Roman Imperial Art, Architecture and Political Propaganda

(2 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The Roman Empire (lasting from the 1st until, arguably, the 5th century CE) extended, at its territorial peak, from the Welsh coastline as far as the Euphrates and from Scotland to North Africa. It achieved cultural and political unification on an unprecedented scale. Its military might and administrative rigour enabled a highly-structured system of economic exploitation and cultural appropriation throughout its territorial reach. The Roman Empire covers one of the most important and iconic periods of European, North African and Middle Eastern history. This module moves thematically and chronologically from the Pax Romana established by Augustus to the rise of imperial cities in Africa under Septimius Severus. Themes of peace, triumph and conflict will be viewed through a series of core-and-periphery test cases. Themes will include Augustan Peace, The Wars in Judaea, The Spoils of Territorial Expansion under Trajan (looking at Dacia and Parthia), Territorial Consolidation under Hadrian (exploring Rome and Britain) and the Art of Ruling in Absentia (as exemplified by Marcus Aurelius¿ reign on the Danube). Students will analyse the Roman conceptualisation of events taking place on the fringe of empire and the nature of their portrayal at the administrative core in terms of Roman imperial expansion and later contraction and collapse. Imperial propaganda will be investigated through a reading of the most famous imperial architectural designs in Rome and tested against archaeological evidence for daily life in the related provinces.