Dean of the College and Art History and Visual Culture Program Present
De-centering Rome: Dura-Europos, Digital Humanities, and the Global Turn
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
The modern phrase “all roads lead to Rome'' frames the Roman Empire in terms of one city’s power, grandiosely (and Eurocentrically) implying both a singular centrality for that city and for the Roman Empire more generally. Yet there is good reason to think that the Romans’ own understanding of their world and their place within it was much more complex. Taking the fascinating archaeological site of Dura-Europos (Syria) and the art left behind by its inhabitants as a case study, this talk will argue that the comingling of diverse cultures, goods, and ideas—including those that traversed ancient political boundaries—was fundamental to life in the Roman Empire. It will also point to ways that colonialist dynamics and biases in play at the time of Dura’s initial excavation continue to shape modern understandings of the site. The talk will conclude with some thoughts on how the digital principle of Linked Open Data (LOD) holds promise for improving our understanding of the globally-interconnected premodern world.
For more information, call 845-758-7158, or e-mail [email protected].
Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
Location: Olin Humanities, Room 102
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