Classics Department Sponsors Lecture by Renowned Archaeologist

The Cincinnati chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the University of Cincinnati

Department of Classics

are sponsoring a lecture at UC as part of its National Lecture Program.

What

: “Symbols of Victory and Colours of Power: Egyptian Stones for the City of Rome”

Who

: Hazel Dodge, Louis Claude Purser Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, Trinity College Dublin

When

: 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Where

: University of Cincinnati, College of Law, Room 118

The lecture is free and open to the public.

About the lecture:

Egypt, both the land and the culture, fascinated the ancient Romans, and once Rome conquered the country it furnished a whole array of resources including stones for building and sculpture. In her lecture, “Symbols of Victory and Colours of Power: Egyptian Stones for the City of Rome,” archaeologist Hazel Dodge will speak on the evidence from the quarries in Egypt and the effects of this influx of stones and styles on the city of Rome.

The quarrying and use of stone had a very long tradition in Egypt, involving the transport of blocks 50-60 tons in weight over hundreds of miles. Red granite for the obelisks, the quintessential Egyptian monument, was quarried by the pharaohs at Aswan in Southern Egypt, and obelisks were set up at sites all along the Nile valley, at Luxor, Karnak and Heliopolis. After the Roman conquest of Egypt, obelisks were the first large-scale physical pieces of Egypt to be transported to the imperial capital, where they were erected both as victory monuments and symbols of imperial ideology. Other stones shared in this ideology, in particular the grey granite (from Mons Claudianus) and the purple porphyry (Mons Porphyrites) which the Romans quarried in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

About the Speaker:

Hazel Dodge is the Louis Claude Purser Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology with Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, and holds her degrees from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Her specialties include the construction techniques of the Roman Empire (particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean), Greek and Roman cities and urbanization, classical marble trade and use, and spectacle in the Roman world.

Recent publications include “Spectacle in the Roman World” (2010), “Building Materials and Constructions at Leptiminus, Tunisia” (published in 2010 as part of Final Reports of Excavations and Survey 1990-1999), and “Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook” (2010, with J.C.N. Coulson and C.J. Smith).

About the AIA:

The Archaeological Institute of America is North America’s oldest and largest archaeological organization. With more than 250,000 members and over 100 societies across the U.S. and the world, members are united by their shared passion for archaeology and its relevance to our present and future. The Cincinnati Society of the AIA is in residence in the University of Cincinnati Department of Classics. Visit their website at

http://www.archaeological.org/

or

classics.uc.edu/aia

.

For more information about Dodge's lecture, contact Ann Santen of the AIA Cincinnati Society at 513-561-4138 or

ahsanten@gmail.com

.