- Event Description
including Speaker/Performer
As major
international cities, these metropolitan
capitals have something
in common: they share a majestic legacy, for each contains
portions of the
Parthenon, one of humanity’s greatest artistic achievements.
The story of the
Parthenon combines the beauty and epitome of Western
art and architecture with
the drama of looting antiquities, all in the name of
“empire.” Your mission
will be to put the Parthenon back together.
May 21–June 3, 2017
The Parthenon from
Pericles to the Present (TX 200A) is a one-credit interdisciplinary
travel seminar taught by
Skidmore professors Michael Arnush and Leslie
Mechem that will
introduce students to the long and storied history of the
Parthenon, its
sculptures, and the age of Pericles that created them. For 200
years the Parthenon on
the Athenian Acropolis has been separated from its
sculptural decorations,
most of which reside in the British Museum in London as
the “Elgin Marbles.” This
travel seminar will enable you to reunite the marbles in
London with the Temple to
Athena in Athens and, to study, first on campus and
then abroad, the art,
architecture, history, politics and culture of ancient Athens during the golden
age of Pericles.
Michael Arnush, Associate Professor and
Chair of the Classics Department. Professor
Arnush specializes in
Greek and Roman history, especially the origins, development and
collapse of Athenian
democracy in the archaic and classical periods. His latest project is a
book-length study of the
5th-century BCE defeat of the Persian empire by the Greeks,
specifically the Athenian
victory at the Battle of Salamis in 480.
Leslie Mechem, Lecturer in the Classics
Department and Director of the Gender Studies
Program. Professor Mechem
specializes in Greek and Roman art and archaeology, especially
the propagandistic
significance of 5th-century Athenian architecture and sculpture,
and the roles of women in
ancient Greece and Rome. Her most recent work focuses on the
looting and marketing of
antiquities, including the Parthenon marbles, today conveniently
called the “Elgin
Marbles.”
Professors Arnush and
Mechem are both alumni of the University of Pennsylvania and the
American School of
Classical Studies in Athens. They look forward to sharing their passions
for London and Athens
with students interested in the ancient world.