This course helps students develop their abilities in primary text analysis and deepens their understanding of broad historiographical and methodological problems. Students are familiarized with cultural historical, material culture, sociological and anthropological models for studying historical movements in the ancient and medieval eras. As a result students will have:
- developed the capacity for close analysis of sources related to ceremonial culture and identify key elements that communicate identity and ideology through the use of sociological and anthropological frameworks
- learned to interact with a variety of sources (literary and liturgical texts in edited and manuscript form, archaeological records, art historical sources and legal sources) leading to a more holistic understanding of the 'meaning' of a given ceremony in its context, with an awareness of the distinct scholarly methods applicable to each discipline
- gained an appreciation for the central importance of ceremonial as invented tradition in the creation and maintenance of power structures throughout history, with a special focus on Roman ceremonial as template in other places and times
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Triumphs, processions and public religious ceremonies were key ways in which the identity of Rome was shaped and communicated. Throughout its ancient and medieval history, the city of Rome was host to a wide variety of ritual practices through which imperial, papal and communal identities were formed. Many of these ceremonies anchored themselves in the past by adopting features of older practices: papal coronations imitated imperial triumphs, Christian celebrations borrowed from pagan festivals. Roman practice also influenced ceremonial practice in the rest of Western Europe and Byzantium, as the Byzantine and Carolingian Empires sought to establish their authority in Roman precedent. In this course we will explore the many layers of ceremonial life in Rome and beyond, exploring anthropological and sociological approaches to the questions how and why such traditions were 'invented'. |
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