Upcoming Events
This series replaces the lecture series, "Revealing Pompeii: Its Past, Present and Future", originally scheduled In conjunction with Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture exhibition entitled "Pompeii, The Immortal City," The exhibition and associated lectures were impacted by the coronavirus.
All AIA webinar lectures will take place (in your own home!) at 6:30 pm on Thursday evenings. Register for these FREE webinars below.
All lectures are FREE AND OPEN to the Public.
The Webinars will start promptly at 6:30. Following an introduction, the speakers will make their presentations. When they have finished, we will have a “first come, first serve” Q & A period using the Zoom chat room. Zoom has a chat feature which enables you to “Raise your hand”, at which time you will be allowed to enable your microphone and ask your question (or type it in, and the host, Dr. Goldman, will read it to the audience). We will take as many questions as we have time for, before we close the session at 8 pm.
Questions? Please email the hosts, Andy Goldman or Cindy Bell, and we’ll do our best to help you out. Please remember: we’re new at this. But we’re doing our best to continue our Pompeii programming, and hope you enjoy.
Lecture Series Schedule & Zoom Registration
Prostitution in the Immor(t)al City: Investigating Pompeii's Brothel
Thursday, April 2, 2020, 6:30 p.m.
Dr. Sarah Levin-Richardson (University of Washington)
** This Webinar will contain Sexual Content and is for Mature Audiences ONLY
Abstract: This talk brings to life Pompeii’s purpose-built brothel, the only assured brothel from Greco-Roman antiquity. We take a virtual tour of the structure’s material evidence, from architecture to ancient graffiti (including the infamous erotic frescoes). In the process, we discover a world in which male and female prostitutes could flout the norms of society and proclaim themselves as sexual agents, where prostitutes and clients exchanged gifts, greetings, taunts, and praise, and where clients from all walks of life, from slaves to elite men, could act like free men.
Thank you for attending this online lecture! This event has passed.
Roman Gladiators: Killing Machines? Fact and Fiction
Thursday, April 9, 2020, 6:30 p.m.
Dr. Andrew Goldman (Gonzaga University)
Abstract: The Roman gladiators were the ultimate fighters, famous for their blood-thirsty behavior and the kill-or-be-killed world in which they lived. Or so they are often depicted, in modern movies and television shows. But were they really voracious killing machines? Evidence for gladiators in the ancient world is quite plentiful, and an exploration of the surviving archaeological and textual evidence shows that gladiators – men and women – led very different lives than is often generally assumed. This lecture will separate fact from fiction concerning Roman gladiators, offering a more complex, nuanced and interesting story about the lives of these fighting men and women.
GoToWebinar Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2186968616064584460
Street Theater: A Pompeian Neighborhood in Five Acts
Thursday, April 16, 2020, 6:30 p.m.
Dr. Jeremy Hartnett (Wabash College, IN)
Abstract: When we think of Roman cities, it is tempting to conjure images of temples, baths, and amphitheaters. This talk storms into the narrow streets of Pompeii to make the case that, for most Romans, the real action happened on the neighborhood level. By examining five stories at just one intersection far from the city’s monumental center, we will learn about (a) streetside religion, the former slaves who presided over it, and the suspicions that they sought to tamp down; (b) eating and drinking by regular folk, as well as the key connective roles played by barmaids in Pompeian society; (c) small-scale industry and the way that shopkeepers deployed deities to push product; (d) neighborhood rivalries across competing businesspeople and their efforts to outdo one another via street signs; (e) and the retorts that elite Pompeians used to undercut upstarts. All told, we will see how ancient historians repopulate “empty” ancient spaces with a raucous cast of upper-class politicians, slaves, hucksters, donkeys, and so many more – all trying to scratch out a living, make their mark, and upstage competitors in the street.
GoToWebinar Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6347010442173765132
Kitchens, Dining Rooms, and Latrines: Daily Routines in a Roman House
Thursday, April 23, 2020, 6:30 p.m.
Dr. Mira Green (University of Washington)
How did ancient Romans perform daily routines like cooking, dining, and using the toilet? This presentation explores the accounts from Roman literature about cooking, dining, and excreting alongside the archaeological evidence from Pompeii in order to recreate some daily routines in Roman houses. Roman law and literature indicate that household cooks and domestic laborers were assumed to be slaves. Because ancient Rome was a slave society, most households likely relied on slave labor. Thus, this presentation will also consider how the tools, locations, and movement of daily routines established and maintained domestic hierarchies in Roman homes.
GoToWebinar Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1397745766716867596
Humans as artifacts: inventing and displaying Pompeian body casts
Thursday, April 30, 2020, 6:30 p.m.
Dr. Kevin Dicus (University of Oregon)
This talk examines the modern life histories of Pompeii’s body casts. I begin by tracing the development of the casting technique that created the most tangible and poignant remains of Pompeii. These casts, however, are far from being snapshots of that infamous day; rather, modern intervention, and even fabrication, have blurred the distinction between ancient and modern. With the imagined biographies assigned to the victims, to the methods of forming and displaying the casts, they potentially present distorted information about how the people lived and died. However, recent scientific analysis seeks to remedy this and to reinstate their original identities as much as possible. The final part of this paper introduces these scientific methods and reveals new details about who these people really were.
GoToWebinar Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4492610414650559500
About the Lecture Series
This spring Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture will be hosting an exhibition entitled “Pompeii, The Immortal City,” from early February to early May, a show that will bring ancient artifacts excavated from Pompeii to the Inland Northwest for the first time.
Dr. Andy Goldman of Gonzaga’s History Department has organized a series of twelve lectures related to this show and the culture of ancient Pompeii. With the generous support of the Spokane Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the MAC and the GU Faculty Senate Speaker’s Series Funds, Dr. Goldman has been able to bring in seven local and national speakers who are professional archaeologists and ancient historians with an expertise in the study of ancient culture.
NOTE: These events are canceled due to the impact of th coronavirus.
The MAC will celebrate "Pompeii Day," a day-long festival held at the museum on Saturday, April 11th. This family-friendly event will feature movies, Roman reenactors and tastes of Roman cuisine. Our lecture series will be part of "Pompeii Day." We will kick off this event with a lecture Friday night, April 10th, at 6 p.m. On Saturday, April 11th, we will have two additional lectures. The range of material is wide, and there is perhaps something here for everyone. They range from topics on daily life, volcanology, site preservation, 19th-century photography, GIS mapping systems and more.</strongnote<>