Courses
This page displays the schedule of Bryn Mawr courses in this department for this academic year. It also displays descriptions of courses offered by the department during the last four academic years.
For information about courses offered by other Bryn Mawr departments and programs or about courses offered by Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges, please consult the Course Guides page.
For information about the Academic Calendar, including the dates of first and second quarter courses, please visit the College's calendars page.
Fall 2022 ARCH
Course | Title | Schedule/Units | Meeting Type Times/Days | Location / Instruction Mode | Instr(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ARCH B101-001 | Introduction to Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 10:10 AM-11:00 AM MWF | Old Library 110 In Person |
Bradbury,J. |
ARCH B203-001 | Ancient Greek Cities and Sanctuaries | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:10 PM- 2:30 PM MW | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Tasopoulou,E. |
ARCH B222-001 | Alexander the Great | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 12:55 PM- 2:15 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Tasopoulou,E. |
ARCH B235-001 | Death and Burial in the Ancient Near East | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:40 PM- 4:00 PM MW | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Bradbury,J. |
ARCH B242-001 | Colonies and Colonization in the Ancient Mediterranean | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:55 AM-11:15 AM TTH | Old Library 224 In Person |
Baker,C. |
ARCH B244-001 | Great Empires of the Ancient Near East | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:25 PM- 3:45 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Dept. staff, TBA |
ARCH B301-001 | Greek Vase-Painting | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:25 AM-12:45 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 13 In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B316-001 | Trade and Transport in the Ancient World | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:10 AM-12:00 PM F | Taylor Hall C In Person |
Jameson,M. |
ARCH B352-001 | Ancient Egyptian Architecture: The New Kingdom | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:10 PM- 4:00 PM F | Carpenter Library 15 In Person |
Shirley,J. |
ARCH B398-001 | Senior Seminar | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 7:10 PM- 9:00 PM T | In Person | Dept. staff, TBA |
ARCH B403-001 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | Dept. staff, TBA | ||
ARCH B403-001 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | Dept. staff, TBA | ||
ARCH B501-001 | Greek Vase Painting | 1Semester / 1 | LEC: 11:25 AM-12:45 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 13 In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B516-001 | Trade and Transport in the Ancient World | 1Semester / 1 | LEC: 9:10 AM-12:00 PM F | In Person | Jameson,M. |
ARCH B552-001 | Ancient Egyptian Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | LEC: 1:10 PM- 4:00 PM F | Carpenter Library 15 In Person |
Shirley,J. |
ARCH B602-001 | Graduate Intensive Survey | 0.5Semester / 0.5 | LEC: 10:10 AM-11:00 AM MWF | Old Library 110 In Person |
Bradbury,J. |
ARCH B701-001 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | In Person | Bradbury,J. | |
ARCH B701-002 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | In Person | Tasopoulou,E. | |
ARCH B701-003 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | In Person | Lindenlauf,A. | |
CITY B201-001 | Introduction to GIS for Social and Environmental Analysis | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:55 AM-11:15 AM TTH | Canaday Computer Lab In Person |
Dept. staff, TBA |
GSEM B652-001 | Interdepartmental Seminar: History and Memory: History and Memory | 1Semester / 1 | LEC: 4:00 PM- 6:00 PM TH | In Person | Kale,M., Saltzman,L. |
Spring 2023 ARCH
Course | Title | Schedule/Units | Meeting Type Times/Days | Location / Instruction Mode | Instr(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ARCH B102-001 | Introduction to Classical Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:10 AM-12:30 PM MW | Carpenter Library 13 In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B102-00A | Introduction to Classical Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | Breakout Discussion: 11:10 AM-12:00 PM F | Carpenter Library 13 In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B102-00B | Introduction to Classical Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | Breakout Discussion: 11:10 AM-12:00 PM F | Carpenter Library 15 In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B102-00C | Introduction to Classical Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | Breakout Discussion: 11:10 AM-12:00 PM F | Carpenter Library 17 In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B102-00D | Introduction to Classical Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | Breakout Discussion: 12:10 PM- 1:00 PM F | Carpenter Library 17 In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B215-001 | Classical Art | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 12:55 PM- 2:15 PM TTH | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Tasopoulou,E. |
ARCH B252-001 | Pompeii | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:10 PM- 2:30 PM MW | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Tasopoulou,E. |
ARCH B317-001 | Cultural Heritage and Endangered Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:10 AM-12:00 PM TH | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Bradbury,J. |
ARCH B329-001 | Archaeology and National Imagination in Modern Greece | 1Semester / 1 | Lecture: 1:10 PM- 3:30 PM F | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Tasopoulou,E. |
ARCH B399-001 | Senior Seminar | 1Semester / 1 | LEC: 10:10 AM-12:00 PM T | In Person | Dept. staff, TBA |
ARCH B403-001 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | Dept. staff, TBA | ||
ARCH B403-001 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | Dept. staff, TBA | ||
ARCH B517-001 | Cultural Heritage and Endangered Archaeology | 1Semester / 1 | LEC: 9:10 AM-12:00 PM TH | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Bradbury,J. |
ARCH B529-001 | Archaeology and National Imagination in Modern Greece | 1Semester / 1 | LEC: 1:10 PM- 3:30 PM F | Carpenter Library 25 In Person |
Tasopoulou,E. |
ARCH B603-001 | Graduate Intensive Survey | 0.5Semester / 0.5 | LEC: 12:10 PM- 1:00 PM F | Taylor Hall, Seminar Room In Person |
Lindenlauf,A. |
ARCH B701-001 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | In Person | Bradbury,J. | |
ARCH B701-002 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | In Person | Tasopoulou,E. | |
ARCH B701-003 | Supervised Work | 1Semester / 1 | In Person | Lindenlauf,A. | |
GSEM B624-001 | Greek Tragedy in Performance | 1Semester / 1 | In Person | Sigelman,A., Slusar,C. |
Fall 2023 ARCH
(Class schedules for this semester will be posted at a later date.)
2022-23 Catalog Data: ARCH
ARCH B101 Introduction to Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology
Fall 2022
A historical survey of the archaeology and art of the ancient Near East and Egypt.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Africana Studies
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
Counts Toward Museum Studies
ARCH B102 Introduction to Classical Archaeology
Spring 2023
A historical survey of the archaeology and art of Greece, Etruria, and Rome.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Museum Studies
ARCH B104 Archaeology of Agricultural and Urban Revolutions
Not offered 2022-23
This course examines the archaeology of the two most fundamental changes that have occurred in human society in the last 12,000 years, agriculture and urbanism, and we explore these in Egypt and the Near East as far as India. We also explore those societies that did not experience these changes.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Geoarchaeology
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
ARCH B110 The World Through Classical Eyes
Not offered 2022-23
A survey of the ways in which the ancient Greeks and Romans perceived and constructed their physical and social world. The evidence of ancient texts and monuments will form the basis for exploring such subjects as cosmology, geography, travel and commerce, ancient ethnography and anthropology, the idea of natural and artificial wonders, and the self-definition of the classical cultures in the context of the oikoumene, the "inhabited world."
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
ARCH B135 Focus: Archaeological Fieldwork and Methods
Not offered 2022-23
The fundamentals of the practice of archaeology through readings and case studies and participatory demonstrations. Case studies will be drawn from the archives of the Nemea Valley Archaeological Project and material in the College's collections. Each week there will be a 1-hour laboratory that will introduce students to a variety of fieldwork methods and forms of analysis. This is a half semester Focus course.
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
ARCH B203 Ancient Greek Cities and Sanctuaries
Fall 2022
A study of the development of the Greek city-states and sanctuaries. Archaeological evidence is surveyed in its historic context. The political formation of the city-state and the role of religion is presented, and the political, economic, and religious institutions of the city-states are explored in their urban settings. The city-state is considered as a particular political economy of the Mediterranean and in comparison to the utility of the concept of city-state in other cultures.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Museum Studies
ARCH B204 Animals in the Ancient Greek World
Not offered 2022-23
This course focuses on perceptions of animals in ancient Greece from the Geometric to the Classical periods. It examines representations of animals in painting, sculpture, and the minor arts, the treatment of animals as attested in the archaeological record, and how these types of evidence relate to the featuring of animals in contemporary poetry, tragedy, comedy, and medical and philosophical writings. By analyzing this rich body of evidence, the course develops a context in which participants gain insight into the ways ancient Greeks perceived, represented, and treated animals. Juxtaposing the importance of animals in modern society, as attested, for example, by their roles as pets, agents of healing, diplomatic gifts, and even as subjects of specialized studies such as animal law and animal geographies, the course also serves to expand awareness of attitudes towards animals in our own society as well as that of ancient Greece.
Critical Interpretation (CI)
ARCH B208 Ancient Near Eastern History
Not offered 2022-23
This course will explore some of the key historical figures, events and inventions that shaped Ancient Near Eastern societies and traditions. We will consider the impact that the modern disciplines of ancient near eastern archaeology and history have had on our understanding of this region. We will also discuss how the ancient history and more recent colonial past of this region has impacted upon and shaped our modern interpretations of this region.
Critical Interpretation (CI)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
ARCH B209 Aegean Archaeology
Not offered 2022-23
TThis course explores the prehistoric cultures of the Aegean region, concentrating on Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece, the Aegean islands, and Troy during the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1200 BCE). We examine Aegean art, architecture, and archaeology and consider cross-cultural contacts with Egypt and the Near East, including trade and diplomacy, the historicity of the Trojan War, and the enigmatic "Sea Peoples."
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
ARCH B215 Classical Art
Spring 2023
A survey of the visual arts of ancient Greece and Rome from the Bronze Age through Late Imperial times (circa 3000 B.C.E. to 300 C.E.). Major categories of artistic production are examined in historical and social context, including interactions with neighboring areas and cultures; methodological and interpretive issues are highlighted.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
ARCH B222 Alexander the Great
Fall 2022
This course examines the life, personality, career, and military achievements of Alexander the Great, as well as the extraordinary reception of his legacy in antiquity and through modern times. It uses historical, archaeological and art-historical evidence to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of Alexander's cultural background and examines the real and imaginary features of his life and afterlife as they developed in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and succeeding periods in both Europe and Asia. Special attention is also placed on the appeal that Alexander's life and achievements have generated and continue to retain in modern popular visual culture as evidenced from documentary films and motion pictures.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Critical Interpretation (CI)
ARCH B224 Women in the Ancient Near East
Not offered 2022-23
A survey of the social position of women in the ancient Near East, from sedentary villages to empires of the first millennium B.C.E. Topics include critiques of traditional concepts of gender in archaeology and theories of matriarchy. Case studies illustrate the historicity of gender concepts: women's work in early village societies; the meanings of Neolithic female figurines; the representation of gender in the Gilgamesh epic; the institution of the "Tawananna" (queen) in the Hittite empire; the indirect power of women such as Semiramis in the Neo-Assyrian palaces. Reliefs, statues, texts and more indirect archaeological evidence are the basis for discussion.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Gender and Sexuality Studies
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
ARCH B226 Archaeology of Anatolia
Not offered 2022-23
One of the cradles of civilization, Anatolia witnessed the rise and fall of many cultures and states throughout its ancient history. This course approaches the ancient material remains of pre-classical Anatolia from the perspective of Near Eastern archaeology, examining the art, artifacts, architecture, cities, and settlements of this land from the Neolithic through the Lydian periods. Some emphasis will be on the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age, especially phases of Hittite and Assyrian imperialism, Late Hittite states, Phrygia, and the Urartu.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
ARCH B229 Visual Culture of the Ancient Near East
Not offered 2022-23
This course examines the visual culture of the Ancient Near East based on an extensive body of architectural, sculptural, and pictorial evidence dating from prehistoric times through the fifth century BCE. We will explore how a variety of surviving art, artifacts, sculpture, monuments, and architecture deriving from geographically distinct areas of the ancient Near East, such as Mesopotamia, the Eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, and Iran, may have been viewed and experienced in their historical contexts, including the contribution of ancient materials and technologies of production in shaping this viewing and experience. By focusing on selected examples of diverse evidence, we will also consider how past and current scholarly methods and approaches, many of them art-historical, archaeological, and architectural in aim, have affected the understanding and interpretation of this evidence. In doing so, we will pay special attention to critical terms such as aesthetics, style, narrative, representation, and agency.
Critical Interpretation (CI)
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
Counts Toward Museum Studies
ARCH B235 Death and Burial in the Ancient Near East
Fall 2022
Death is a shared human experience; however, it provokes a huge variety of responses; from the ad hoc and hasty burial of the deceased through to elaborate and lengthy funerary rituals. One of the most direct forms of evidence we have as archaeologists for the people who lived thousands of years ago are burials. The Ancient Near East also offers a rich corpus of textual and visual material, which can be used to explore the ways in which ancient societies conceptualized and thought about death, from the nature of the afterlife to the role of malevolent or helpful ghosts.
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
ARCH B242 Colonies and Colonization in the Ancient Mediterranean
Fall 2022
This course focuses on the character and consequences of colonization, colonialism, and imperialism in the ancient Mediterranean. Using archaeological and textual evidence, we will examine the history, practice, and physical manifestations of colonization from the earliest Phoenician and Greek colonies through the imperial world of the Roman Empire. We will discuss a variety of approaches and frameworks used to explore the intersection of migration and mobility, colonization and colonialism, and imperial states and identities in the Classical world, and will explore the impact of these processes on the development of wider Mediterranean networks, identities, and histories.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Critical Interpretation (CI)
ARCH B244 Great Empires of the Ancient Near East
Fall 2022
A survey of the history, material culture, political and religious ideologies of, and interactions among, the five great empires of the ancient Near East of the second and first millennia B.C.E.: New Kingdom Egypt, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia, the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires in Mesopotamia, and the Persian Empire in Iran.
Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
ARCH B252 Pompeii
Spring 2023
Introduces students to a nearly intact archaeological site whose destruction by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. was recorded by contemporaries. The discovery of Pompeii in the mid-1700s had an enormous impact on 18th- and 19th-century views of the Roman past as well as styles and preferences of the modern era. Informs students in classical antiquity, urban life, city structure, residential architecture, home decoration and furnishing, wall painting, minor arts and craft and mercantile activities within a Roman city.
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Museum Studies
ARCH B254 Cleopatra
Not offered 2022-23
This course examines the life and rule of Cleopatra VII, the last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, and the reception of her legacy in the Early Roman Empire and the western world from the Renaissance to modern times. The first part of the course explores extant literary evidence regarding the upbringing, education, and rule of Cleopatra within the contexts of Egyptian and Ptolemaic cultures, her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, her conflict with Octavian, and her death by suicide in 30 BCE. The second part examines constructions of Cleopatra in Roman literature, her iconography in surviving art, and her contributions to and influence on both Ptolemaic and Roman art. A detailed account is also provided of the afterlife of Cleopatra in the literature, visual arts, scholarship, and film of both Europe and the United States, extending from the papal courts of Renaissance Italy and Shakespearean drama, to Thomas Jefferson's art collection at Monticello and Joseph Mankiewicz's 1963 epic film, Cleopatra.
Critical Interpretation (CI)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Gender and Sexuality Studies
ARCH B263 Roman Archaeology: Life in the City
Not offered 2022-23
This course explores the art and architecture of ancient Rome from the Republic through the Empire. By focusing on specific topics, such as residences, markets, religious life, death and entertainment, and by surveying a rich variety of available evidence that spans from architectural remains, inscriptions and monuments to paintings, architectural sculpture and mosaics, the course highlights the importance of art historical and archaeological inquiry for our understanding of urban life and experience in one of the greatest cities of the ancient world.
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
ARCH B301 Greek Vase-Painting
Fall 2022
This course is an introduction to the world of painted pottery of the Greek world, from the 10th to the 4th centuries B.C.E. We will interpret these images from an art-historical and socio-economic viewpoint. We will also explore how these images relate to other forms of representation. Prerequisite: one course in classical archaeology or permission of instructor.
ARCH B303 Classical Bodies
Not offered 2022-23
An examination of the conceptions of the human body evidenced in Greek and Roman art and literature, with emphasis on issues that have persisted in the Western tradition. Topics include the fashioning of concepts of male and female standards of beauty and their implications; conventions of visual representation; the nude; clothing and its symbolism; the athletic ideal; physiognomy; medical theory and practice; the visible expression of character and emotions; and the formulation of the "classical ideal" in antiquity and later times.
Counts Toward Gender and Sexuality Studies
ARCH B305 Topics in Ancient Athens
Not offered 2022-23
This is a topics course. Course content varies.
ARCH B306 Monumental Painting
Not offered 2022-23
The Mediterranean tradition of large-scale painting begins in prehistoric times and continues through Late Antiquity and beyond. Important examples survive on the walls of houses, tombs and other structures at sites in the Bronze Age Aegean, in Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Anatolia, Macedonia, Magna Graecia, and Etruria, Rome and the famous sites of Pompeii and Hercul- aneum preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Technical, artistic, cultural and interpretive issues will be considered.
Counts Toward Museum Studies
ARCH B308 Ceramic Analysis
Not offered 2022-23
Pottery is one of the most common artifacts recovered during archaeological excavation. It is fundamental for reconstructing human behavior in the past and establishing the relative chronology of archaeological sites. This course focuses on the myriad of ways archaeologists study ceramics including the theories, methods, and techniques that bridge the gap between, on the one hand, the identification and description of pottery and, on the other, its analysis and interpretation. Topics covered include typology, seriation, production, function, exchange, specialization and standardization, site formation processes, ceramic characterization, and data management. The course will consist of lectures, discussions, student presentations on a chosen case study, and laboratory work. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
ARCH B312 Bronze Age Internationalism
Not offered 2022-23
This course explores the rise and fall of the first international age in the eastern mediterranean. We will focus on the cultural and diplomatic connections between Egypt, Syria, Anatolia and the Aegean during the Bronze Age, c. 2000-1200BCE.. Prerequisites: ARCH B101 or B104 or B216 or B226 or B230 or B240 or B244.
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
ARCH B316 Trade and Transport in the Ancient World
Fall 2022
Issues of trade, commerce and production of export goods are addressed with regard to the Bronze Age and Iron Age cultures of Mesopotamia, Arabia, Iran and south Asia. Crucial to these systems is the development of means of transport via maritime routes and on land. Archaeological evidence for traded goods and shipwrecks is used to map the emergence of sea-faring across the Indian Ocean and Gulf.
ARCH B317 Cultural Heritage and Endangered Archaeology
Spring 2023
This course will examine how and why archaeological sites are 'endangered'. Primarily focusing on the Near East and North Africa (the MENA region), we will examine the different types of archaeological and heritage sites found across this broad region, and some of the threats and disturbances affecting them. We will consider how different interest groups and stakeholders view, value and present historical and archaeological sites to the general public, as well as the success of modern initiatives and projects to safeguard the heritage of the MENA region. Our research will consider the ethics of cultural preservation, as well as the issues and problems encountered by heritage specialists working in areas of modern conflict. Whilst not all damage can be prevented, the course will consider how different threats and disturbances might be mitigated. Prerequisite: Upper level 300-level course. Students should have completed at least two 100 level/200 level courses in either classical or near eastern archaeology.
Course does not meet an Approach
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
Counts Toward Museum Studies
ARCH B329 Archaeology and National Imagination in Modern Greece
Spring 2023
This course explores the link between archaeology, antiquity and the national imagination in modern Greece from the establishment of the Greek state in the early nineteenth century to present times. Drawing from a variety of disciplines, including history, archaeology, art history, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, and political science, the course examines the pivotal role of archaeology and the classical past in the construction of national Greek identity. Special emphasis is placed on the concepts of Hellenism and nationalism, the European rediscovery of Greece in the Romantic era, and the connection between classical archaeology and Philhellenism from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Additional topics of study include the presence of foreign archaeological schools in Greece, the Greek perception of archaeology, the politics of display in Greek museums, and the importance and power of specific ancient sites, monuments, and events, such as the Athenian Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Olympic Games, in the construction and preservation of Greek national identity.
ARCH B330 Archaeological Theory and Method
Not offered 2022-23
A history of archaeology from the Renaissance to the present with attention to the formation of theory and method.
ARCH B333 Nomads and Archaeology
Not offered 2022-23
This course will explore the historical importance of mobile groups in regions such as the Ancient Near East and some of the archaeological traces they may leave behind. Using ethnographic, anthropological and archaeological literature we will discuss the different ways in which mobile populations have been conceptualized, portrayed and treated by non-mobile societies and the relationship between these different groups. The course will also consider how new technologies and archaeological methods might enable us to fill in some of the gaps in our understanding and how we might be able to place mobile populations at the center, rather than at the periphery, of our archaeological narratives.
Counts Toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies
ARCH B352 Ancient Egyptian Architecture: The New Kingdom
Fall 2022
A proseminar that concentrates on the principles of ancient Egyptian monumental architecture with an emphasis on the New Kingdom. The primary focus of the course is temple design, but palaces, representative settlements, and examples of Graeco-Roman temples of the Nile Valley will also be dealt with. Prerequisites: ARCH B101 or B230 or B244.
ARCH B355 The Achaemenid Empire
Not offered 2022-23
This course explores the art, history, and archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire. Between 550 and 330 B.C., the Achaemenid kings of Iran controlled the largest and greatest empire the world has seen up until that time. By studying the art, architecture, politics, religion, burial customs, administration, economy, and warfare of Achaemenid Persia, the course offers a unique insight into the wealth, splendor, and diversity of one of the most powerful empires of the ancient Near East. Because the Achaemenid Empire exerted great influence on the ancient Mediterranean world, the contacts and conflict between ancient Greece and Persia will be also examined, from an ancient Greek perspective, in order to understand how this perspective contributed to the misapprehension of the Achaemenid Empire in modern Western thought.
ARCH B359 Topics in Classical Art and Archaeology
Not offered 2022-23
This is a topics course. Topics vary. A research-oriented course taught in seminar format, treating issues of current interest in Greek and Roman art and archaeology. 200-level coursework in some aspect of classical or related cultures, archeology, art history, or Cities, or related fields is strongly recommended.
ARCH B398 Senior Seminar
A weekly seminar on topics to be determined with assigned readings and oral and written reports.
ARCH B399 Senior Seminar
A weekly seminar on common topics with assigned readings and oral and written reports.
ARCH B501 Greek Vase Painting
Fall 2022
This course is an introduction to the world of painted pottery of the Greek world, from the 10th to the 4th centuries B.C.E. We will interpret these images from an art-historical and socio-economic viewpoint. We will also explore how these images relate to other forms of representation. Prerequisite: one course in classical archaeology or permission of instructor.
ARCH B504 Archaeology of Greek Religion
Not offered 2022-23
This course approaches the topic of ancient Greek religion by focusing on surviving archaeological, architectural, epigraphical, artistic and literary evidence that dates from the Archaic and Classical periods. By examining a wealth of diverse evidence that ranges, for example, from temple architecture, and feasting and banqueting equipment to inscriptions, statues, vase paintings, and descriptive texts, the course enables the participants to analyze the value and complexity of the archaeology of Greek religion and to recognize its significance for the reconstruction of daily life in ancient Greece. Special emphasis is placed on subjects such as the duties of priests and priestesses, the violence of animal sacrifice, the function of cult statues and votive offerings and also the important position of festivals and hero and mystery cults in ancient Greek religious thought and experience.
ARCH B505 Topics in Ancient Athens
Not offered 2022-23
This is a topics course. Topics vary.
ARCH B508 Ceramic Analysis
Not offered 2022-23
Pottery is one of the most common artifacts recovered during archaeological excavation. It is fundamental for reconstructing human behavior in the past and establishing the relative chronology of archaeological sites. This course focuses on the myriad of ways archaeologists study ceramics including the theories, methods, and techniques that bridge the gap between, on the one hand, the identification and description of pottery and, on the other, its analysis and interpretation. Topics covered include typology, seriation, production, function, exchange, specialization and standardization, site formation processes, ceramic characterization, and data management. The course will consist of lectures, discussions, student presentations on a chosen case study, and laboratory work.
ARCH B512 Bronze Age Internationalism
Not offered 2022-23
This course explores the rise and fall of the first international age in the eastern Mediterranean. We will focus on the cultural and diplomatic connections between Egypt, Syria, Anatolia and the Aegean during the Bronze Age, c. 2000-1200BCE.
ARCH B516 Trade and Transport in the Ancient World
Fall 2022
Issues of trade, commerce and production of export goods are addressed with regard to the Bronze Age and Iron Age cultures of Mesopotamia, Arabia, Iran and south Asia. Crucial to these systems is the development of means of transport via maritime routes and on land. Archaeological evidence for traded goods and shipwrecks is used to map the emergence of sea-faring across the Indian Ocean and Gulf while bio-archaeological data is employed to examine the transformative role that Bactrian and Dromedary camels played in ancient trade and transport.
ARCH B517 Cultural Heritage and Endangered Archaeology
Spring 2023
This course will examine how and why archaeological sites are 'endangered'. Primarily focusing on the Near East and North Africa (the MENA region), we will examine the different types of archaeological and heritage sites found across this broad region, and some of the threats and disturbances affecting them. We will consider how different interest groups and stakeholders view, value and present historical and archaeological sites to the general public, as well as the success of modern initiatives and projects to safeguard the heritage of the MENA region. Our research will consider the ethics of cultural preservation, as well as the issues and problems encountered by heritage specialists working in areas of modern conflict. Whilst not all damage can be prevented, the course will consider how different threats and disturbances might be mitigated.
ARCH B529 Archaeology and National Imagination in Modern Greece
Spring 2023
This course explores the link between archaeology, antiquity and the national imagination in modern Greece from the establishment of the Greek state in the early nineteenth century to present times. Drawing from a variety of disciplines, including history, archaeology, art history, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, and political science, the course examines the pivotal role of archaeology and the classical past in the construction of national Greek identity. Special emphasis is placed on the concepts of Hellenism and nationalism, the European rediscovery of Greece in the Romantic era, and the connection between classical archaeology and Philhellenism from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Additional topics of study include the presence of foreign archaeological schools in Greece, the Greek perception of archaeology, the politics of display in Greek museums, and the importance and power of specific ancient sites, monuments, and events, such as the Athenian Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Olympic Games, in the construction and preservation of Greek national identity.
ARCH B530 Archaeological Theory & Method
Not offered 2022-23
A history of archaeology from the Renaissance to the present with attention to the formation of theory and method.
ARCH B552 Ancient Egyptian Archaeology
Fall 2022
This course will examine two aspects of ancient Egyptian Archaeology. This first is the history of archaeological work in Egypt: tracing methodological developments, the impact of imperialism, colonialism, and race-based theories of the 19th and early 20th centuries on the development of archaeological thought, and where the field of archaeology in Egypt stands today. The second will examine settlements in ancient Egypt - from workmen's villages to planned "temple towns" to "lost cities" - in order to understand the built environment inhabited by the ancient Egyptians. Although the material that the ancient Egyptians used to build their homes, as well as their location in the flood-plain, often makes finding and studying settlements difficult, there are sources of evidence that can help us to rediscover where and how the ancient Egyptians lived, and allow us to reevaluate older theories about ancient Egyptian culture and society.
ARCH B555 The Achaemenid Empire
Not offered 2022-23
This course explores the art, history, and archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire. Between 550 and 330 B.C., the Achaemenid kings of Iran controlled the largest and greatest empire the world has seen up until that time. By studying the art, architecture, politics, religion, burial customs, administration, economy, and warfare of Achaemenid Persia, the course offers a unique insight into the wealth, splendor, and diversity of one of the most powerful empires of the ancient Near East. Because the Achaemenid Empire exerted great influence on the ancient Mediterranean world, the contacts and conflict between ancient Greece and Persia will be also examined, from an ancient Greek perspective, in order to understand how this perspective contributed to the misapprehension of the Achaemenid Empire in modern Western thought.
ARCH B602 Graduate Intensive Survey
Fall 2022
This course introduces the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East and Egypt, from ca. 10,000 to 330 BCE. Supplementing the lectures, discussions, and readings of ARCH B101, graduate students will participate in an additional weekly discussion of methodological and interpretive issues and topical debates in the field, based on the reading of relevant case-studies and analyses.
ARCH B603 Graduate Intensive Survey
Spring 2023
A historical survey of the archaeology and art of Greece, Etruria, and Rome.
ARCH B605 The Concept of Style
Not offered 2022-23
This seminar examines the development and uses of concepts of "style" in the criticism, analysis, and historiography of textual and material culture. Particular attention is paid to the recognition and description of style, explanations of stylistic change, and the meanings attached to style, particularly but not exclusively in classical and related traditions.
ARCH B616 Maritime Networks and the Archaeology of the Levant
Not offered 2022-23
This course will explore the history and archaeology of the Levant, and its key role in the maritime networks of the Eastern Mediterranean. We will use case studies from the Neolithic through to the late medieval period, to discover how 'seascapes' have shaped and influenced Levantine economies, industries, identities and political interconnections throughout the history of this region. The class will draw upon archaeological (both underwater and coastal), literary and iconographic evidence, alongside ongoing geomorphological and environmental studies in the region to take an interdisciplinary approach to this topic.
ARCH B633 Nomads and Archaeology
Not offered 2022-23
This course will explore the historical importance of mobile groups in regions such as the Ancient Near East and some of the archaeological traces they may leave behind. Using ethnographic, anthropological and archaeological literature we will discuss the different ways in which mobile populations have been conceptualized, portrayed and treated by non-mobile societies and the relationship between these different groups. The course will also consider how new technologies and archaeological methods might enable us to fill in some of the gaps in our understanding and how we might be able to place mobile populations at the center, rather than at the periphery, of our archaeological narratives.
ARCH B634 Problems in Classical Art
Not offered 2022-23
This is a topics course. Topics vary. A seminar dealing with current issues in the art of ancient Greece and related traditions.
ARCH B635 Power, politics, and the cityscape of Rome
Not offered 2022-23
The city of Rome served as both a symbolic center of the Roman world and a physical space in which this symbolic role was monumentalized and negotiated. This course explores the ways in which political and social competition were inscribed on the cityscape from its earliest years through the end of the Republic and beyond, both in its topography and in the specific monuments constructed as the result of individual and group initiatives. Case studies explored in this course include the triumph and the process of memory construction in the city, the association of political movements and conflicts with specific urban topographies, the function of Rome and specific spaces within it as "museums" for foreign plunder, elite tombs as sites of competing elite identities, the shifting relationship between public and private in the Forum, and the competitive monumentalization of the city at the end of the Republic, especially in the Campus Martius.
ARCH B680 Problems in the Archaeology of Mesopotamia
Not offered 2022-23
This course will explore the different approaches and technologies used to study Mesopotamia. We will problematize existing terminologies for this historical region and consider how research methods and questions have changed in recent years. Topics covered may include: ancient gender roles, cultural heritage, landscape theory and approaches, new technologies and religion and ritual amongst others.
CHEM B208 Topics in Art Analysis
Not offered 2022-23
This is a topics course and topics will vary. All courses will cover a variety of methods of analysis of works of art centered around a specific theme. Using both completed case studies and their own analysis of objects in the Bryn Mawr College collection, students will investigate a number of instrumental methods of obtaining both quantitative and qualitative information about the manufacture, use and history of the objects. This course counts towards the major in History of Art.
Scientific Investigation (SI)
Counts Toward Counts toward Museum Studies
CITY B201 Introduction to GIS for Social and Environmental Analysis
Fall 2022
This course is designed to introduce the foundations of GIS with emphasis on applications for social and environmental analysis. It deals with basic principles of GIS and its use in spatial analysis and information management. Ultimately, students will design and carry out research projects on topics of their own choosing. Prerequisite: At least sophomore standing and Quantitative Readiness are required (i.e.the quantitative readiness assessment or Quan B001).
Quantitative Readiness Required (QR)
Counts Toward Counts toward Data Science
Counts Toward Counts toward Environmental Studies
GSEM B652 Interdepartmental Seminar: History and Memory
Section 001 (Fall 2022): History and Memory
Fall 2022
The seminar will begin by establishing the categories of history and memory, as they have been constituted across the humanistic disciplines, defining and refining the epistemological and ontological distinctions between the two. Readings will be drawn first from the writings of Nietzsche and Freud and then move to the work of Barthes, Caruth, Connerton, Foucault, Guha, Gundaker, La Capra, Margolit, Nora, Sebald, Todorov, and Yerushalmi. Once a grounding context is established, the second half of the seminar will be organized around a set of categories, ranging from the material to the theoretical, through which we will continue our explorations in history and memory, among them, the following: trauma, witness, archive, document, evidence, monument, memorial, relic, trace. It is here that we would each draw specifically on our own disciplinary formations and call upon students to do the same. The seminar would, of course, be open to all students in the graduate group.
GSEM B654 War and Peace in the Ancient World
Not offered 2022-23
For centuries history has been perceived, written and taught as a series of wars and periods of peace. Yet, the question remains: what does it mean when a city, a state or a nation is at war, and how do different cultures and societies conceptualize peace? This interdisciplinary seminar explores theories and practices of war and peace in the ancient world, examining the archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence. The archaeology of warfare will include battlefields, fortifications, arms and weapons, siege machines, war memorials, funerary monuments as well as the iconography of victors and victims. The literary sources that we will be reading, among them the Homeric epics, select passages from Greek and Roman historiography, philosophical and rhetorical works and ancient handbooks and manuals of warfare, will shed light on the recording of conflicts, the conduct of war, notions of power and peace, the depiction of leaders, the representation of violence, and strategies of commemoration. Investigating bodies of evidence, which are normally studied separately and within specific disciplinary formations, we aim to challenge the entrenched oppositions between archaeology, philology, and history and to engage in a discourse about the complex and changing conceptualizations of war and peace in the ancient world. We plan to have several guest lecturers. Students participating in this seminar will be expected to give oral presentations and to develop their special areas of interests in their research projects applying a variety of methods. No previous classics or archaeology training is required.
HIST B231 Medicine, Magic & Miracles in the Middle Ages
Not offered 2022-23
A lecture and discussion course on the therapeutic systems (humoral theory, faith healing, natural magic), the medical marketplace, and the social context for understanding health and disease in the medieval period. Topics covered include Greek, Arabic, and Latin medical textual traditions, the rise of hospitals and public health, and the Black Death.
Critical Interpretation (CI)
Inquiry into the Past (IP)
Counts Toward Counts toward Gender and Sexuality Studies
Counts Toward Counts toward Health Studies
Counts Toward Counts toward Middle Eastern/Central Asian/North African Studies

Contact Us
Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology
Old Library
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Avenue
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010
Phone: 610-526-5053 or 610-526-5334
Fax: 610-526-7955