Inescapable Classics
- Ralph Rosen
- College of Arts & Sciences
- First-Year Seminar Grant
The legacy of Greco-Roman traditions in Western culture is everywhere apparent.Whether in the realm of political or legal systems, philosophical and scientific discourse, mythological dreamscapes, psychology, literary genre or aesthetics, the contribution of Greek and Roman culture is routinely invoked sometimes to admire, other times to lament and even deplore. It forms a highly complex narrative of reception and influence, shaped by historical contingencies, individual talents and temperaments, and continually shifting conceptions of what these contributions actually were. This seminar will trace the evolution of the Classical tradition, in all its varied and inconsistent manifestations, primarily (but not exclusively) through the visual arts. It will be a museum-based course, organized around four important Philadelphia museums or collections: (1) The Penn Museum (for ancient artifacts), (2) Penn’s manuscript collection within Van Pelt Special Collections (where we will examine original manuscripts of the Medieval and Renaissance periods that transmit Classical culture), (3) The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and (4) The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, both of which house many examples of painting and sculpture deeply informed by the Classical tradition.