61:090:378. The Myth of Rome from Augustus
to Fellini
This course will investigate the “myth of Rome,” that is, its symbolic
importance to residents and outsiders from the first to the twentieth
century. Already in the time of emperor Augustus, Rome was both
fashioning myths about its origins and promoting an image of its present
greatness. In the Middle Ages, it became the seat of the papacy,
with similar ‘universal’ ideas about its rule, while European emperors
drew on its imperial legacy for legitimation and the city itself struggled
with its republican and papal heritages. Renaissance Rome promoted both
Christian and ancient legacies in its projects of urban renewal; in the
seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, Rome became a magnet for educated
European elites on the “Grand Tour” who romanticized its great past. In
the twentieth century, Mussolini associated his political program with
Rome’s imperial heritage, and undertook urbanistic projects of unprecedented
scope, but the postwar period witnessed an ironic response to this legacy,
as reflected in Fellini’s film Roma.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Two presentations on physical sites in Rome: 10% each. (I will
distribute suggested topics; students may also choose their own with
my permission)
Comments on readings and participation in discussion: 30%
Final research paper: 60%
SCHEDULE
6 September. Introduction.
Lecture on Augustan Rome. Maps and models: city center; Republican-era Forum; Imperial-era forums and Palatine Hill;
Imperial Forums, closeup;
Models of Roman Forum and Palatine
Hill; larger view of
model of ancient Rome. Link to interactive
map of ancient city.
13 September. Discussion of Augustan Rome. Readings: Livy, De Urbe
Condita, pp. 1-72; Suetonius, “Life of Augustus,” “Life of Nero.”
Student presentations on specific sites or monuments in imperial
Rome.
Lecture on Christian Rome (4th-12th c). Images here
20 September. Discussion of early-medieval Rome. Readings: Einhard,
“Life of Charlemagne” [9th c], excerpts; letters between Emperor Henry
IV and Pope Gregory VII [11th c]; Krautheimer, “Rome: Portrait of a City,”
excerpts on twelfth century; Mirabilia urbis Romae (Wonders of the City
of Rome [12th c]), excerpts.
Lecture on 14th-century Rome: Nobles and Senators. List of 13th-c
Popes and Senators here
27 September. Discussion of Fourteenth-century Rome. Readings:
Collins, Greater than Emperor, chapters 1-3; Petrarch, selected letters
to and about Cola.
Lecture on Renaissance Rome.
4 October. Discussion of Renaissance Rome. Readings: Erasmus, Julius
Exclusus, excerpts; Charles Stinger, Renaissance Rome, excerpts.
Student presentations on monuments or urban projects of the Renaissance.
Lecture on 18th-century Rome: The Grand Tour.
11 October. Discussion of 18th-century Rome. Readings: Goethe,
Voyage to Italy, excerpts.
Student presentations on Grand Tour art
Lecture on the 19th century: from Napoleon to Unification
18 October. Discussion of Napoleon. Reading: Valérie Huet,
“Napoleon I: a new Augustus?”, in Roman Presences 53-69.
Student presentations on aspects of Napoleon’s “Romanness”.
Lecture on Fascist Rome.
25 October. Discussion of Fascism. Readings: Marla Stone, “A flexible
Rome: Fascism and the cult of romanità,” in Roman Presences, 205-220;
Corradini and d’Annunzio speeches in Italian Fascisms, 146-8, 181-91.
Lecture: Postwar Rome
1 November: Film: “Fellini’s Roma” (1972), 2 hours 9 minutes.
8 November. Submission of project proposals and bibliographies
15 November. One-on-one meetings with project updates
[22 November: Wednesday classes. No meeting.]
29 November: Rough drafts due.
6 December: meetings with students about drafts.
13 December: Final drafts due.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING:
These are just some titles I have consulted or come across in developing
the course, which may get you started or give you ideas for research
topics. A few are in foreign languages, in case you read them and/or
because they have useful images.
Ancient
Jones, A.H. M. Augustus. New York, 1970. [basic biography]
(ALEX DG279 J64)
Mommsen, Theodor. A History of Rome under the Emperors. London
and New York, 1992. (ALEX DG270 M6513)
Cooley, M. G. L. The Age of Augustus. London, 2003. [collection
of primary-source excerpts, including Augustus’ 6-page “autobiography”
and some brief descriptions of Rome from contemporaries.] (ALEX DG279
A58)
MacDonald, W. L. “Empire Imagery in Augustan Architecture,” in
The Age of Augustus: Interdisciplinary Conference held at Brown University,
ed. Rolf Winkes (Providence, 1985), 137-48.
Kellum, B. “Sculptural Programs and Propaganda in Augustan Rome:
The Temple of Apollo on the Palatine,” in The Age of Augustus (see above),
169-176.
Favro, Diane. The Urban Image of Augustan Rome. Cambridge, 1996.
Medieval
Birch, Debra. Pilgrimage to Rome in the Middle Ages. Continuity
and Change. Woodbridge, Eng., 1998. (Alex BX2320.5 I8 B57)
Holloway, R. Ross. Constantine and Rome. New Haven, 2004. (ART
NA5620 A1 H65)
Krautheimer, Richard. Three Christian Capitals: Topography and
Politics. Berkeley, 1983. [On Rome, Constantinople, and Milan.] (ART
DG63 K7)
Krautheimer, Richard. Saint Peter’s and Medieval Rome. Rome, 1985
[40 pp.] (ART NA5620 S9 K72)
Kessler, Herber. Rome 1300: On the path of the pilgrim. New Haven,
2000. (ART N7952 R6 A73)
Magnuson, Torgil. The Urban Transformation of Medieval Rome, 312-1420.
2004. (ART NA1120 M23)
Renaissance
(there are innumerable books on individual artists, popes, and
sites. This is a tiny sampling to get you started.)
Hall, Marcia, ed. Rome. (Artistic Centers of the Italian
Renaissance Series.) Cambridge, 2005.
Partner, Peter. Renaissance Rome.
Stinger, C. L. “Roma Triumphans: Triumphs in the Thought and Ceremonies
of Renaissance Rome,” Medievalia et Humanistica n.s. 10 (1981): 189-201
Shaw, Christine. Julius II: The Warrior Pope. Oxford, 1993. (ALEX
BX1314.5 S45)
Weiss, Roberto. The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity.
Oxford, 1969. (ALEX DG431 W4)
Baroque
(we are not covering this era specifically but there are certainly
potential projects in the 17th c if you are interested)
Krautheimer, Richard. The Rome of Alexander VII, 1655-67.
Princeton, 1985. (ART NA 9204 R7 K7)
Labrot, Gerard. L’image de Rome. Une arme pour la contre-reforme,
1534-1677. Champ Vallon, 1987. [Italian trans Roma caput mundi: L’immagine
barocca della città santa, Naples 1997.]
Grand Tour
Piranesi and the XVIIII century view in Rome. [catalog.]
Rome, 1998. (ALEX NE662. P5 A4)
Hornsby, Clare, ed. The Impact of Italy: The Grand Tour and Beyond.
London, 2000. [collection of articles] ART DA47.9 I8 I47
Byron, George Gordon Brown (Lord Byron). Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
and Other Romantic Poems. New York, 1936. [fourth canto is about the protagonist’s
travels in Italy, with much on Rome, pp. 133-204] KILMER PR4352 C45
Martin, Robert K. and Leland S Person. Roman Holidays. American
Writers and Artists in Nineteenth-Century Italy. Iowa City, 2002. (ALEX
PS159 I8 R66)
Lyon, John. “Henry James and the Anxiety of Rome,” in Roman Presences.
Receptions of Rome in European Culture, 1789-1945, ed. Catharine Edwards
(Cambridge, 1999), 140-156.
19th century
Sanfilippo, Mario. La costruzione di una capitale:
Roma 1911-45. Cinisello Balsamo, 1993. (ART NA1120 S285)
Mack Smith, Denis. Victor Emanuel, Cavour, and the Risorgimento.
London & New York, 1971. (Alex)
Riall, Lucy. The Italian Risorgimento: state, society, and national
unification. London & New York, 1994. (Alex)
Mafai, Miriam. Roma cent’anni fa. Rome, 1973. (ART)
Il Vittoriano: materiali per una storia. Rome, 1986 (ART)
Brice, Catherine. Monumentalité publique et politique à
Rome: Le Vittoriano. Rome, 1998.
Fascism
Anderson, Wayne. The Ara Pacis of Augustus and Mussolini:
An archeological mystery. Geneva & Boston, 2003. (ART NB133 A64)
Painter, Borden. Mussolini’s Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City.
New York, 2005.
Lasansky, D. Medina. Renaissance Perfected: Architecture, Spectacle,
and Tourism in Fascist Italy. Penn State Press, 2005.
Whittam, John. Fascist Italy. Manchester, Eng, 1995. (ALEX DG571
W46)
Fogu, Claudio. The Historic Imaginary. Politics of History in Fascist
Italy. Toronto, 2003. (ALEX DG571 F63)
Gentile, Emilio. The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy,
trans. Keith Botsford. Cambridge, MA, 1996. (ALEX DG571 G3913)
Kostof, “Emperor and Duce,” in Art and Architecture in the Service
of Politics. Cambridge, MA. (ART N8236 P5 A77)
Domenico, Roy Palmer. Remaking Italy in the Twentieth Century.
Lanham, MD 2002.
General/across time periods
O’Grady, Desmond. Rome Reshaped: Jubilees 1300-2000. New
York, 1999.
Fagiolo, Marcello and Maria Luisa Madonna. Roma 1300-1875: La città
degli anni santi. Milan, 1985. [catalog] (ART NA1120 R56)
