CLAS 306 Death, Art and the Afterlife
This course will explore Greek and Roman conceptions of death and afterlife, and their expression in funerary art and architecture from the early Archaic period through Late Antiquity. The course will examine rituals such as cremation, inhumation, funerary processions and other mourning and commemorative practices, as well as various types of burial markers and monuments, including stelai, urns, ossuaries, sarcophagi, catacomb paintings, and chamber tombs. Decorative imagery, inscriptions, and tomb structures will be studied from various perspectives as indicators of social status and cultural identity, gender and family structure, and beliefs about the afterlife. The dynamic effects of cross-cultural influence in Hellenistic Asia Minor and Roman Egypt will be investigated, as will the enduring impact of these ancient cosmologies and art forms on later cults and cultures, including Christianity in the later Roman period.