05/01/2022
Monday, May 2
5 pm, Julian 157 Jeremy Hartnett will be available to meet students to discuss the Rome study-abroad program, the Centro (https://thecentrorome.org)
7:30, lecture, Peeler Auditorium (masks required):
In 1626, workers digging foundations within St. Peter’s basilica in Rome accidentally unearthed the funerary monument of an ancient Roman named Flavius Agricola. It consisted of a marble sculpture portraying him reclining at table and a poetic inscription encouraging readers to enjoy wine, women, and whoopie. Since the discovery was made immediately adjacent to the supposed tomb of the apostle Peter, alarmed papal authorities removed the inscription and locked down the site. Thanks to antiquarians, the epitaph was transcribed before its deletion and the statue is exhibited today at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. And subsequent excavation has unearthed much of the necropolis surrounding Flavius’ tomb. All of which grants us the remarkable opportunity to investigate an otherwise-unknown Roman.
This talk considers what Flavius’ life and commemoration in death illustrate about individual experience in the Roman world. One generation removed from slavery, married to a “chaste worshipper” of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and proudly showing himself living it up for all eternity because “after death, earth and fire consume all else,” Flavius prompts many questions. Did Flavius’ corporeal pleasures align with his wife’s beliefs? Why was he so keen on dining in the first place? How did visitors to his tomb encounter his funerary monument? And, if they dined in his presence, did they somehow understand him as being among the living? Examining this funerary monument permits a close look at some fascinating corners of life beyond Rome’s senatorial elite.
