Ancient Rome and its culture still exerts an enormous influence on modern culture, particularly in the west. Through media such as film, literature, art, architecture, law codes and political institutions we are still influenced by Rome and we continue to reuse and reinvent Roman forms.This lecture considers some of the ideas which are transmitted when we tell narratives of Rome (for example in the films Gladiator or The Life of Brian) or make reference to ancient Rome in buildings, paintings an...
Oct 30, 2013•49 min
Ancient Rome and its culture still exerts an enormous influence on modern culture, particularly in the west. Through media such as film, literature, art, architecture, law codes and political institutions we are still influenced by Rome and we continue to reuse and reinvent Roman forms.This lecture considers some of the ideas which are transmitted when we tell narratives of Rome (for example in the films Gladiator or The Life of Brian) or make reference to ancient Rome in buildings, paintings an...
Oct 30, 2013
Buried under the ash from the cataclysmic eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in AD 79, Pompeii and other sites around the Bay of Naples provide extraordinary insights into a Roman town –not just what it looked liked, but how it functioned also. This lecture looks at some of the main public buildings of Pompeii, and especially the development of Pompeii immediately after it was made a Roman colony, and then later in the early Imperial period. What emerges is the role of architecture and other urban...
Oct 30, 2013•52 min
Amphitheatres are notorious as the places where the Romans held their more gruesome forms of "entertainment", including gladiatorial fights, executions of condemned prisoners, and wild beast hunts. As such displays grew more complicated and imaginative in their staging and special effects, so too did the design of the amphitheatres in order to accommodate elaborate performances and the Colosseum in Rome represents the culmination of this architectural development. However, Roman amphitheatres we...
Oct 30, 2013•56 min
Buried under the ash from the cataclysmic eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in AD 79, Pompeii and other sites around the Bay of Naples provide extraordinary insights into a Roman town –not just what it looked liked, but how it functioned also. This lecture looks at some of the main public buildings of Pompeii, and especially the development of Pompeii immediately after it was made a Roman colony, and then later in the early Imperial period. What emerges is the role of architecture and other urban...
Oct 30, 2013
Amphitheatres are notorious as the places where the Romans held their more gruesome forms of "entertainment", including gladiatorial fights, executions of condemned prisoners, and wild beast hunts. As such displays grew more complicated and imaginative in their staging and special effects, so too did the design of the amphitheatres in order to accommodate elaborate performances and the Colosseum in Rome represents the culmination of this architectural development. However, Roman amphitheatres we...
Oct 30, 2013
After Nero's suicide in 68 CE Rome was plunged into civil war again, as successive military commanders were declared emperor. The victor was Flavius Vespasian, who managed to found a new (Flavian) dynasty. Vespasian oversaw the building of the Colosseum, and both he and his son, Titus, remained popular. However, the third Flavian, Domitian, is depicted as one of the most sinister, paranoid and tyrannical of all Roman emperors, and his murder in 96 brought an end to Rome's second dynasty. Copyrig...
Oct 15, 2013•50 min
After Nero's suicide in 68 CE Rome was plunged into civil war again, as successive military commanders were declared emperor. The victor was Flavius Vespasian, who managed to found a new (Flavian) dynasty. Vespasian oversaw the building of the Colosseum, and both he and his son, Titus, remained popular. However, the third Flavian, Domitian, is depicted as one of the most sinister, paranoid and tyrannical of all Roman emperors, and his murder in 96 brought an end to Rome's second dynasty. Copyrig...
Oct 15, 2013
Nero’s subversive courtier, Petronius, is almost certainly the Petronius Arbiter who wrote the satirical work Satyricon, one of the most interesting and bizarre pieces of Roman literature which survives. This novel deals with the nefarious adventures and sexual exploits of three characters travelling through southern Italy, and unusually in Roman literature, primarily involves characters of low status. Freedmen are oftencentral, particularly in the ‘Dinner of Trimalchio’ episode, which satirises...
Oct 15, 2013•50 min
Nero’s subversive courtier, Petronius, is almost certainly the Petronius Arbiter who wrote the satirical work Satyricon, one of the most interesting and bizarre pieces of Roman literature which survives. This novel deals with the nefarious adventures and sexual exploits of three characters travelling through southern Italy, and unusually in Roman literature, primarily involves characters of low status. Freedmen are oftencentral, particularly in the ‘Dinner of Trimalchio’ episode, which satirises...
Oct 15, 2013
Work is represented as something dirty and sordid by the Roman elite, particularly Cicero, while freedmen always retained some of the stigma associated with their former slave status. This lecture looks at the way workers and freedmen were represented in both elite texts and by themselves, and shows a quite different picture emerging from the tombstones and inscriptions put up by non-elites. Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
Oct 15, 2013•47 min
Work is represented as something dirty and sordid by the Roman elite, particularly Cicero, while freedmen always retained some of the stigma associated with their former slave status. This lecture looks at the way workers and freedmen were represented in both elite texts and by themselves, and shows a quite different picture emerging from the tombstones and inscriptions put up by non-elites. Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
Oct 15, 2013
Nero seems to have encouraged innovative art and architecture (including his own extravagant houses), and to have fostered literary achievement. But his 'Golden House' in particular proved unpopular, as it dominated Rome and gave rise to the rumour that Nero himself started the fire of 64 CE so that he could rebuild the city (and then blamed the Christians). Meanwhile the significant literary figures of his reign (Seneca, Lucan and Petronius), who were also members of Nero's imperial court, all ...
Oct 15, 2013•57 min
Nero seems to have encouraged innovative art and architecture (including his own extravagant houses), and to have fostered literary achievement. But his 'Golden House' in particular proved unpopular, as it dominated Rome and gave rise to the rumour that Nero himself started the fire of 64 CE so that he could rebuild the city (and then blamed the Christians). Meanwhile the significant literary figures of his reign (Seneca, Lucan and Petronius), who were also members of Nero's imperial court, all ...
Oct 15, 2013
Claudius is famous as the survivor of the Julio-Claudian family – an unlikely emperor according to both ancient historians and Robert Graves alike. His apparent devotion to his wives led Tacitus and Suetonius to ridicule him, and may he may have been murdered by his fourth wife, Agrippina, the mother of Nero. Nero, in turn, is Rome's most infamous emperor: accused of incest, matricide, sexual deviance and arson. This lecture investigates the reasons why both emperors are represented in such outr...
Sep 27, 2013•49 min
Claudius is famous as the survivor of the Julio-Claudian family – an unlikely emperor according to both ancient historians and Robert Graves alike. His apparent devotion to his wives led Tacitus and Suetonius to ridicule him, and may he may have been murdered by his fourth wife, Agrippina, the mother of Nero. Nero, in turn, is Rome's most infamous emperor: accused of incest, matricide, sexual deviance and arson. This lecture investigates the reasons why both emperors are represented in such outr...
Sep 27, 2013
When Augustus died in 14 CE, he had successfully established a dynastic form of monarchy which was confirmed by the continuation of the principate. This is despite the loss of all of the male heirs related to him by blood, as his successor was his stepson, Tiberius, seen as gloomy and paranoid in ancient sources. He was in turn succeeded by Caligula - a short-lived emperor who nevertheless made his mark as one of Rome’s most notoriously cruel and deviant rulers. Copyright 2013 La Trobe Universit...
Sep 27, 2013•55 min
When Augustus died in 14 CE, he had successfully established a dynastic form of monarchy which was confirmed by the continuation of the principate. This is despite the loss of all of the male heirs related to him by blood, as his successor was his stepson, Tiberius, seen as gloomy and paranoid in ancient sources. He was in turn succeeded by Caligula - a short-lived emperor who nevertheless made his mark as one of Rome’s most notoriously cruel and deviant rulers. Copyright 2013 La Trobe Universit...
Sep 27, 2013
Augustus continued the late Republican trend of utilising public building as a propagandist tool, to promote himself and his regime. However, Augustan monuments are also notable for their elevation of the emperor's dynasty and their portrayal of women and children – a first in Roman public art. These buildings are therefore useful tools for popularising Augustus' regime and preparing the way for his succession, as well as further cementing his family values in ahighly public way. Copyright 2013 ...
Sep 24, 2013•53 min
Augustus continued the late Republican trend of utilising public building as a propagandist tool, to promote himself and his regime. However, Augustan monuments are also notable for their elevation of the emperor's dynasty and their portrayal of women and children – a first in Roman public art. These buildings are therefore useful tools for popularising Augustus' regime and preparing the way for his succession, as well as further cementing his family values in ahighly public way. Copyright 2013 ...
Sep 24, 2013
Love poetry during the Augustan period is notable for the elegiac genre, a short-lived but significant body of poetry which represents the poet as enslaved and entirely dominated by his mistress. This lectures examines the love poetry of Propertius and Ovid, and also looks at Ovid's controversial poem, The Art of Love, which trivialised the family values being promoted by Augustus, and was probably responsible for the harsh punishment imposed by the emperor: the poet's exile to the Black Sea. Co...
Sep 18, 2013•38 min
Love poetry during the Augustan period is notable for the elegiac genre, a short-lived but significant body of poetry which represents the poet as enslaved and entirely dominated by his mistress. This lectures examines the love poetry of Propertius and Ovid, and also looks at Ovid's controversial poem, The Art of Love, which trivialised the family values being promoted by Augustus, and was probably responsible for the harsh punishment imposed by the emperor: the poet's exile to the Black Sea. Co...
Sep 18, 2013
War is the central theme of Aeneid 7-12, as Aeneas faces opposition to his settlement in Italy, primarily from the Rutulian prince, Turnus. This lecture concentrates on books 7, 10 and 12, showing how Juno, via Allecto manipulates Turnus and other characters to create conflict and bloodshed in Italy. Throughout, Virgil reminds us of the sorrow and loss involved in warfare, concentrating particularly on the father-son relationship. However, unlike Homer's Iliad, Vergil gives no reconciliation at ...
Sep 11, 2013•49 min
War is the central theme of Aeneid 7-12, as Aeneas faces opposition to his settlement in Italy, primarily from the Rutulian prince, Turnus. This lecture concentrates on books 7, 10 and 12, showing how Juno, via Allecto manipulates Turnus and other characters to create conflict and bloodshed in Italy. Throughout, Virgil reminds us of the sorrow and loss involved in warfare, concentrating particularly on the father-son relationship. However, unlike Homer's Iliad, Vergil gives no reconciliation at ...
Sep 11, 2013
Although the Aeneid is set in the remote, mythical past, it deals with Vergil's present, most prominently in books 6 and 8. In book 6, Aeneasvisits the Underworld, and, after meeting figures from his past, sees a parade of future Roman heroes, who are, for the contemporary reader, leaders from Roman history and recent past. This history is again depicted in book 8, this time in artistic form, as a design on the divine shield made for Aeneas, which showcases Augustus' victory over Cleopatra VII a...
Sep 11, 2013•51 min
Although the Aeneid is set in the remote, mythical past, it deals with Vergil's present, most prominently in books 6 and 8. In book 6, Aeneasvisits the Underworld, and, after meeting figures from his past, sees a parade of future Roman heroes, who are, for the contemporary reader, leaders from Roman history and recent past. This history is again depicted in book 8, this time in artistic form, as a design on the divine shield made for Aeneas, which showcases Augustus' victory over Cleopatra VII a...
Sep 11, 2013
The doomed love affair of Aeneas and Dido is, on the face of it, an unusual tale for ancient epic. This lecture shows how Vergil's account of Dido's passion and death relates to Rome's wars with Carthage and to its association with another Eastern queen, Cleopatra VII. This book also introduces the themes of passion and madness into the epic - forces which Aeneas should overcome and reject - while giving us a compelling account of Dido's descent from serene leader of her people to a wild, passio...
Sep 05, 2013•52 min
The doomed love affair of Aeneas and Dido is, on the face of it, an unusual tale for ancient epic. This lecture shows how Vergil's account of Dido's passion and death relates to Rome's wars with Carthage and to its association with another Eastern queen, Cleopatra VII. This book also introduces the themes of passion and madness into the epic - forces which Aeneas should overcome and reject - while giving us a compelling account of Dido's descent from serene leader of her people to a wild, passio...
Sep 05, 2013
The fall of Troy might be the most famous myth from Classical antiquity. In the second book of the Aeneid, Aeneas himself tells the story of Troy's destruction, as a first hand account to Dido, in Carthage. This lecture investigates the Greek antecedents for this myth in Homeric epic, and what it tells us about the fate of Troy and Aeneas himself. Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
Sep 05, 2013•51 min
The fall of Troy might be the most famous myth from Classical antiquity. In the second book of the Aeneid, Aeneas himself tells the story of Troy's destruction, as a first hand account to Dido, in Carthage. This lecture investigates the Greek antecedents for this myth in Homeric epic, and what it tells us about the fate of Troy and Aeneas himself. Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.
Sep 05, 2013
