HELGA The Body in Antiquity: Images, Ideals, and Social Practices
Kursusindhold
The human body is one of the central subjects of ancient visual and material culture. In Greek art it appears as divine or heroic body, as citizen body, as gendered body, as vulnerable or marked body. These representations are not simply images of physical appearance. They show how ancient societies gave visual form to ideas of order, status, beauty, age, gender, power, difference, and belonging.
The course takes body images as a starting point for discussing central questions of classical archaeology and ancient visual culture. It asks how visual conventions shaped the human figure, and how images distinguished between norm and deviation, social roles, cultural identities, and forms of exclusion. Traditional iconographic approaches will be combined with perspectives from gender studies, otherness, and disability studies.
In the course, we will discuss selected examples from Greek visual and material culture, including early Greek vase-painting, terracotta figurines with transformed bodies, sculptures of gods and athletes, portrait heads of philosophers, and funerary stelai. Particular attention will be paid to ideals of the body, to questions of similarity and difference, and to the visual construction of stereotypes. We will also consider ancient depictions of bodily form, facial features, gestures, posture, and attributes were used to express social identities.
The aim is to develop a critical understanding of body images as culturally coded representations. Students will learn to analyse the body not only as an iconographic motif, but as a visual medium through which ancient societies negotiated norms, identities, hierarchies, and forms of difference. Regular attendance, active participation, and preparation for the sessions are expected.
HELGA The Body in Antiquity: Images, Ideals, and Social Practices
Bacheloruddannelsen i forhistorisk arkæologi, 2026-ordningen
Bacheloruddanelsen i klassisk arkæoogi, 2026-ordningen
Bacheloruddannelsen i historie, 2026-ordningen
Bacehloruddannelsen i klassisk græsk, 2026-ordningen
Bacheloruddannelsen i latin, 2026-ordningen
Efter endt kursus kan den studerende demonstrere:
Viden om og forståelse af:
- Et afgrænset etnologisk tematisk område
- Det afgrænsede tematiske områdes teoretiske, metodiske og/eller empiriske nøglebegreber
Færdigheder i at
- Anvende de for det tematiske område relevante teorier og /eller metoder på sikker vis
- Analysere og/eller diskutere empirisk materiale med relevans for det tematiske område.
Kompetencer til at:
- Selvstændigt anvende den terminologi og de videnskabelige arbejdsmåder, der knytter sig til et konkret tematisk område.
- Reflektere kritisk over centrale videnskabelige positioner inden for det tematiske område.
Holdundervisning med studenterinddragelse
Pensumbestemmelser:
Undervisningsmateriale:
The course will use selected archaeological case studies together with modern theories. The full reading list will be provided in Absalon. Core readings may include:
- Boardman, John 1988. „Sex Differentiation in Grave Vases“, Annali di Archeologia e Storia Antica 10, 171–179.
- Cairns, Douglas L. (ed.) 2005. Body Language in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Swansea: Classical Press of Wales.
- Cohen, Beth (eds.) 2000. Not the Classical Ideal. Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art, Leiden/Boston: Brill.
- Coltofean-Arizancu, Laura, Bisserka Gaydarska und Uroš Matić (eds.) 2021. Gender Stereotypes in Archaeology. A Short Reflection in Image and Text, Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- Haug, Annette 2012. Die Entdeckung des Körpers. Körper- und Rollenbilder im Athen des 8. und 7. Jahrhunderts v. Chr., Image & Context 10, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
- Lee, Mireille M. 2009. „Body-Modification in Classical Greece“ in Thorsten Fögen und Mireille M. Lee (eds.), Bodies and Boundaries in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 155–180.
- Matić, Uroš (ed.) 2022. Beautiful Bodies. Gender and Corporeal Aesthetics in the Past, Oxford/Philadelphia: Oxbow Books.
- Meintani, Anastasia 2022. The Grotesque Body in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, Image & Context 22, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
- Miller, Stephen G. 2004. Ancient Greek Athletics, New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
- Nelson, Sarah M. (ed.) 2006. Handbook of Gender in Archaeology, Gender and Archaeology Series, Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
- Porter, James I. (ed.) 1999. Constructions of the Classical Body, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Schultz, Peter und Ralf von den Hoff (eds.) 2007. Early Hellenistic Portraiture. Image, Style and Context, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Prøveform
-
Hjemmeopgave , 4-5 ns. vægtes 50%Hjemmeopgave , 4-5 ns. vægtes 50%
- Prøveformsdetaljer
- Den løbende prøve består af to hjemmeopgaver. Begge opgaver
skal være vurderet bestået for at bestå hele prøven.
Intern prøve ved én bedømmer.
Gruppeprøvebestemmelser: TBA
Eksaminationssprog: Dansk eller engelsk - Hjælpemidler
- Alle hjælpemidler tilladt
- Bedømmelsesform
- 7-trins skala
- Censurform
- Ingen ekstern censur
- Reeksamen
-
Bunden skriftlig hjemmeopgave, 6-10 normalsider. Det gives 7 dage til besvarelsen.
Alle hjælpemidler tilladt.
Intern prøve ved én bedømmer.
Prøven kan kun aflægges individuelt.
Eksaminationssprog: Dansk eller engelsk.
Kriterier for bedømmelse
Se målbeskrivelse.
- Kategori
- Timer
- Holdundervisning
- 42
- Total
- 42
Kursusinformation
- Undervisningssprog
- Engelsk
- Kursusnummer
- HKAB09011U
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Niveau
- Bachelor
- Varighed
-
1 semester
- Placering
- Forår
- Studienævn
- Studienævnet for Saxo-Instituttet
Udbydende institut
- Saxo-Instituttet - Arkæologi, Etnologi, Historie og Græsk og Latin
Udbydende fakultet
- Det Humanistiske Fakultet
Kursusansvarlig
- Sabine Neumann (14-7563646b7067307067776f637070426a776f306d7730666d)
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Kursusinformation for indskrevne studerende