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 profound political, administrative and religious upheavals that involved the Roman Empire from the end of the third century also had consequences on the level of residential architecture: the establishment of the Tetrarchy determined the creation of new residences in the cities (Milan, Nicomedia, Thessalonica , Trier, Constantinople etc.) chosen as imperial seats by the Augusti and Cesari; senators and members of the aristocratic class built, in urban or suburban areas, palaces and villas which, for luxury and magnificence, were no less than imperial foundations; the Christian church, which became religio licita, extended its administrative network over the cities with articulated episcopal complexes equipped with a palace for the bishop. The aim of the course is to examine this wide range of "dwellings of the potentiores", highlighting its persistences and peculiarities of the planimetric, architectural and decorative solutions, in a path that will touch all the regions around the Mediterranean and in a time span that from the last centuries of the western Roman empire will reach the Omayyade dynasty (660-750) which, with its 'desert castles', will be the protagonist of a last extraordinary season of late ancient residential architecture.

• Introduction: Greek and Roman residential buildings

• Housing in the late antiquity: the example of Rome

• Housing in the late antiquity in the other metropolises of the empire: Constantinople, Antioch

• The villas of potentiores in Late Antiquity in southern Italy: Piazza Armerina; villa del Tellaro, Faragola

• The villas of potentiores in Late Antiquity in Spain: Cercadilla, Centcelles, Olmedo

• The seats of power in the tetrarchic age. The imperial residences in the West: Milan, Trier.

• The seats of power in the tetrarchic age. The imperial residences in the East: Nicomedia, Thessalonica, Antioch

• Diocletian's palace in Split

• The new imperial palaces in Rome: Sessorium and Villa of Maxentius on the Appian Way

• The Great Palace of Constantinople

• The Lateran Patriarch and the episcopal palaces

• Residences of power in the suburbs of the empire: the Palatium of Ravenna; the palace of the dux Ripae in Dura Europos; Qasr ibn Wardan

• The so-called 'desert castles'. Proto-Islamic residential architecture in Bilad al Sham

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

Course books

A. Marcone, Tarda Antichità- Profilo storico e prospettive storiografiche, Roma Carocci 2020

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 verifying the learning of the study texts; the test will use, through the use of slides projected on the computer, the images contained in the textbooks and power points shown during the lessons.

In order to deserve a sufficient evaluation in the assessment, the student must demonstrate that he has at least assimilated the basic concepts and notions contained in the exam preparation texts and explained in the lessons; rewarding elements for a very good or excellent evaluation will be: the ability to correlate certain components of the program with each other; the demonstration of having understood the different interpretations proposed by scholars regarding specific critical issues; the maturity in knowing how to exercise one's own evaluation with respect to the various problems raised, also drawing on the skills acquired in previous preparation; finally, mastery in the use of specific language and terminology most appropriate to the context.

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. Marcone, Tarda Antichità- Profilo storico e prospettive storiografiche, Roma Carocci 2020
M. David, Archeologia della tarda Antichità, Milano Mondadori 2021.

Assessment

The exam will consist of an oral test based on verifying the learning of the study texts; the test will use, through the use of slides projected on the computer, the images contained in the textbooks.

In order to deserve a sufficient evaluation in the assessment, the student must demonstrate that he has at least assimilated the basic concepts and notions contained in the exam preparation texts; rewarding elements for a very good or excellent evaluation will be: the ability to correlate certain components of the program with each other; the demonstration of having understood the different interpretations proposed by scholars regarding specific critical issues; the maturity in knowing how to exercise one's own evaluation with respect to the various problems raised, also drawing on the skills acquired in previous preparation; finally, mastery in the use of specific language and terminology most appropriate to the context.

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.