Guide in PDF format

Classical Art History

Code: 104199
Credits: 6

2026/2027

Degree programme	Type	Course
Ancient Studies	FB	1

Contact lecturer

Name :: Simona Perna
Email :: simona.perna@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

Foreign language skills at a level of reading comprehension are required in order to carry out supervised and autonomous activities.

Objectives

To work the fundamental aspects of Greek and Roman art.

To provide students with knowledge of the production processes, techniques and principal artistic centres of the Classical world, as well as the tools required for the recognition, analysis and understanding of its images and of the historical, social and cultural contexts in which they were produced and used.

Learning outcomes

Using the specific interpretational and technical vocabulary of the discipline.
Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
Analyse the artistic ideas on a particular artistic phenomenon in the cultural context of the Greek and Roman societies.
Relate an artistic image to other cultural phenomena of Greco-Roman antiquity.
Identify and explain scenes, motifs, gods and other mythical characters on the basis of their artistic representations throughout Greco-Roman antiquity.
Explain the mechanisms of reception of a work of art.
Analyse the creators and receivers with regard to an artistic phenomenon in a particular cultural context.
Analyse an artistic image and place it in its cultural context.

CLASSICAL ART AND ITS STUDY. Sources, methods and fundamental concepts.
GREEK ART. Pre-Hellenic Aegean art. Architecture, sculpture, pottery and painting in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods.
ROMAN ART. Origins of Roman art. Architecture, urbanism, sculpture, portraiture, painting and funerary art in the Republican and Imperial periods.
ICONOGRAPHY AND RECEPTION OF CLASSICAL ART. Gods, heroes, myths and representations of power in the Greek and Roman world.

Learning activities and methodology

Title	Hours	ECTS
Scheduled tutorship as learning support	5	0.2
Study and personal work	70	2.8
Lectures	42.25	1.69

- The course combines lectures with visual analysis activities, image commentaries and the discussion of academic readings, fostering a critical approach to Greek and Roman art. Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of gender roles and identities as reflected in Greek and Roman visual culture.

- Tutorship the supervised activities and the individual work of the student.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title	Weight	Hours	ECTS	Learning outcomes
Midterm examination	30%	15.75	0.63	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Reading and visual analysis exercise	20%	15.75	0.63	1, 2, 3, 8
Exam	50%	1.25	0.05	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

Activity 1:

Midterm examination (3 marks, 30% of the final grade). NOT REASSESSABLE.

Activity 2:

Reading and visual analysis exercise (2 marks, 20% of the final grade). NOT REASSESSABLE.

The activity will consist of the prior reading of an academic text assigned by the lecturer and the completion in class of a written exercise combining questions on the reading with the critical analysis of an image related to the course content.

Activity 3:

Final synthetic examination (5 marks, 50% of the final grade). REASSESSABLE.

The final mark is the result of the addition of the marks obtained in all activities, but it is essential to have obtained a minimum of 2.5 marks out of 5 in the exam

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

To participate in reassessment, students must have previously been evaluated in a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to a minimum of two thirds of the total grade of the continuous assessment.

Reassessment: Final synthetic examination (Activity 3).

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Erasmus and exchange students who request to advance an exam must present a document from their home university justifying their request

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as bibliographic searches, text correction or translations. Other specific situations may be contemplated, as deemed appropriate by the teacher.

The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity.

Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY WORKS

ALCOCK, Susan E. and Robin OSBORNE (eds), Classical Archaeology, Oxford, 2007.

BEARD, Mary and John HENDERSON, Classical Art. From Greece to Rome, Oxford, 2001 (Spanish translation, 2022).

BEJOR, Giorgio, CASTOLDI, Marina, LAMBRUGO, Claudia, Arte Greca. Dal decimo al primo secolo a.C., Milano, 2013

BIANCHI BANDINELLI, Ranuccio, Introducción a la arqueología clásica como historia del arte antiguo, Madrid, 1982.

MARCONI, Clemente (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture, Oxford, 2015.

TARANILLA DE LA VARGA, Carlos Javier, Breve historia del Arte Clásico, Madrid, 2021.

ZARZALEJOS Prieto, Mar, Carmen GUIRAL PELEGRÍN and María Pilar SAN NICOLÁS PEDRAZ, Historia de la cultura material del mundo clásico, Madrid, 2015.

GREEK ART

BOARDMAN, John, El arte griego, Barcelona, 1997.

CLINE, Eric H. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, Oxford, 2012.

HELLMANN, Marie-Christine, L'Architecture grecque, 2 vols., Paris, 2007.

Langdon, Susan H., Art and Identity in Dark Age Greece, 1100–700 B.C.E., Cambridge, 2008.

MORENO, Paolo, Pittura greca. Da Polignoto ad Apelle, Milan, 1987.

NEER, Richard, The Emergence of the Classical Style in Greek Sculpture, Chicago–London, 2010.

NEILS, Jenifer (ed.), The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present, Cambridge, 2005.

WHITLEY, James, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, Cambridge, 2013.

ROMAN ART

ANDREAE, Bernard, Arte romano, Rome, 1984.

BORG, Barbara E. (ed.), A Companion to Roman Art, Oxford, 2015.

BORG, Barbara E., Roman Tombs and the Art of Commemoration: Contextual Approaches to Funerary Customs in the Second Century CE, Cambridge, 2019.

FEJFER, Jane, Roman Portraits in Context, Berlin–New York, 2008.

GALINSKY, Karl (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus, Cambridge, 2005.

HENIG, Martin, El arte romano, Barcelona, 1985.

HÖLSCHER, Tonio, Il linguaggio dell'arte romana, Turin, 1987.

KLEINER, Diana E. E., Roman Sculpture, New Haven–London, 1992.

MOTTA, Federico (ed.), Pittura romana: dall'ellenismo al tardo-antico, Milan, 2002.

NEWBY, Zahra, Greek Myths in Roman Art and Culture: Imagery, Values and Identity in Italy, 50 BC–AD 250, Cambridge, 2016.

STEWART, Peter, Roman Art, Oxford, 2004.

ARCHITECTURE, URBANISM AND MATERIALITY

CHING, Francis D. K., Architecture: Form, Space and Order, Washington, 2012.

GROS, Pierre, L'Architecture romaine I, Paris, 1996.

GROS, Pierre, L'Architecture romaine II, Paris, 2001.

GROS, Pierre and Mario TORELLI, Storia dell'urbanistica. Il mondo romano, Rome–Bari, 1994.

HAUG, Annette, Adrian HIELSCHER and Mads T. LAURITSEN (eds), Materiality in Roman Art and Architecture: Aesthetics, Semantics and Function, Berlin–Boston, 2021.

MARTA, Roberto, Architettura romana. Tecniche costruttive e forme architettoniche del mondo romano, Rome, 1985.

SCOTT, Michael, Space and Society in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Cambridge, 2013.

ZANKER, Paul. (1993). Pompei : società, immagini urbane e forme dell’abitare. Giulio Einaudi.

ICONOGRAPHY, SCULPTURE AND VISUAL RECEPTION

ANGUISSOLA, Anna, "Roman Viewers in Context: Displaying, Enjoying and Explaining Roman Art", Journal of Roman Archaeology 35(2), 2022, pp. 979–993.

BARROW, Rosemary J. and Michael S. SILK (eds), Gender, Identity and the Body in Greek and Roman Sculpture, Cambridge, 2018.

DIETRICH, Nikolaus and Julien FOUQUET (eds), Image, Text, Stone: Intermedial Perspectives on Graeco-Roman Sculpture, Berlin–Boston, 2022.

ELSNER, Jas, Roman Eyes: Visuality and Subjectivity in Art and Text, Princeton–Oxford, 2007.

FRIEDLAND, Elise A., Melanie GRUNOW SOBOCINSKI and Elaine K. GAZDA (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture, Oxford, 2015.

GIUMAN, Marco, Archeologia dello sguardo, Rome, 2013.

GROSSMAN, Janet, Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone: A Guide to Terms, Styles and Techniques, Los Angeles, 2003.

KOUSSER, Rachel M., Hellenistic and Roman Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical, Cambridge, 2008.

SQUIRE, Michael (ed.), Sight and the Ancient Senses, London, 2016.

VV.AA., Klassische Plastik. Die Geschichte der antiken Bildhauerkunst, vols. I–III, Mainz am Rhein, 2004.

ZANKER, Paul, Peter DIENER, & Walter TRILLMICH. (1992). Augusto y el poder de las imágenes. Alianza.

ANCIENT SOURCES AND DOCUMENTS

PAUSANIAS, Descripción de Grecia, Madrid, 1994.

PITARCH, Antoni et al. (eds), Arte Antiguo. Próximo Oriente, Grecia y Roma. Fuentes y documentos para la Historia del Arte, Barcelona, 1982.

TORREGO, Esperanza, Plinio el Viejo. Textos de historia del arte, Madrid, 1988.

VITRUVIO, Marco Lucio, Los diez libros de arquitectura, Madrid, 1995.

Software

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching	Group	Language	Semester	Shift
(TE) Theory	1	Spanish	second semester	morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices	1	Spanish	second semester	morning-mixed