ROME: LUST FOR GLORY

Examines the development of Rome, "the Eternal City," and its continuing presence as both a metaphoric and physical focal point of Italian artistic and cultural sensibilities. Outline the development of Rome's authoritative or "mythical" status in literature, art, architecture and film, beginning in the Augustan era and arriving to today, focusing on significant moments in the creation and expansion of the actual city and its cultural influence in the late-Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the era of the Risorgimento (Unification of Italy), and the rise of Fascism. Develop ability to think critically about how the diverse material productions of writers (historians, playwrights, poets), painters, sculptors, architects, philosophical thinkers, and later filmmakers of the periods covered reflect one another and reflect the ideas and ideologies of their age.