Anyone who has ever dreamed of visiting ancient cities destroyed by lava or walking on the same ground Julius Caesar did may want to sign up for a new class being offered by the Liberal Arts department.

A course titled Ancient Art and Archaeology is being offered for the first time and will be taught by Shawn O’Bryhim, associate professor of classics, at SIUC.

The class, taught in Italy for two and a half weeks, will tour such cities as Pompeii, Rome, Florence and Herculaneum.

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Some of the highlights of this class will be the Coliseum and going to see a Roman burial ground under St. Peter’s Cathedral, O’Bryhim said. The burial ground is a lot more than simple graves, they are more like Roman houses with mosaics on the floor and on the walls. Hardly anyone knows about the burial ground or sees it but we get to.

O’Bryhim said the class will visit Herculaneum which was buried by lava from the volcano Mt. Vesuvius which is still active and is located south of Naples in Italy.

Herculanem is almost perfectly preserved, he said. We also get to see by special permission some baths by the harbor and arches that have hundreds of skeletons in them covered in lava.

O’Bryhim said the class will appeal to anyone majoring in classics, archaeology, history, art, religion or anyone interested in myth. He said no previous knowledge of the classics is needed for this class.

He said the class will visit Tibur Island, which provided the means for Rome to grow.

A slave owner would dump his slave on the Island, since there is a shrine to a healing god there, instead of taking him to a doctor, he said. The slave owner would hope that his slave would be healed or just die.

O’Bryhim said the trip will allow students to leave the country and experience Italy with someone who has been five times.

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He said the class is one of the cheapest and safest ways to go to Italy, and there will be free time to explore.

We work from about 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then we go off for four or five hours by ourselves, he said. There is a lot of free time to go shopping or to see churches.

The class is being offered as classics course 371, and students can register until the third week in January, but only twelve spaces are available O’Bryhim said.

The class will cost $2,500, and financial aid is available. The class will be in Italy from May 12-29 during intercession and will be back in time for summer classes, he said.

For more information call O’Bryhim at 453-5432.