ARTH 525
(AAMW 525)
Aegean Bronze Age: The Art and Archaeology of Thera
Instructor: Professor Philip Betancourt
M 2-4

Course Description

This course will be a seminar, which focuses on the settlement of Akrotiri on the island of Thera (Santorini), in the Aegean. The island was buried beneath a level of volcanic ash at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, and it provides us with our best information about the art, architecture, and history of the Aegean Bronze Age in the middle of the third millennium B.C. This island was in the Cycladic culture, but it was heavily influenced by Minoan Crete. The course will use seminar format, with the grade based on student reports and a research paper. Two one-hour oral reports will be required. Outside readings will be assigned for discussion. The course will emphasize the wall paintings from the site, but other aspects of the art will be examined as well. Undergraduates are admitted with the approval of the instructor.