The Faculty Board of Architecture and History of Art give notice that the period covered by the special subject for Paper 2 and 3 (Rome: from Imperial Capital to Holy City) specified in the Reporter, p. 434, has been reduced from AD 300-1500 to AD 300-1300. The rubric (given below) is unchanged.
This course will consider the transformation of antique Rome from late Antiquity to the Quattrocento. The Early Christian city appropriated the legacy of the ancients, transforming antique structures into Christian places of worship and imposing new typologies and meanings. The re-use of spolia and the continuity of craft traditions kept alive aspects of imperial culture throughout the Early Christian and medieval period. Later, as the city shrank to a small nucleus on the banks of the Tiber and ancient monuments fell into ruin, the relationship between antiquity and the Christian tradition shifted. The dynamics of the relationship between the papacy and the commune of Rome further complicated the city's evolution. The course will consider Rome in its broadest sense: its urban planning, devotional and secular architecture, mosaics, frescoes, and sculpture.