Pagans, Christians and the Art of Late Antiquity

Overview

What you will study

• 313 to 565 CE mark the period from Emperor Constantine’s legalisation of Christianity in the Roman Empire to the death of Emperor Justinian, under whom the Byzantine Empire was at its largest and most powerful. It was a period of remarkable transition within the Mediterranean world: Christianity emerged from suppression to become the dominant religion; the capital of Rome moved to Constantinople in 330 and the Western Empire fell in the fifth century. The Eastern half, now known as Byzantium, continued for another 1000 years.
• Late Antiquity produced some of the most fascinating and perplexing works of art ever created. In this period we see a large-scale emergence of Christian art, which often borrowed directly from Roman pagan iconographies, materials and traditions, but assumed altogether new meanings and functions. This Pagans, Christians and the Art of Late Antiquity course offered by The Courtauld Institute of Art will explore this topic.