Paper Topics: Discovering the Roman Provinces and Designing a Roman City

Roman Architecture (HSAR 252)

Kleiner presents the three options for the course's term paper, which fall into two main categories: a research paper or a project to design a Roman city. For the research paper, she suggests cities and monuments not covered or mentioned briefly in the lectures, which embody some of the themes and issues raised in the course. Such topics include, in the Eastern Empire, the Roman cities of Corinth and Gerasa (Jerash), the Library of Celsus at Ephesus, and the Temple of Bel and the tower tombs at Palmyra. In the West, possible subjects are the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum; funerary architecture in Pompeii; a Roman villa at Fishbourne; Roman baths at Bath; and the private houses at Vaison-la-Romaine. Students may also study a site or monument of their choice, provided that the topic is pre-approved by Professor Kleiner. The lecture concludes with an overview of the "Design a Roman City" option, in which students draw or generate plans and other representations of a hypothetical Roman city of 10,000 inhabitants, accompanied by a paper supporting their proposal.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to the Term Paper: Requirements and Resources
04:36 - Chapter 2. Option 1: Research Paper and Corinth and Ephesus
15:21 - Chapter 3. The Library of Celsus at Ephesus
23:28 - Chapter 4. Gerasa and Palmyra
37:24 - Chapter 5. The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum and the Getty Villa
46:48 - Chapter 6. Further Research Options in England, Israel, Italy, and France
55:57 - Chapter 7. Option 2: Select a Building, Select a Theme
57:15 - Chapter 8. Tower Tombs at Palmyra
58:19 - Chapter 9. Option 3: Design Your Own Roman City

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.