Archaeology Boot-Camp
 where students read, write, think and dream Classical Archaeology

July 18th – July 22nd: ASSISI

Classes

Classes include intensive lectures and discussion classes with HS faculty and visiting faculty to prepare students for our week-long, on-site study of both Paestum and Pompeii. Classes include: Greek city-planning, Roman city-planning (a history), Greek and Roman epigraphy (a laboratory in which each student translates and interprets both a public and a private inscription), Roman frescoes in Pompeii, an introduction to the 4 styles, Homes in ancient Greek and Rome (each student does a brief report on a house in Pompeii or Paestum), baths and gymnasiums, temple architecture: Greek, Roman, and Etruscan, Mosaics — aesthetics and function. Students also spend one part of one afternoon and one morning doing  research in our HS library on one Greek and one Roman topic which they have selected from our HSABC list of topics. Then, when we are down south on-site , each student acts as a tour guide for the rest of the group. While students are doing their research, they have a designated HSABC tutor to help them with each topic. Staff is on hand to answer questions, make suggestions (if asked!) about books or sites to consult, go over the finished product (in some cases hand-written notes, in some, sketches, in some — powerpoints!) and give individual feedback. Student mini-classes might focus on one particular mosaic, or an amphitheater or a swimming pool, or compare three family shrines, what is important is to illuminate aspects of these ancient cities for the rest of the group.

Excursions

During their time in Assisi, students will go on an in-depth HSABC tour of Roman Assisi, including an archaeological treasure hunt (in which everyone has to find one particular Roman building, street, or square, and one Latin inscription — to help students get a sense of the Roman city.  We will look at examples of Roman frescoes (and the Renaissance frescoes which imitated them!) in Assisi to introduce students to the 4 Pompeian styles. On the Saturday before we go south, students will tour the beautiful 1st b.c. patrician domus in Assisi, referred to as the house of Propertius, and thought by many to have belonged to the poet’s family. Students who have attended the HSIA session will acts as guides to the rest of the group at some of our Assisi Roman sites.

Home-Base in Assisi

Our Home-Base in Assisi is  a turn of the century schoolhouse in the midst of the peaceful and breath-taking Subasio National Park and the casa colonica, (Italian farmhouse) next door.  Students live in singles, doubles, and triples with views of fields, plum trees, mountains, rabbits, kittens, and dogs.

July 22nd – July 29th PAESTUM

Classes

We sometimes have classes at Villa Lucia, sometimes on site, depending on what we are seeing that day. Morning Classes include: Your Paestum (or Your Pompeii): Writing about what we see; Sleuths of the Past, techniques of archaeology and the archaeological imagination. Students study the methodologies and work of great seminal archaeologists (from Schliemann to Maiuri) and experiment with them on-site.

Survival Italian; (a very short class, usually 20 minutes a day)  to help get oriented at sites, museums, and cafes. Includes some readings in Italian, about what we are going to see that day. Spotlight on Paestum, Spotlight on Pompeii: These are discussion classes in which students study specific monuments or works of art in Paestum or Pompeii. Typically, we will look at two or three images a class, and HSABC faculty will ask students a series of questions. This class helps students develop both their abilities to observe and their archaeological intuitions. Mini-themes for spotlight on Paestum  (July 22nd- July 24th) include The archaic smile: expression in ancient Greek sculpture and The Greek temple: From Archaic to Classic . 
Mini-themes for spotlight on Pompeii  (July 26th- July 27th) include: Mini-History of the Roman fresco and Inventing private space: the Roman domus.

Excursions

Excursions include repeated trips to Pompeii and Paestum (the archaeological area and the wonderful museum which complements it so well), one day spent touring the Amalfi Coast (Amalfi, Positano, and Minori and Vetrii — cathedrals, beaches, lemon groves, Roman villas, open-air markets, spectacular views — and more!!), two trips to the charming nearby town of Agropoli for pizza and just a walk around, and a day in Naples, at the famous Archaeological Museum,  Piazza Bellini with its wonderful cafes, bookstores and ancient Greek walls .. and generally exploring Naples’ lively neighborhoods.

Home-base Paestum:

Our home-base in Paestum is Villa Lucia a charming, comfortable villa with a garden and a terrace where we eat dinner. The beautiful Paestum beach is just a short walk away. Students and staff swim several times a day  between classes and trips and often go down to the beach for sunsets and moon-watching.