Toward a Global Late Antiquity:200-800 CE

Competing empires, the division of the eastern and western halves of Roman territory; long distance trade, the rise of monotheism, the spread of Buddhism: how did these factors affect the art and architecture associated with the Roman west, Constantinople, Ctesiphon, Alexandria, the Han Dynasty capitals, and Gandhara? This course takes an expanded view of Late Antiquity, extending beyond typical that associate the period with the post-classical west, to explore the dynamic creativity and intercultural connectivity of an era once considered a "Dark Age" in a world history.