The enduring monuments of Roman art, architecture, and engineering feats such as aqueducts and baths, still in use today, are a reminder of the ingenuity of a culture that has left its imprint on the modern world. With the aid of textual sources, anthropological studies, and the sciences, the course acknowledges the cultures that inspired the Romans (the Hellenistic kingdoms of Alexander the Great and the Etruscans) and then examines the political agenda and building programs of the Republic and the emperors. Topics include Iron Age huts and the imperial palace of Domitian on Palatine Hill; the simple funerary monuments of the masses and the pompous display of statuary and monumental tombs of the wealthy; and grand temples, villas and amphitheatres (such as the Colosseum).