Photo of an object in a Spanish museum


Dr Antony Eastmond and Dr Peter Stewart


course description


This option is aimed at prospective classical art historians and Byzantine art historians, and it focuses on the interface between those two worlds. The period of late antiquity (c. 3rd to 5th centuries AD) is regarded as an era of transition - a bridge between the ancient and medieval worlds. This option uses late antiquity as the key for understanding the art of both cultures.  While focusing on late antique art, it looks back on the Graeco-Roman tradition (as far as the Parthenon and archaic Greek sculpture), and forwards to Justinian’s Constantinople and the later development of Byzantine art.

We shall examine how the artistic culture of the Mediterranean was transformed in this period, but we shall also analyse striking examples of continuity. Besides emphasising the artistic transition itself, the thematic classes serve to highlight areas of common interest between classical and Byzantine art history.

However, we shall also be questioning those categories, asking to what extent our fundamental assumptions about the chronological and geographical separation of ancient and Byzantine art are justified.  The aim is to provide a stimulating and relevant course for students with classical or Byzantine interests, and a foundation for further study in either field.

language or other requirements

 

Standard entry requirements.