SMU in Rome-Paris Study Abroad
ROME OF THE EMPERORS, PARIS OF THE KINGS
Summer, 2017
May 18-June 11
Directors/Faculty: Melissa Barden Dowling, Kathleen Wellman
This program is intended to provide a coherent interdisciplinary approach to the history of the
West from the founding of Rome to the French Revolution. Students will take both courses and
receive 6 hours of credit, credit for two honors courses, and credit for several UC requirements.
ROME:
Hist 2354: Ancient Foundations of Modern Civilization
Course readings: Mary Beard, SPQR (textbook); J. Shelton, As the Romans Did (primary
sources in translation); Amanda Claridge, Rome (Oxford Archaeological Guides). Hand-outs on
site of plans, vocabulary, supplemental primary sources, primer on Latin inscriptions, etc.
Course assignments: Students will read Beard before arriving in Rome and turn in a ten-page
outline of the book. The outline will be graded. Shelton and Claridge will be used on site. All
students will keep a daily journal of sketches, notes and analysis of sites, objects and problems.
The journal will be graded. In addition, each student will pick a broad topic during the first three
class days and focus extra attention and research on this topic, collecting evidence and
observations as the course proceeds. A 10 page analytical paper on the topic, drawing on course
readings and in-situ observations, will be due July 1st. I will provide a thorough critique of
content and style. Students will rewrite the paper and submit on August 1.
Grading: outline of Beard, 10%; participation in discussion and attention on site, 25%; daily
journals 25%; initial paper draft 10%; final draft 30%.
PARIS:
3335CF/ HIST One King, One Law:
Course Readings: Mack Holt, Renaissance and Reformation France, 1500-1648; William
Doyle, Old Regime France, 1648-1785; Colin Jones, Paris: Biography of a City, Moliere,
Tartuffe, excerpts of Descartes, Discourse on Method, Voltaire, Philosophical Letters, and other
short, supplemental primary sources, handouts on sites visited.
Course assignments: Students will read and outline Holt and Doyle before arriving in Paris.
This exercise will give them an overview of the period to guide their visits and understanding of
the period. All students will keep a daily journal of notes and analysis of sites, texts, and lecture
materials. The journal will be graded. In addition, each student will pick a topic of particular
interest. Students will read and produce a 10 page critical, comparative review of two books on
that topic. A first draft will be due August 1st. Each paper will receive a thorough critique of
content, style, and argumentation. Students will produce a final paper of sufficient quality to
warrant honors credit by August 20.
Grading: Outline of Holt 10%, outline of Doyle 10%, participation in discussion in class 20%,
journal 30%, draft of final paper 15%, final version of critical review 15%
Rome Itinerary and Class Topics:
Sunday, April X: Orientation; pre-departure readings assigned
Wednesday, May 17: Students depart for Rome.
Thursday, May 18: Students arrive in Rome, check-in and orientation with Professor Dowling
and IES staff and faculty.
An introductory walking tour of Rome. A cooking class, with an introduction to Italian markets
and cuisine, will be held in the first three day period.
Friday, May 19: Forum Romanum and Capitoline Museums
Topics: Ancient city foundation, urbanization, development of Roman political
institutions from the monarchy through the Empire
Saturday, May 20: Walking tour of the Colosseum, Imperial Fora, Markets of Trajan,
Pantheon, Ara Pacis, Mausoleum of Augustus. Illuminated night show at the Imperial
Fora.
Topics: Fall of the Roman Republic and establishment of the Empire, Imperial Rome,
Roman religion and the imperial cult. Development of Roman monumental architecture,
Sunday, May 21: Palazzo Massimo and Terme (National Museums of Rome), Porta
Maggiore
Topics: Representations of the individual across Roman history, Roman economy, urban
infrastructure.
Monday, May 22: No class
Tuesday, May 23: Field trip to Ostia Antica. Travel by local train
Topics: Daily life during the Roman Empire.
Wednesday, May 24: Field trip to Tivoli to tour the Villa of Hadrian, the “Temple of Vesta,”
and the Villa D’Este. Travel by rented coach.
Topics: Roman elite culture and the idealization of rural spaces; and the idealization of
rural spaces; landscape architecture
Thursday, May 25: Vatican Museums, Vatican apartments, Sistine Chapel and Saint
Peters
Topics: The fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity. The legacy of the
Classical World in Medieval and Renaissance Rome
Friday, May 26: No class
Saturday, May 27: Baths of Caracalla, Circus Maximus, Forum Boarium, Theater of
Marcellus.
Topics: Roman spectacles and the role of competition in Roman culture, the social
history of public bathing, Hellenization of Roman culture.
Sunday, May 28: Museo della Mura, Via Appia Antica, the Catacombs
Topics: Rome and its roads, memory and monuments of the dead, intersections of ancient
polytheism and early Christianity.
Monday, May 29: End of the ancient city: Pantheon and the Campus Martius, S. Maria in
Trastevere.
Topics: Destruction and transformation of Roman institutions in Late Antiquity and the
Middle Ages, the rediscovery of antiquity during the Renaissance.
PARIS
Sunday, April X Pre-trip Orientation
Tuesday, May 30: Students fly to Paris, check-in and orientation with Professor Wellman and
IES staff.
Wednesday, May 1 Early Paris
AM : Excavations under Notre Dame, Arènes de Lutèce, Baths of Cluny,Montagne de Ste.
Geneviève
Topics: The nature and extent of the earliest settlements of Paris, the Romans settlement
of Paris, early Christianity in France, the role of Ste. Genevieve in history and myth
PM: Musee de Cluny
Topics: Romans baths and artifacts, medieval arts
Thursday, June 1 The Medieval Church in Paris
AM: Ste. Chapelle
Topics: The Monarchy of Louis IX, Religion and Crusades; Stained Glass and Religious
Instruction, the Crown and the Church
PM : Notre Dame; College des Bernardins
Topics: Religion in the City of Paris, the Monastic Tradition, Scholasticism and the rise
of the university Church state conflicts of the 14th century
Friday, June 2 The Royal Presence
AM: Chateau de Vincennes
Topics: The Evolution of the monarchy from Louis IX to Charles VI, the contested nature
of political power, the role of nobility, palace architecture and royal authority, the Hundred
Years War
PM: Basilica of St. Denis
Topics: Overview Valois Monarchy
Saturday, June 3: Day off
Sunday, June 4: Arts and the Renaissance
The Louvre
Topics: the Renaissance arts, the influence of Italy, humanism, the career of the artist in
Italy and France, the distinctive character of the arts in Renaissance France
Monday, June 5: The Renaissance Monarch
Fontainebleau
Topics: The reign of Francis I, the character of the Renaissance monarchy, the rivalry
between Hapsburg and Valois, the role of women in the courts, the Fontainebleau school of
French painting
Tuesday, June 6: From Renaissance to Catholic Reform in the City of Paris
Hotel des Sens; Hotel Sully; hotels particuliers of the Marais; St. Paul et St.Louis, Place de
Vosges; St. Eustache
Topics: the Renaissance in Paris, the Wars of Religion, the rebuilding of Paris by French
kings and queens, Catherine de Medici, Henry IV, Louis XIII, the Catholic Reformation
Wednesday, June 7: Day off
Thursday, June 8: The Bourbon Monarchs and the Culture of the seventeenth century
Versailles
Topics: The culture of absolutism, royal propaganda and spectacle, the reigns of Louis
XIV, the arts of the baroque and rococo
Friday, June 9 The Culture of the Sciences
AM Arts et Métiers, Le Jardin des plantes
Topics: The Scientific Revolution, the creation of museums,
PM Walking tour of 17th Paris
Topics royal cultivation of the city and the arts in the city
Saturday, June 10: Eighteenth-Century Paris to the Revolution
AM Walking tour of 18th century Paris
Topics: the Enlightenment, the Regency of Philippe d’Orléans, the philosophes, the
creation of the public sphere
PM Pantheon
Topics: The Reigns of Louis XVI and initial events of the Revolution, the religious and
secular in national identity, the lasting legacy of the French Revolution
Sunday, June 11 Students depart