CL365 Bronze Age Art and Archaeology Syllabus, Fall '97
Prof. Leslie Mechem,
x5464, Harder Hall 208C, Office hours MWF 11:15-12:00 or by appointment
CL365: Bronze Age Art and Archaeology
Troy, Mycenae, and Knossos are legendary as cities which saw the fighting of Greek heroes in the Trojan war, where Agamemnon was killed and the Minotaur dispatched by Theseus. Students will explore the mythical background and the artistic and archaeological reality of these sites and others as we examine the rise and flowering of Minoan and Mycenaean civilization in the Aegean Bronze Age 3000-1100 B.C. We will view the architecture, wall paintings, statues and pottery of these peoples and their interactions with the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. In doing so we will build a picture of the Bronze age world and discover what destroyed these civilizations around 1100 B.C. By the end of the course we will have a better sense of the reality of this period and how and why the sites and people of the time became mythical and legendary.
Course Requirements
Short Reports: 40%
Students will give several in class reports on various topics.
Final Research Paper: 35%
Each student will prepare a research paper on an issue, topic, monument or object over the course of the semester.
Class Work: 25%
Class Work includes preparation of all reading assignments as well as active participation in class discussions.
Required Texts
Open Reserve Texts
BL785 R88 1986 Cult Places in the Aegean World
N5630 M313 Crete and Early Greece
N5660 E 75 The Palace of Minos
N5660 H5 Minoan and Mycenaean Art
N5660 M35 Crete and Mycenae
NA267 P7 1983 Minoan Architectural Design
NA270 L36 1983b Greek Architecture
NA277 B55 The Palace of Nestor at Pylos
NA279 C7 G7 1969 The Palaces of Crete
NB130.C78 G4 1985 Early Cycladic sculpture
NB130.C78 R4 1991 The Cycladic spirit
ND2570 .D68 1992 The wall-paintings of Thera
ND2570.I45 1989 Aegean painting in the Bronze Age
ND2570.M67 1988 The miniature wall paintings of Thera
DF78 .B398 1987 and 1991 v. 2 Black Athena
DF78 .B54 1996 Black Athena revisited
DF212.S4 D48 1977 Memoirs of Heinrich Schliemann
DF212.S4 F4 Schliemann's Troy
DF212.S4 M97 1986 Myth, scandal, and history
DF220 .B713 Prehistoric Greece and Cyprus
DF220 .C5897 1980 The Minoan world
DF220 .D73 1988 The coming of the Greeks
DF220 .F54 1996 The discovery of the Greek Bronze Age
DF220 .H3 1970 The civilization of Greece in the bronze age
DF220 .H65 Mycenaean Greece
DF220 .M23 Progress into the past
DF220 .P3 Mycenaeans and Minoans
DF220 .R45 The emergence of civilisation
DF220 .S78 Submycenaean studies
DF220 .V4 Greece in the bronze age
DF220 .W4 1977 From Mycenae to Homer
DF220.3. C37 1991 Minoans : life in Bronze Age
DF220.5 .F48 1996 Mycenaean civilization, a research guide
DF221.C8 U54 1983 The Cretan collection in the University Museum
DF221.C8 B564 1985v The history of Minoan pottery
DF221.C8 L3 A Land called Crete
DF221.C8 M253 Ancient Crete
DF221.C8 P26 A handbook to the palace of Minos
DF221.C8 P38 The archaeology of Crete
DF221.C8 P583 Crete
DF221.C8 P586 Zakros
DF221.C8 S4 Explorations in the island of Mochlos
DF221.C8 W54 1977b The civilization of ancient Crete
DF221.C93 G47 1996 Stone vessels of the Cyclades in the early Bronze Age
DF221.K5 K96 1972 Kythera
DF221.M9 I5 Proceedings
DF221.M9 M93 Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age
DF221.M9 S35 Mycenae
DF221.M9 T3 The Mycenaeans
DF221.M9 T8 1969 The Mycenaean age
DF221.M9 W33 Mycenae
DF221.T38 D6 1983 Thera
DF221.T5 S3 Tiryns
DF221.T8 B55 Troy and the Trojans
DF221.T8 F72 The Trojan War
DF221.T8 M58 1996 Lost and found : the 9,000 treasures of Troy
DF221.T8 S25 Troy and its remains
DF221.T8 S3 1968 Ilios: the city and country of the Trojans
DF221.T8 S35 Troja
DF221.T8 T65 1996 The gold of Troy
DF221.T8 U6 Suppl. Troy
DF221.T8 W66 1986 In search of the Trojan War
DF287.A23 A5 v.13 Athenian Agora: The Neolithic and Bronze Ages
GN816.F73 H36 Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece
Class Schedule (Subject to change)
September
9: Introduction; Aegean Geography and Environment; Chronology - methods and outline
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Introduction, Chap.1, Rutter, Introduction
11: Franchthi Cave
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap.2, Rutter, Lesson 1
ARTICLE: Jacobsen, T.W., "17,000 years of Greek Prehistory," Scientific American 234:6 (June 1976)75-87
ARTICLE: Runnels, C.N., "Greece before the Greeks," Archaeology 42:2 (March/April 1989) 43-47
RESERVE: Hansen, Palaeoethnobotany of Franchti Cave chapters 1,11,12 (GN816.F73 H36)
16: Neolithic village life in Thessaly, Crete and the Cyclades
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 3, Rutter, Lesson 2 (click the image button in this lesson to see images of Neolithic Lerna)
RESERVE: Renfrew, Emergence of Civilization 63-80
ARTICLE: Rodden, R.J., "An Early Neolithic village in Greece," Scientific American 212:4 (April 1965) 82-92
18: Early Helladic, monumental architecture, and social hierarchy
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 4 to middle of pg. 59, Rutter, Lessons 3 and 8
RESERVE: Renfrew, Emergence of Civilization 99-120, 362-403
ARTICLE: Wiencke, M.H., "Change in Early Helladic II," American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989) 495-509
ARTICLE: Pullen, D.J., "A lead seal from Tsoungiza, Ancient Nemea, and Early Bronze Age Aegean sealing systems," American Journal of Archaeology 98 (1994) 35-52
23: Troy in the Early Bronze Age
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 4 to middle of pg. 59, Rutter, Lesson 7
RESERVE: Renfrew, Emergence of Civilization 121-134
RESERVE: Blegen, Troy and the Trojans 21-91
25: Early Cyladic culture: figurines and frying pans
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 4 to middle of pg. 59, Rutter, Lesson 4
RESERVE: Renfrew, The Cycladic Spirit 31-105
30: Early Minoan
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 4 to middle of pg. 59, Chap. 5 pg. 95 to top of 108, 130-132, 144-146, 168 to top of 172, 179 to top of 184, Rutter, Lessons 5 and 6
RESERVE: Renfrew, Emergence of Civilization 81-98
October
2: Middle Helladic
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 5 top of 108 to 109, 114-115, 220-222, Rutter, Lesson 9
7: Middle Minoan: Proto-Palatial
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 4 pgs. 60-69, Chap. 5 pgs. 109-113, 144-149, Rutter, Lessons 10 and 11
RESERVE: Lawrence, Greek Architecture 35-41
RESERVE: Willetts, The Civilization of Ancient Crete 91-99
9: Minoan Palaces
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 4 pgs. 69-77, Chap. 5 pgs. 149 - top of 153, Rutter, Lessons 12 and 13
RESERVE: Graham, The Palaces of Crete Chaps. II, III sections 1-2, 9, IV-VI
14: Minoan Palaces and Non-Palatial Architecture
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 5 pgs. 149 - top of 153, Chap. 6 pgs. 212-220, Rutter, Lesson 13
RESERVE: Graham, The Palaces of Crete Chaps. II, III sections 1-2, 9, IV-VI
16: Minoan Art
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 5 pgs. 115-118, 122-130, 136-140, 164-167, 172-177, Rutter, Lesson 14
RESERVE: Immerwahr, Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age Chap. 2
21-23: Minoan Religion
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 8 up to pg. 286, Rutter, Lesson 15
RESERVE: Rutkowski, Cult Places in the Aegean World Chaps. 5 and 6
ARTICLE: Y. Sakellarakis and E. Sapouna-Sakellarakis, "Drama of Death in a Minoan Temple" National Geographic 159.2 (1981) 205-222
28-30: The Shaft Graves
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 5 pgs.197-207, Rutter, Lesson 16
RESERVE: Mylonas, Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age Chaps. I and IV
November
4: Akrotiri
TEXTBOOK: Rutter, Lessons 17 and 18
RESERVE: Doumas, Thera Chaps. 4-8
6: Mycenaean Architecture: Tholoi and Chamber Tombs
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap.6 pg. 220-232, Rutter, Lesson 19
RESERVE: Mylonas, Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age Chap.V
RESERVE: Lawrence, Greek Architecture pgs. 77-86
11: Mycenaean Architecture: Citadels and Palaces
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 5 pg. 153-164, Rutter, Lessons 20 and 21
RESERVE: Mylonas, Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age Chaps. II and III
RESERVE: Lawrence, Greek Architecture pgs. 87-109
13-18: Mycenaean Art
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 5 pgs. 118-130, 140-143, 167-168, 177-179, Rutter, Lesson 24
RESERVE: Immerwahr, Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age Chap. 6
20: Mycenaean Trade and Society
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 5 pg 193-197, Chap. 7, Rutter, Lessons 22 and 25
RESERVE:Chadwick, The Mycenaean World Chaps. 2, 4, and 5
25: Mycenaean Religion
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 6 pgs. 286-294, Rutter, Lesson 26
December
1: Troy and the Trojan War
TEXTBOOK: Rutter, Lessons 23 and 27
RESERVE: Woods, In Search of the Trojan War pgs. 111-144
RESERVE: Chadwick, The Mycenaean World Chap. 10
3: The Mycenaean Collapse
TEXTBOOK: Rutter, Lesson 28
RESERVE: Hooker, Mycenaean Greece Chap. 7
9: Post Bronze Age Greece: the Dark Ages
TEXTBOOK: Dickinson, Chap. 9, Rutter, Lesson 29
RESERVE: Lawrence, Greek Architecture Chaps. 8, 9
11: Conclusions
READING: Everything we've read this semester