CLAS 311 - Athens Through the Ages

Although Greece was more than just Athens, a familiarity with the religious, civic, and private material culture of Athens is essential for all students of Classical antiquity. This course will follow the urban development of Athens, especially its religious center, the Acropolis, and its civic center, the Agora, from the Prehistoric through the Golden Age of the fifth century BCE to the Byzantine and Ottoman times. In our search of ancient Athens, our primary focus will be how people in Athens carried out their social, political, and religious activities. The history of the Parthenon, from a Classical temple to house the statue of Athena Parthenos, to a Byzantine church for six centuries (6th-12th centuries C.E.) to a mosque from the 15 to the 19th centuries C.E. encapsulates the continuous adaptation of the landscape to the needs of its ever-changing population. In the last part of the course, we will focus on the "rediscovery of Athens" in the wake of the independence of the modern Greek nation with Athens as its capital city and on the conservation and preservation of key monuments in the landscape of modern Athens.