography and monuments

- The chapel for the imperial cult in the Luxor temple and its paintings

- The Bawit monastery and the painted program of its chapels

- White and Red Monasteries at Sohag

- imperial patronage in Egypt: the Theotokos monastery (now St. Catherine) at Sinai

- Textile production in Coptic Egypt between mythological and Christian themes

- Panel painting: from portraits of Fayyum to the icon of Abbot Mena

- Ivories of the so called Grado Chair

- The palimpsest of paintings at the monastery of Deir al-Surian: problems of chronologìy and style

- Religious and civil architecture of the early islamic age

The student will have to demonstrate basic knowledge regarding the chronological articulation of the different stages of artistic production in Late Antiquity and of the main characteristics of the various stylistic currents thanks to a correct reading and understanding of the textbooks;

must be able to apply the knowledge acquired in such a way as to be able, through appropriate arguments, to compare and possibly correlate monuments and artefacts of different geographic, chronological or client areas;

must demonstrate the ability to develop independent judgments with respect to controversial issues from an attribution or chronological point of view, through the collection and critical examination of the data deemed useful;

will have to demonstrate autonomy and display effectiveness in communicating the notions and concepts assimilated during the lessons and in the study;

will have to refine those learning skills necessary to undertake the study of artistic production subsequent to Late antiquity.
 

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

Frontal lessons

Interdisciplinary didactics. In order to promote a specialized learning through the comparison among different scientific-disciplinary fields, some lessons will be associated to the following courses:

Archaeology and History of Greek and Roman Art II (Prof.ssa Anna Santucci https://www.uniurb.it/syllabi/257655)

Course books

A. Cameron, Storia dell’età tardoantica, Milano Jaca Book 1992.

.A collection of essays relating to the topics covered in the lessons will be made available to students on the Moodle platform

Assessment

The exam will consist of an oral test based on the verification of the learning of the study text; in the test will be used the images contained in the textbook and the power points shown during the lessons. These power points will be made available by the teacher by uploading them to the Moodle platform›blended.uniurb.it where students can freely consult and download them.

In the course of the assessment, the student, to merit a sufficient evaluation, will have to demonstrate that he has assimilated the fundamental concepts and notions; rewarding elements for a higher evaluation will be the ability to link together certain components of the program, to understand the different readings proposed by scholars regarding specific critical nodes, to know how to exercise their own evaluation with respect to the various problems raised, to finally demonstrate mastery in the use of specific language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Individual study

Course books

A. Cameron, Storia dell’età tardoantica, Milano Jaca Book 1992.

A. Iacobini, Visioni dipinte. Immagini della contemplazione negli afffeschi di Bawit, Roma 2000

Assessment

The exam will consist of an oral test based on the verification of the learning of the study texts; in the test the images contained in the textbooks will be used.

In the course of the assessment, the student, to merit a sufficient evaluation, will have to demonstrate that he has assimilated the fundamental concepts and notions; rewarding elements for a higher evaluation will be the ability to link together certain components of the program, to understand the different readings proposed by scholars regarding specific critical nodes, to know how to exercise their own evaluation with respect to the various problems raised, to finally demonstrate mastery in the use of specific language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Interdisciplinary teaching: some lessons of the course will be carried out jointly with the teacher of Archaeology and History of Greek and Roman Art II (Prof. Anna Santucci: here will be the link with the relevant vademecum sheet), to enhance the dynamics of learning through the effective comparison between different specialist knowledge.