Classics 305 - Roman Material World

When an inhabitant of a town or city in the Roman Empire looked around, what did they see? This course centers on the material world - things that were built, crafted, and created - to investigate how objects, social structures, and built spaces influenced and were informed by people's lived experiences. We will focus on evidence from the Roman provinces, including Britain, Egypt and Dura-Europos on the Euphrates River (modern Syria). By considering a range of evidence - public buildings, private houses, papyrus documents, tombstones - we will gain insight into some of the many cultures and practices and that made up the world of the Roman Empire.