All ancient civilizations have a story to tell; great Assyrian kings bragged about military feats, Minoan priestesses reigned over bull-jumping ceremonies, Mayan nobles watched as champion athletes played a lethal ball-game.  In this course we will examine how these stories and 'historical' events found a place in the visual artistic tradition of these different ancient civilizations.  Students will actively participate in critiquing various scholarly texts and objects on display at the Penn Museum; in addition they will be responsible for a series of projects dealing with narrative art and the context for which it was created.  These assignments will be completed in various phases, each designed to build upon
the other and improve writing skills through in-class workshops, peer review, and short research assignments and bibliography-oriented projects.