Research Projects

City of Rome

As the capital of one of the biggest empires that the world has ever seen, the ancient city of Rome and its still imposing ruins have not only attracted the interest of scholars, but have also inspired the imagination of politicians, rulers, thinkers, artists and intellectuals. The city of Rome contains one of the most spectacular concentrations of documents, monuments and art that Western civilisation has produced.

The City of Rome project is an international, collaborative research network. While the focus of the project is primarily on the city in antiquity, the aim is also to explore the influence which the ancient city has had on subsequent history and culture.

In order to begin to do justice to the people, history, architecture, art and culture of this extraordinary city a series of conferences and workshops at which individual themes are explored will be organised over the coming years. The first of these conferences will take place on the 9th and 10th of March, 2012 on the Lampeter Campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. This conference, entitled ‘Ruin or Renewal? Places and the Transformation of Memory in the City of Rome’, will explore the afterlife in antiquity of monuments, buildings and places (both public and private) in the city. The focus will be on such themes as the natural transformation, or the deliberate appropriation or manipulation, of the memories associated with monuments, by means of relocation, restoration, embellishment, neglect or demolition.

Subsequent conferences will look at such topics as the economy of the city of Rome, intellectual life, luxury and restraint, justice and jurisdiction.

As part of the conference there will be an exhibition of images from the Roderic Bowen Library and Archives’ collection pertaining to the city of Rome. This exhibition will focus on themes connected with the conference.

An earlier exhibition was organised by graduates of the School of Classics in July 2011 focusing on the Monuments of Ancient Rome.

As part of the project an annual City of Rome Lecture will the held on the Lampeter Campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. The inaugural lecture in this series will be given by Professor Tim Cornell (Emeritus Professor of the University of Manchester) on the 8th of March, 2012.

Contact:

• Marta García Morcillo (Trinity Saint David)
• James Richardson (Trinity Saint David)
• Federico Santangelo (Newcastle)