The topic for this course changes each semester. Consult the instructor or an advisor in the Religion Department for specific details.

Weekly class lectures and on-site visits examine the period from the time of Constantine 312-337 AD until the time of Mohammed and the early Islamic period. Through a survey of architecture forms, sculpture portraiture, historical relief, sarcophagi and decorative systems wall paintings, mosaics , students explore fundamental political, religious and cultural changes in the Mediterranean world and their implications on art and architecture up to the 8th century AD. Special attention is drawn to the changing formal and stylistic language of late Roman art, the rise of Christianity and the origins of its art, the influence of the Byzantine world Constantinople on the art of the West and on the early Islamic art.