Module CLAS3711: Pompeii & Herculaneum: Rediscovery & Reconstruction

Department: Classics and Ancient History

CLAS3711: Pompeii & Herculaneum: Rediscovery & Reconstruction

Prerequisites

• CLAS1301 or CLAS1721 or CLAS2631 or CLAS2811

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To promote students' understanding of several of the most important sites for our knowledge of Roman art and society; to broaden students' familiarity with the reception of those monuments in the modern period; to increase students' ability to develop an integrated understanding of Roman art in its societal context; to improve students' skills in working with and evaluating visual evidence.

Content

• The subject of this module is the material culture of the buried cities of Vesuvius, as approached via the history of their rediscovery. This module is structured in an innovative way: it is not a collection of themes, or the history of the cities themselves, which is dependent upon uncertain evidence and in which the final decades must occupy a disproportionate space. Rather, we will trace the discovery first of Herculaneum, then of Pompeii, and then of the progressive excavation of both. This is not, therefore, a module on archaeology or on the reception of the cities of Vesuvius in modern European culture, although naturally aspects of both topics will feature in our discussions. Rather, the story of the rediscovery and reception of those buried cities will provide us with a historically contextualised view of the sites as they stand today. Pompeii and Herculaneum have, for much of their modern history, been in a state of disrepair and news reports frequently attest to their continuing collapse. To go beyond the current appearance of the buildings and public areas and discover what they looked like when they were first discovered, we need to look at the original documentation, in the form of historic books and manuscripts documenting the original state of the excavations, which have been digitized and put online. As we look at each building and feature, we will combine modern interpretive methodologies with digital versions of historic evidence.

Learning Outcomes

• Broad knowledge of the main features of the urban fabric of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
• Understanding of the main features of Roman art and architecture as attested in these sites.
• Detailed knowledge of the history of the excavation, study and dissemination of these sites and a general familiarity with its impact on European culture.

• An ability to use a complex range of textual and visual evidence to reconstruct ancient monuments.
• An ability to engage critically with the full range of evidence for Roman art and architecture and with the secondary literature on it.
• Reflective awareness of the nature of Roman art and architecture in its social context.

• An ability to present a well-researched, well-articulated, and well-balanced account of diverse evidence.
• An ability to reconstruct a monument from evidence that is imperfect, biased, or indirect.
• An ability to present visual evidence in an effective manner.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• • Lectures form the core of the module, and are used to provide factual information as background pertaining to both the ancient city and its modern excavation. Corresponding to knowledge of this broad, contextual element is summative assessment examination component. Lectures are delivered across Michaelmas and Epiphany term and normally include two revision lectures in Easter term.
• • Seminars are used to give models for interpretative procedures in the interpretation of evidence and to provide an opportunity for students to practice manipulation and analysis of evidence and an opportunity to talk through areas of difficulty. These skills in performing a reconstruction and analysis of a particular monument will be assessed in the summative coursework project.
• • The coursework project can explore any aspect of Pompeii or another Vesuvian site. The reconstruction should be informed by Primary Sources (i.e. archaeological plans, ancient paintings or finds, maps, descriptions of excavations), secondary scholarship and your own interpretation of them. The reconstruction is accompanied by a 2500 word essay explaining and analysing the reconstruction, and a key to the visual elements.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Make a project plan for a Visual Reconstruction Project. This should be no more than 750 words, including indicative bibliography, but must also include detailed images that you intend to use in the reconstruction. These can be photographs, archaeological plans, line drawings, digitised reconstructions from the resources we use in lectures and seminars, and your own hand-drawn or computer generated reconstructions.

■ Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University.