Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology

Catalog description

Topics Rotate: Spring 2026 topic: Olympia. Few sites of Greek antiquity enjoy a global resonance as large as that of Olympia, origin of the Olympic games. And yet, with its monumental archaeological traces reaching from the Bronze Age to late Antiquity, Olympia was more than a venue for athletic competitions. Besides those, the seminar focuses on the development of the site from an early hero cult to panhellenic sanctuary, its embeddedness in the landscape, its various political affiliations and mediterranean networks, its artistic productions, but also on Olympia as tourist destination in antiquity and today. Moreover, the site has been a laboratory of archaeological methods and negotiations of cultural heritage which we will revisit, beginning with the French and German excavations in the 19th century and continuing to this day with the involvement of a larger international community. Nazi Germany (Berlin 1936), Western Germany (Munich 1972), Greece (Athens 2004), and Cornell (Temple of Zeus Caf?will serve as case studies on the modern reception of Olympia. (ARKEO-RMNE, ARKEO-TM)