The Bay of Naples was inhabited well before the Romans. Oscans, Samnites, Etruscans and Greeks all contributed to the area’s unique history which we will trace from the Bronze Age to the present day. The area rewards us with unsurpassed natural beauty, an abundance of exciting archaeological wonders and a wealth of history and culture still pulsating around and beyond Vesuvius. We will travel to many famous and less known sites including Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, Boscoreale, Oplontis, Cumae, Pozzuoli, Sperlonga, Paestum, Capri, Ischia and Naples and include some of the most recent discoveries and new museums.

DELIVERY MODE

• Online

SUGGESTED READING

• Beard, Mary, 2008, Pompeii: The life of a Roman town, London
• Blanchard, P., 2007, Blue Guide: Southern Italy, London
• Cooley, A.E. and Cooley, M.G.L., 2004, Pompeii: A Sourcebook, New York
• Lancaster, J.,2005, In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A cultural history of Naples, New York
• Osborne, R., 2009 (2nd ed), Greece in the Making 1200-479BC, New York
• Wallace-Hadrill, A., 2011, Herculaneum: Past and Future, Princeton

COURSE OUTLINE

• The Geology of the Bay of Naples including the “Bronze Age Pompeii” preserved by the 2nd millennium BC Avellino eruption of Vesuvius.
• Greek colonisation in the Bay of Naples – Pithekoussai (Ischia) and Cumae
• The Etruscans, Oscans and Romans in Campania
• The north western coast – Pozzuoli, Misenum, Baia, the Phlegrian Fields – including some exciting new archaeological sites recently opened in this area
• The eruption of Vesuvius and the wider threat of the Campi Flegrei super volcano – a geological perspective
• The history of the excavations and excavators.
• Pompeii and Herculaneum – some unusual perspectives and the latest excavation and museum news
• Oplontis and Stabiae and some ongoing archaeological work
• Capri, Sorrento and Paestum
• Naples, Capua and Caserta

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Appreciate the area of the Bay of Naples as a whole – including the dynamic city of Napoli itself - and more fully comprehend the place of Pompeii and Herculaneum within this broader context.
2. Have a good understanding of the dynamic geology which formed the region and the societies within it.
3. Enjoy a thorough knowledge of the ancient societies and archaeology of the Bay and how they interacted with other regions
4. Gain appreciation of the variety and beauty of the natural environment and material culture of the cities of the Bay.