Ancient Cities: A MOOC in progress (11/12-2018) (original) (raw)
Related papers
"World is experienced both through worldly and bodily expressions. Emotions are embodied, deeply rooted in the corporeal and sensual experience, and directly communicated through gestures and vocalisations. This session aims to reconstruct with a transdisciplinary approach the materiality of gestures in the Roman world. Thanks to the study of the archaeological record, it is possible to identify the "techniques of the body", through which emotions are perceived, enacted, shared and communicated. Objects are not merely neutral things, but a channel which allows us to detect the agency behind the gesture and (even through the repetition and intensification of an act, i.e. ritual) its use of media in order to interact with the socially structured environment and networks it belongs to. Speakers - chosen among the international specialists - are challenged to test this paradigm on the field of Pompeii, focusing on the material culture concerning sanctuaries, domestic religious practices and funerary rituals."
Keys to Rome. Roman Culture, Virtual Museums (Pescarin S. Ed. 2014)
Alfonsina Pagano, Sofia Pescarin, Leonardo Rescic, Wim Hupperetz, Paolo Vigliarolo, Niall O'hOisin, Daniele Ferdani, Bruno Fanini, B M, Muhammad Abd-el-Maguid, Daria Ruggeri, Enzo d'Annibale
On the 23 September 2014, after 2000 years from Augustus death, 13 countries have met in Rome, Amsterdam, Alexandria and Sarajevo, for the opening of an extraordinary exhibition, “Keys to Rome”: an interactive journey to discover Roman Culture, starting from the city of Augustus and reaching the entire Roman Empire, through the visit to 4 fascinating venues, 4 museums with their archaeological collections, more than 10 different technologies supporting and enhancing this global experience.This is more than an exhibition on Roman archaeology. "Keys To Rome" is a unique international exhibition, that, for the first time is organized in parallel in four locations:Rome, in the wonderful setting of the Imperial Fora Museum (Museo dei Fori Imperiali);Alexandria, in the Antiquities Museums of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina; Amsterdam, in the recently renovated Allard Pierson Museum; and Sarajevo, in the newly restored City Hall (Vijecnica) and in the Sarajevo Museum.
Roman Urbanism. Syllabus 2008-9
The study of the Roman city has traditionally focussed on urban topography and the study of major public buildings. This course seeks to understand how and why cities develop and change, their physical and economic fabric, their historical and cultural context, and their place in Roman self-definition.
Pompeii and The Bay of Naples (CLA 222)
In 79 CE, a violent eruption of Mt. Vesuvius resulted in the extraordinary preservation of entire Roman towns and villas around the Bay of Naples in Italy. Buried beneath the volcanic residue, archaeologists have discovered resplendent frescoes, impressive mosaics, furniture, medical tools, crass graffiti and everything from a loaf of bread to a personal library filled with the books of a previously unknown philosopher. This class will focus on the small provincial town of Pompeii, which has been considered one of the most famous archaeology sites in the world since its discovery in the 18th c. Pompeii’s public and private architecture, art and material culture provide us with important insight into the social, political, commercial and religious life under the Roman empire. Be forewarned: this course is reading and writing heavy and there is a public speaking component! You will be asked to analyze and interpret both material remains and primary and secondary sources.
Regional Interaction (in Roman Italy)
A Companion to Roman Italy, (ed.) A. Cooley, Wiley-Blackwell, 2016
Regional interaction and local travel in Roman Italy, with a special focus on advertisements for gladiatorial games (edicta munerum) and the regional market cycle (indices nundinarii).
Extreme survivors. Papyrological and textual problems in the Latin papyri from Dura Europos
119th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. Boston, 04-07.01.2018
The Latin documentary papyri housed in the Beinecke Library at Yale University are a sore spot for scholarship. One the one hand, they constitute a unique finding, inasmuch as they all come from the archive of a Roman cohors (the XX Palmyrenorum) stationing at Dura Europos, on the banks of the Euphrates, between 200 and 260 AD. There is nothing of the sort in extant documents from Roman army; nothing so abundant (more than 90 papyri) and so cohesive in origin and purpose. On the other hand, most of them are conspicuously fragmentary, ridden with holes and spots, and shrivelled – not easily allowing the researcher into their real meaning. Three subsequent editors (Gilliam, Fink, and Marichal) have fought against these difficulties; they have produced sometimes very different texts; attempted at replacing and re-joining many tiny scraps, invariably altering the record numbers of the fragments (fr. a becoming h, fr. k becoming c+g and the like) and sometimes puzzling the reader. The last overall edition dates back to 1976 and was done on photographs; a further survey made at the library in the Nineties re-framed all papyri, had several fragments resurface from the stacks, and once again changed many record numbers, adding to the confusion. This paper originates within the framework of ERC project PLATINUM, devoted to Latin texts on papyri. It will offer some preliminary result of an ongoing personal inspection, reassessment and re-edition of the Latin military papyri from Dura Europos. It will argue for a total make-over of fragments such as P.Dura 60, 61 or 68, whose text must be re-written; it will deal with issues concerning newly found fragments (P.Dura 62), which are in need of a brand new edition; it will inquire into wormholes and damages which could help re-joining or replacing fragments such as P.Dura 66 yy and aaa, 76, 77. These textual reassessments will be the basis for providing new insights and new perspectives in the history of everyday military life in this Roman outpost on the Eastern border of the Empire.
Excavating Identity: The Archaeology of Being Roman, Syllabus 2013-14
This module addresses key issues in the study of Roman archaeology. What did it mean to live under the Roman empire? How did the disparate peoples within the Roman world negotiate their place in relation to the regime? This module will introduce students to the critical evaluation of the archaeological evidence for identities and communities in the Roman period, and the approaches and theories that have been used to understand them. Through different classes of archaeological evidence (e.g. what people wore, what they ate, or how they treated the remains of their dead), we will examine how archaeology can be used to build a picture of personal and community identities. We will examine communities within the Roman empire, and those beyond its frontiers. We will consider questions of cultural interaction and Roman imperialism. We will focus on archaeological evidence, but will also consider the role of textual sources for the Roman period. Topics will include archaeologies of gender, childhood, and slavery.