The Humanistic Tradition I

From the Ancient World to The Reformation

Course Outline

I. Orientation to the Course and the Five Perennial Questions.

II. Mankind Invents Civilization.

A. Prehistory and the Invention of Civilization.
    (Fiero, Introduction)

B. The First Civilizations: Egypt.
    (Fiero, Chapter 1)

C. The First Civilizations: Mesopotamia and the Hebrews.
    (Fiero, Chapter 2)

A. The Development of the Hellenic Style:  Periclean Athens in the Classical Age (Fifth Century BC.)

1. Classical Athens: Literature and Philosophy.
    (Fiero, Chapter 4)

Homer, The Iliad.
Thucydides, “Pericles’ Funeral Oration”, from The Peloponnesian War.
Sophocles, Antigone.
Classical Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle.

2. The Classical Style in Athens.
    (Fiero, Chapter 5)

The Classical Style in Sculpture.
The Classical Style:  The Architecture and Sculpture of the Parthenon.
The Transformation of the Classical Style: The Hellenistic Age, 323-30 BC.

C. The Roman Classical Style: Imperial Rome of the Second Century AD.

1. Rome:  Civilization and Architecture.
    (Fiero, Chapter 6)

Virgil, The Aeneid.
The Roman Style in Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting.

A. Early Christian, Byzantine, and Islamic Styles.

1. The Rise of Christianity Within the Roman World.
   (Fiero, Chapter 8)

The Message of Jesus and the Theology of Paul.

2. The Formation of the Christian Style.
   (Fiero, Chapter 9)

The Growth of the Christian Church and Christian Thought.
Sixth-century Ravenna: Symbolism in Architecture and Art.

B. Aspects of the Medieval Style.

1. Medieval Life and Feudalism.
   (Fiero, Chapter 11)

The Germanic Tribes, Charlemagne, and Early Medieval Art.
The Feudalistic Style:  The Bayeux Tapestry and The Song of Roland.
The Medieval Romance.

2. The Medieval Style and Christianity.
   (Fiero, Chapter 12)

Christian Literature:  Mysticism, Sermons, and the Morality Play (Everyman).
Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy.
The Medieval Church, the Universities, and Scholasticism.

3. The Medieval Style in the Arts.
   (Fiero, Chapter 13)

Monasticism and the Abbey Complex:  Fontenay Abbey, France.
Romanesque Architecture and Scupture: The Pilgrimage Church of Ste Foy,
    Conques, France.
The Gothic Style:  The Abbey Church of Saint Denis, France, Notre-Dame de
    Chartres, Chartres, France and Notre-Dame de Amiens, Amiens, France.
Medieval Painting and Music.

A. The Formation of the Renaissance.

1. The Late Middle Ages (the [terrible] fourteenth century).
   (Fiero, Chapter 15)

Disease (the Black Death), Warfare, and the Decline of the Church.
Transformations in Art and Music:  The Frescoes of Giotto (The Arena
    Chapel, Padua, Italy).

2. The Renaissance Style in Florence, ca. 1400-1500.
   (Fiero, Chapter 16)

The Writings of Francesco Petrarch.
Renaissance Humanism: Pico della Mirandola, Baldassare Castiglione, and
    Niccolò Machiavelli.

3. The Renaissance Style:  Architecture and Sculpture in Florence.
   (Fierro, Chapter 17)

Renaissance Architecture and the Work of Filippo Brunelleschi.
The Renaissance Portrait.
The Renaissance Artist-Scientist: Leonardo da Vinci.
The Art and Architecture of the High Renaissance: Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Renaissance Music.

4. The Renaissance and the Reformation in Northern Europe, the sixteenth century.
   (Fiero, Chapter 19)

Christian Humanism.
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
Northern Renaissance Art: Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald, Hieronymus
    Bosch, and Pieter Brueghel the Elder.
Northern Renaissance Literature: Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, and
    William Shakespeare.

Test I:  17 September 2007

Test II:  26 October 2007

Final Examination:  03 December 2006 @ 11:00am

Internet Analysis:  07 September 2007

Preliminary Topic Statement/Annotated Bibliography:  01 October 2007

Revised Topic Statement and Annotated Bibliography:  22 October 2007

Paper Portfolio:  19 November 2007

Class Report/Analysis of a Work of Art:  TBA depending on the work's period.

This Page is Maintained by Robert W. Brown
Last Update:  12.VII.2007

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