Ornamentation, the innate need for expressing oneself by adorning the self, historically emerged alongside the human condition. Humans emphasize their physical form through adornment with clothes, jewels, tattoos, and hairdos, imbued with symbolic meaning and signification, in life and death.

The course explores ornamentation from a diachronic perspective, focusing however on case studies from the Greek geography. Learning is facilitated through a wide range of readings, from Greek and Latin authors, to archaeological reports, exhibition catalogs, anthropology treatises and fashion-related texts; moreover, an integral part of the course are visits to museums, collections, exhibitions, design studios, jewelry workshops and a research center for sustainable fashion; last but not least, discussion in class is encouraged by a rich and diverse visual material (stills and videos); we will delve into the world of ornament and explore its fascinating aspects, with the aim of acquiring a solid knowledge of why and how we adorn ourselves and how practices of self-adornment are culturally and historically conditioned.