Roman Life Through Art

Nov 1, 2022

A professor and student examine a marble Roman portrait head, believed to be from 1st century, in the print study room of the Burling Library

Monessa Cummins, associate professor of classics (right), and Jiayun Chen ’19 examine a marble Roman portrait head, believed to be from the first century, in Grinnell’s Print and Drawing Study Room at Burling Library.

As student in Roman Archaeology and Art (CLS 250), you’ll explore the architectural features of Roman public buildings, such as temples, amphitheatres, theatres, bathhouses, and aqueducts, as well as private Roman homes and villas. You will also study the development of Roman art through sculpture, mosaics, ceramics, and glass objects. Through the study of these physical artifacts, you will come to better understand Roman culture and private life.

Professor Monessa Cummins engages in class discussion. — Professor Monessa Cummins encourages her students to recognize Roman influences in the architecture wherever they go.

“I always tell students that they will acquire ‘visual literacy’ in this course, which is the ability to recognize Roman influences in the architecture of Newton, Iowa, or San Francisco or Paris. Whether it’s a Corinthian column here, an arch or dome there, the contrapposto stance of a statue,” says Professor Monessa Cummins. “They will even recognize the appropriation of elements of Roman architecture in modern European and non-European buildings.”

Many students send images weeks, months, or even years after taking the course to show me a building or piece of art with strong Roman elements that they come across in their travels. They remark on the surprising continuity they feel with the Roman past as they move around their world today.

Monessa Cummins

The course will offer you an understanding of the Roman world, which was centered on the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to the European continent, it encompassed parts of Africa and Asia, where the Romans absorbed many cultural influences. The course also highlights the ways in which the Romans’ imperial dominance altered the lives of Mediterranean people. Simultaneously, the Romans were transformed by their contact with other cultures in ways they did not predict.

The curriculum serves as a chronological foundation for further exploration by students of art history and classics who are interested in the material aspects of Roman politics, society, and everyday life. Equipped with the appropriate terminology, you will look at buildings and artifacts to describe what you see and to analyze their structure, function, and style, while emphasizing development of your own theses, which you will defend with cogent arguments.

“Students repeatedly comment on how much they learned about close physical observation and about articulation of their insights. Again and again, they remark that ‘art is not their thing’ but were surprised at how comfortable they became observing and discussing it,” Cummins says. “Many students send images weeks, months, or even years after taking the course to show me a building or piece of art with strong Roman elements that they come across in their travels. They remark on the surprising continuity they feel with the Roman past as they move around their world today.”