Cultural Foundations I: CFI-UF 9101 – 085
Tuesdays 10:00-1:00
Professor Mahnaz Yousefzadeh
NYU in London Fall 2012
My16@nyu.edu
Phone number: 07435360877
Office hours: Tuesdays 1:00-2:00; Wednesdays , 9:00- 10:00 and 1:00-2:00
Art and Experience: In the Beginning Was the Dance
Verum esse ipsum factum.
G.B. Vico
The dancer has his ears in his toes.
Nietzsche
Course Description:
This course introduces the arts from prehistory to late antiquity defined here as the
dissolution of the Roman and Sassanian Empires. It will focus on the history of poiesis or
creativity giving rise to the notions of the divine, heroic and human. We will examine
myth, epic, lyric poetry and drama, as well as painting, sculpture, dance, and architecture.
Examining the artistic expressions from different civilizations, students will compare
aesthetic systems for commonalities and differences. For example, Aristotle’s Poetics will
be compared to Rasa Aesthetics elaborated in Natyasastra. The course probes into the
essence and the limit of “rhythmical” arts (dance, poetry and music) and the arts of rest
(painting and sculpture), as well as the communication among these arts.
How We Learn:
Informed by the Vicchian notion that we can only know what we have created, I invite each
student’s active participation in all aspects of this learning experience. The course is
conceived of a playground where students can explore intellectually and creatively while
learning about the foundational texts and artistic traditions of past civilizations. Play is
the method. Here are the rules of the game.
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Interdiscplinarity: This course is concerned with historical as well as
phenomenological origins of the arts; we will bring in methodologies from urban
design, philosophy, history and performance studies to learn about the arts. We
will experience, and hence understand, through a process of discussion of the arts,
what the process of understanding is itself.

Embodied Cognition: We will learn experientially. Whether reading a poem by a
Buddhist nun, or examining paleolithic architecture, we will learn how to think
concretely with our situated bodies. We will explore philosophically and
experientially the role of the body in understanding and learning.
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Thinking historically: We will pay particular attention to the various constructions
of time, and the implications of different notions of time: social and historical time,
cosmological or biological time, and mechanical time of the instant.
Required co-curricular excursions:
Friday September 7th: Avebury/Old Sarum
Friday October 12th: Royal Academy of the Arts, Bronze Exhibit
Regular class visits to the British Museum.
Recommended: Metaflux: Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th September: Royal College of Art, School of Fine Art
Battersea, London. Please consult course website regularly for other related events.
Books for Purchase:
Marilyn Stokstad: Art History, Custom Edition for NYU, Volume 1
Myths from Mesopotamia, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Homer, Odyssey, Penguin Classics, (translated by Robert Fagels)
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Vintage books (Translated by Anne Carson)
Plato, Symposium, University of Chicago Press (Alan Bloom)
Virgil, Aeneid, Vintage (translated by Fitzgerald)
Augustine, Confessions, Penguin Classics.
Additional texts will be available on the course website in PDF format as well as external links.
Assessment: Class participation, 20%, two short essay assignments 30 %, midterm 2%, final exam 30%.
Please consult the NYU London policies attached at the end of this syllabus.
Important Dates:
Avebury Excursion
First Paper Due,
Bronze Exhibit Visit
Midterm
Second Paper due:
Final Exam:
September 7
October 2
October 12
October 30
November 27
December 11
Schedule of Classes
Session 1: September 4
A: Introduction to the course and its methodology. Poetics and Politics of the pestle

BM: Bird-shaped Pestle, 6000-2000 BC and the description in History of the World in 100
Objects (HOTWHO)
 Tagga’s Bliss: early Buddhist nun poem, 500 BC (in –class handout)
B: Prehistoric Art: Becoming Human
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 Stokstad, Chapter 1, “Prehistoric Art, pp-8-12;
 Film, Werner Herzog, “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
 New York Times Article, A Bone Here, a Bead There: On the Trail of Human Origins
C: Preparation for Site Visit on Friday
Session 2: September 11:
Creation and its stories
Approach; embodied cognition, or, the world made out of the body; the world known by the
body
HOTWHO: Ain Sakhri Lovers Figurine, 9000 BC
 The Avesta, “The Bundahishn” ("Creation"), or Knowledge from the Zand:
http://www.avesta.org/mp/bundahis.html#chapter1
 Counsels and codes of Adarbad; http://www.avesta.org/mp/adarbad1.htm
 Counsel of Zartosht: http://www.avesta.org/mp/catechis.html
 Hesiod, Theogony: http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm
 Genesis, The Old Testament: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/genesis-rsv.asp
 Babylonian Creation Story, Enuma Elish. Pdf file on Blackboard.
 Rig Veda, “Song of Creation”, and Pdf file from Northern Anthology of World Literature.
 Stokstad, selection from Chapter 2 “Art of the Ancient Near East”
 HOTWHO: Flood Tablet
 HOTWHO: Standard of Ur
Session 3: September 18
Poetry and Painting.
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Homer, The Odyssey, selections
Stokstad, Art of the Aegean
Lessing, Laocoon. Pdf file
Session 4: September 25
Ekphrasis

Fragments of Sappho Translated Anne Carson
Ekpharasis Exercise: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5918
Session 5: October 2
3
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Plato, The Symposium
British Museum Catalogue: The Warren Cup, pdf file.
First Paper Due
Session 6: October 9
Greek Tragedy
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Prometheus Bound
Visit to the British Museum
Session 7: October 12
Visit to the Bronze Exhibit at the Royal Gallery
Session 8: October 16
Architecture and Dance
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Plato, Timeus, 51A -53D pdf file.
Plato, Philebus, 16D, pdf file.
Graham Pont, “Plato’s Philosophy of Dance”, pdf file
Vitruvius, On Architecture, Book III, chapter 1.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/3*.html
 Josef Rycwert, The Dancing Column, pdf file.
 Natya Shastra and Poetics, pdf file
 RASABOX WORKSHOP Video from the Hemispheric Institute. 2004
http://hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000030401.html
http://hidvl.nyu.edu/video/000030115.html
 Watch Unesco Video on Vedic Chanting Tradition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPcasmn0cRU
Session 9: October 23
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
Stokstad, Roman Art
Visit to the British Museum
Session 10: October 30
Midterm
November 6: Fall break. No class
Session 11: November 13
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Urban Design

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Virgil, Aeneid
Josef Ryckwert, “The Idea of a Town,” pdf file
Session 12: November 20
Buddhism
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Seated Buddha from Gandhara
Ashvaghosha, 100.c.e, “The Life of Buddha”
Smyutta Nikaya, “The Sermon AT Benares: The Four Noble Truths
Majjhima Nikaya, “Right Mindfulness”
Mahaparinibbana Sutta, “The Last Instructions of the Buddha”
Stokstad: Chapters 10 and 11
Session 13: November 27
Sassanian Art and Literature
Plate Showing Shapur II

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A Magian Worshiping Fire
Visit to the British Museum
Selections from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi
Second Essay Due: Comparative hero’s journey
Session 14; December 4

St. Augustine, Confessions
Session 15; December 11:
Final Exam
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