Ancient Material Worlds: “In Man’s Memory Lay A Form of Immortality”

From_ Ancient Material Worlds. _

We’ve talked a lot in this class about how we remember Romans and Roman culture today, and we’ve talked about how Roman constructed their remembrance and image, and we’ve talked about how archaeologists contribute to the reconstruction of that memory. But we haven’t necessarily talked about these things in context of one another. Or at least, we haven’t as a class acknowledged how our assignments and our taking this class is a constant readjustment and remembrance of the Roman empire.

Part of what this course does – especially thanks to the applications of DH – is illustrate the material history of the Roman world through art, architecture, and archaeological sites and bringing to the forefront the lives of “invisible” people (invisible in our time as well as theirs.) This course also has had explore the methods by which archaeologists discover and understand the classical past, and how these discoveries help establish the narrative of the Roman empire and its legacy. And so throughout our readings, lectures, and assignments, we’ve participated in the development of that interpretation of the value and importance of studying the Roman empire in the modern age.

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