- Department of Classics & Archaeology
Humanities Building
University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham
NG7 2RD - 0115 9514814
Mark Bradley
The University of Nottingham, Executive Office, Department Member
- University of Nottingham, UK, Faculty of Arts, Department MemberUniversity of Nottingham, UK, Classics and Archaeology, Faculty Memberadd
- Classics, Republican Rome, Imperial Rome, Roman antiquarians, Visual Rhetoric of Religion, Ancient Medicine, and 37 moreAncient History, Ancient Historiography, Ancient myth and religion, Augustan Principate, Classical Reception Studies, Children's literature (Classics), Early Rome, Modes of Perception, Christianity and Rome, Latin Language and Literature, Roman Historiography, Classical rhetoric, Greek Oracles and Divination, Classical Traditions, Reception Studies, Reception in popular culture, Food in antiquity, Perceptions of Ancient Sexualities in Modern Times, Graeco-Roman Egypt, Festus, Greek and Roman Sexualities, Religion, History of Scholarship, Latin Literature, Roman political culture, Cicero, Ancient perception, Martial 'Epigrams', Neronian Literature, Mystery cult, Roman History, Racism In Antiquity, Roman Religion, Imperial ideology and representation, Classical Archaeology, History of the Senses, and Simon Goldhilledit
- Background I was born and raised in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, and went to school at Batley Grammar School where I... moreBackground
I was born and raised in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, and went to school at Batley Grammar School where I developed interests in ancient history and Latin. I was awarded a place to study Classics at King's College, Cambridge, where I completed my B.A., M.Phil and PhD between 1995 and 2004. I wrote my doctoral thesis on 'Concepts of Colour in Ancient Rome' under the supervision of Mary Beard, to whom I owe a great deal for my interests and inspiration in Roman history and culture. During my PhD, I was appointed to a two-year Faculty Lectureship in Ancient History in the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge, and shortly after I completed the PhD in Spring 2004 I was appointed to my position at Nottingham.
Research Interests
My main research interests are in the visual and intellectual culture of imperial Rome, and my work has been particularly concerned with exploring cultural differences in perception, aesthetics and sensibilities. My first book Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome was published with Cambridge University Press in November 2009, and was longlisted for the 2011 Warwick Prize for Writing. I am also the author of several articles in the field of Roman visual culture (particularly the role of colour and form on marble sculpture), and am currently developing (along with Shane Butler, Johns Hopkins) a series of volumes on 'The Senses in Antiquity' for Routledge. The first of these, on the theme of 'Synaesthesia', was published in summer 2013, and I edited the second instalment on Smell and the Ancient Senses, which was published in December 2014. I am also writing a journal article on the theme of 'Roman noses', partly exploring Roman approaches to smell, and partly examining the relationship between nose size/ shape and character/ behaviour in ancient thought. Connected to my research on the senses, I recently co-organised (with Adeline Grand-Clément at the University of Toulouse) a conference on 'Incense and divinity', which was held partly at the British School at Rome and partly at the École française de Rome on 23-24 June 2017.
I also have interests in the reception of the ancient world in modern European culture, and I am editor of Classics and Imperialism in the British Empire (2010, Oxford University Press), a collection of essays examining the interactive relationship between classical ideas and British imperialism from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century.
As well as pursuing further research on each of these topics, I am also engaged in a long-term research project on the theme of pollution in pre-Christian Roman society, religion and culture, a topic on which I already have a number of articles. I am editor of a volume titled Rome, Pollution and Propriety: Dirt, Disease and Hygiene in the Eternal City from Antiquity to Modernity (2012, Cambridge University Press), which is based on a conference held at the British School at Rome in June 2007. I am currently working on a book on Foul Bodies in Ancient Rome, which sets out to understand how Romans of the early Empire formulated and mobilized disgust as a response to bodies that were perceived to be 'out of place' in civilized society. My first foray into this field, a study of obesity in Roman art, was published in Papers of the British School at Rome in 2011, and I have recently published a blog on 'Diagnosing deviance: aversion, obscenity and the senses in classical antiquity' for 'Disgust Week', run by the Centre for the History of Emotions at QMUL. I am also collaborating on a major project on 'Effaced from History: Facial Difference and its Impact from Antiquity to the Present Day', which received a Wellcome Trust Seed Award in 2015/16, in order to develop an ambitious cross-disciplinary project involving synergies between leading scholars from six UK universities and working alongside the charity Changing Faces.edit
From flowers and perfumes to urban sanitation and personal hygiene, smell—a sense that is simultaneously sublime and animalistic—has played a pivotal role in western culture and thought. Greek and Roman writers and thinkers lost no... more
From flowers and perfumes to urban sanitation and personal hygiene, smell—a sense that is simultaneously sublime and animalistic—has played a pivotal role in western culture and thought. Greek and Roman writers and thinkers lost no opportunity to connect the smells that bombarded their senses to the social, political and cultural status of the individuals and environments that they encountered: godly incense and burning sacrifices, seductive scents, aromatic cuisines, stinking bodies, pungent farmyards and festering back-streets.
The cultural study of smell has largely focused on pollution, transgression and propriety, but the olfactory sense came into play in a wide range of domains and activities: ancient medicine and philosophy, religion, botany and natural history, erotic literature, urban planning, dining, satire and comedy—where odours, aromas, scents and stenches were rich and versatile components of the ancient sensorium. The first comprehensive introduction to the role of smell in the history, literature and society of classical antiquity, Smell and the Ancient Senses explores and probes the ways that the olfactory sense can contribute to our perceptions of ancient life, behaviour, identity and morality.
The cultural study of smell has largely focused on pollution, transgression and propriety, but the olfactory sense came into play in a wide range of domains and activities: ancient medicine and philosophy, religion, botany and natural history, erotic literature, urban planning, dining, satire and comedy—where odours, aromas, scents and stenches were rich and versatile components of the ancient sensorium. The first comprehensive introduction to the role of smell in the history, literature and society of classical antiquity, Smell and the Ancient Senses explores and probes the ways that the olfactory sense can contribute to our perceptions of ancient life, behaviour, identity and morality.
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This volume examines the significance of pollution and cleanliness in the art, literature, philosophy, and material culture of the city of Rome from antiquity through to the twentieth century. Dirt, disease and pollution and the ways they... more
This volume examines the significance of pollution and cleanliness in the art, literature, philosophy, and material culture of the city of Rome from antiquity through to the twentieth century. Dirt, disease and pollution and the ways they are represented and policed have long been recognised by historians and anthropologists to occupy a central position in the formulation of cultural identity, and Rome holds a special status in the West as a city intimately associated with issues of purity, decay, ruin and renewal. In recent years, scholarship in a variety of disciplines has begun to scrutinise the less palatable features of the archaeology, history and society of Rome. This research has drawn attention to the city’s distinctive historical interest in the recognition, isolation and treatment of pollution, and the ways in which politicians, architects, writers and artists have exploited this as a vehicle for devising visions of purity and propriety. And yet, in spite of the volume of research into isolated instances of filth and cleanliness at Rome, there has been no comprehensive study of the history of pollution within the city. The challenge that remains, then, is to develop a more sophisticated analysis of developments over time in one geographical location, and to situate approaches to pollution in the city of Rome more broadly within cultural anthropology and the history of ideas.
The volume focuses on the theme of ‘Pollution and Propriety’ and the discourses by which these two antagonistic concepts are related. How has pollution in Rome been defined, and by what means is it controlled? To what extent is dirt culturally constructed (a position championed by Mary Douglas, but currently under challenge)? If dirt is dis-order/ ‘matter out of place’, how useful is it as an index of order or social and cultural system? How does Rome’s own social and cultural history affect the way states of dirt and cleanliness are formulated? Does purity always accompany political, physical or social change? How different are pagan and Christian approaches to pollution and propriety at Rome, and do these approaches change over time from ancient to medieval to modern? Does Rome’s reputation as a ‘city of ruins’ determine how it is represented? What makes images of decay in Rome so picturesque? What do approaches to dirt at Rome tell us about contemporary value systems?
Pollution and Propriety brings together scholars from a range of disciplines in order to examine the historical continuity of dirt, disease and hygiene in one environment, and to explore the development and transformation of these ideas alongside major chapters in the city’s history, such as early Roman urban development, the Roman Empire, early Christianity, decline and fall, the medieval city, the Renaissance, the Unification of Italy, and the advent of Fascism. This volume sets out to identify the defining characteristics, functions and discourses of pollution in Rome in such realms as disease and medicine, death and burial, sexuality and virginity, prostitution, purity and absolution, personal hygiene and morality, criminality, bodies and cleansing, waste disposal, decay, ruins and urban renovation. It also studies the means by which that pollution was policed and controlled. By combining literary and visual material on pollution, this volume integrates areas of academic enquiry that are normally separated in scholarly research in order to identify underlying cultural patterns. Its common theme is the enduring concern for purity in its various forms, as well as the concern for the environment that is evident throughout the history of the city.
This volume will be of interest to students and scholars working in archaeology, anthropology, art history, classics, cultural history and the history of medicine, as well as anyone interested in the history, society and culture of Rome. It provides a compelling context for examining general theoretical approaches to pollution and purity, which have experienced a resurgence of interest in academic and popular circles in recent years in the form of projects, publications and exhibitions. In doing so, the volume evaluates the applicability of these models to Rome, as well as using Rome as a test study for evaluating the models themselves.
The volume focuses on the theme of ‘Pollution and Propriety’ and the discourses by which these two antagonistic concepts are related. How has pollution in Rome been defined, and by what means is it controlled? To what extent is dirt culturally constructed (a position championed by Mary Douglas, but currently under challenge)? If dirt is dis-order/ ‘matter out of place’, how useful is it as an index of order or social and cultural system? How does Rome’s own social and cultural history affect the way states of dirt and cleanliness are formulated? Does purity always accompany political, physical or social change? How different are pagan and Christian approaches to pollution and propriety at Rome, and do these approaches change over time from ancient to medieval to modern? Does Rome’s reputation as a ‘city of ruins’ determine how it is represented? What makes images of decay in Rome so picturesque? What do approaches to dirt at Rome tell us about contemporary value systems?
Pollution and Propriety brings together scholars from a range of disciplines in order to examine the historical continuity of dirt, disease and hygiene in one environment, and to explore the development and transformation of these ideas alongside major chapters in the city’s history, such as early Roman urban development, the Roman Empire, early Christianity, decline and fall, the medieval city, the Renaissance, the Unification of Italy, and the advent of Fascism. This volume sets out to identify the defining characteristics, functions and discourses of pollution in Rome in such realms as disease and medicine, death and burial, sexuality and virginity, prostitution, purity and absolution, personal hygiene and morality, criminality, bodies and cleansing, waste disposal, decay, ruins and urban renovation. It also studies the means by which that pollution was policed and controlled. By combining literary and visual material on pollution, this volume integrates areas of academic enquiry that are normally separated in scholarly research in order to identify underlying cultural patterns. Its common theme is the enduring concern for purity in its various forms, as well as the concern for the environment that is evident throughout the history of the city.
This volume will be of interest to students and scholars working in archaeology, anthropology, art history, classics, cultural history and the history of medicine, as well as anyone interested in the history, society and culture of Rome. It provides a compelling context for examining general theoretical approaches to pollution and purity, which have experienced a resurgence of interest in academic and popular circles in recent years in the form of projects, publications and exhibitions. In doing so, the volume evaluates the applicability of these models to Rome, as well as using Rome as a test study for evaluating the models themselves.
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This volume brings together scholars of modern and ancient culture to explore historical, textual, material and theoretical interactions between classics and imperialism during the heyday of the British Empire from the late eighteenth... more
This volume brings together scholars of modern and ancient culture to explore historical, textual, material and theoretical interactions between classics and imperialism during the heyday of the British Empire from the late eighteenth through to its collapse in the early decades of the twentieth century. It examines the multiple dialogues that developed between Classics and colonialism in this period and argues that the two exerted a formative influence on each other at various levels. Most at issue in the contexts where Classics and empire converge is the critical question of ownership: to whom does the classical past belong? Did the modern communities of the Mediterranean have pre-eminent ownership of the visual, literary and intellectual culture of Greece and Rome? Or could the populations and intellectual centres of Northern Europe stake a claim to this inheritance? And in what ways could non-European communities and powers – Africa, India, America – commandeer the classical heritage for themselves? In exploring the relationship between classics and imperialism in this period, this volume examines trends that are of current importance both to the discipline of Classics and to modern British cultural and intellectual history. Both classics and empire, this volume contests, can be better understood by examining them in tandem: the development of classical ideas, classical scholarship and classical imagery in this period was often directly or indirectly influenced by empire and imperial authority, and the British Empire itself was informed, shaped, legitimised and evaluated using classical models.
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The study of colour has become familiar territory in recent anthropology, linguistics, art history and archaeology. Classicists, however, have traditionally subordinated the study of colour to form. By drawing together evidence from... more
The study of colour has become familiar territory in recent anthropology, linguistics, art history and archaeology. Classicists, however, have traditionally subordinated the study of colour to form. By drawing together evidence from contemporary philosophers, elegists, epic writers, historians and satirists, Mark Bradley reinstates colour as an essential informative unit for the classification and evaluation of the Roman world. He also demonstrates that the questions of what colour was and how it functioned – as well as how it could be misused and misunderstood – were topics of intellectual debate in early imperial Rome. Suggesting strategies for interpreting Roman expressions of colour in Latin texts, Dr Bradley offers new approaches to understanding the relationship between perception and knowledge in Roman elite thought. In doing so, he highlights the fundamental role that colour performed in the realms of communication and information, and its intellectual contribution to contemporary discussions of society, politics and morality.
Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome was nominated and longlisted for the 2011 Warwick Prize for Writing.
Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome was nominated and longlisted for the 2011 Warwick Prize for Writing.
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Noses on the vast majority of ancient stone sculpture are missing. Some of them have inevitably broken off accidentally, but an overwhelming number of them have been deliberately targeted, and this wanton destruction of ancient portraits... more
Noses on the vast majority of ancient stone sculpture are missing. Some of them have inevitably broken off accidentally, but an overwhelming number of them have been deliberately targeted, and this wanton destruction of ancient portraits alludes to traditions of real-life facial mutilation that is evident across the ancient world from Homeric Greece, the Persian Empire, Classical and Hellenistic Greece, and Republican and Imperial Rome right through to the Byzantine period. Along with gouging out the eyes, slicing off the ears, cutting out the tongue and castration, dismemberment and other mutilations, nose-docking has been a widely recognized form of punishment not only in the classical world, but also in historical cultures across the globe. Across all these contexts, it has been a powerfully symbolic gesture associated with humiliation, visibility, exclusion, lost identity and pain, and has participated in discourses about politics, gender, race and slavery. This paper will examine the contribution made to this tradition by over a thousand years of evidence from Greco-Roman antiquity, the significance attributed to facial disfigurement in the ancient world, and its relationship to ideas about sensory deprivation and disempowerment.
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It is axiomatic that colour is about more than just lightwaves hitting the retina. In ancient philosophical circles, colour was often described as the primary object of vision: it was the external ‘skin’ that existed at the surface of an... more
It is axiomatic that colour is about more than just lightwaves hitting the retina. In ancient philosophical circles, colour was often described as the primary object of vision: it was the external ‘skin’ that existed at the surface of an object, and what made the object visible or ‘sensible’ to a viewer. And yet, Greco-Roman literature is riddled with examples of colour categories that do not make sense simply in visual terms: from Homer’s ‘wine-dark sea’ (oinops pontos) to ‘whey-coloured’ (orōdēs) skin in Hippocratic medicine, from blushing (rubens) faces to the honey-coloured hair (mellei crines) and marbled skin of coveted girls in Augustan elegy, and from the saffron garments of decadent easterners to the expensive fishy-smelling purple robes of the late-antique imperial court, colours appealed not just to sight, but also to smell, touch and taste. This chapter uses arguments and ideas explored in my recent monograph Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2009) to suggest that colours in pre-modern societies such as Greece and Rome, because of their close ties to specific objects and phenomena (rather than just parts of the spectrum), were frequently synaesthetic experiences which appealed to multiple senses and mobilized more than just eyesight. The chapter draws upon case studies from a range of genres and contexts (Homeric epic, artistic ekphrasis, philosophical epistemology, political rhetoric, elegy and late antique legislation) to demonstrate not only that colour was a multi-sensory experience, but also that the nature of this experience was a central preoccupation of ancient thought in several areas of activity in the Greco-Roman world. An understanding of this principle, then, can do more than just help us to translate and understand difficult Greek and Latin colour terms: colour was a basic sensory unit of information through which ancients experienced and evaluated the world around them, and the collaboration of the senses in these experiences suggests an approach to perception, knowledge and understanding which could be very different from that employed in the modern west.
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This article explores the significance of sculptural and painted representations of ‘overweight’ and ‘underweight’ body types in the visual culture of Roman Italy from the fourth century bc through to the late Empire, and considers the... more
This article explores the significance of sculptural and painted representations of ‘overweight’ and ‘underweight’ body types in the visual culture of Roman Italy from the fourth century bc through to the late Empire, and considers the relationship of this imagery to Greek and Hellenistic precedents. In spite of the topical character of fat in 21st-century sociology, anthropology and medical science, obesity and emaciation in the ancient world remain almost completely unexplored. This article sets out to examine the relationship of fat and thin bodies to power, wealth, character and behaviour, and seeks to identify patterns and continuities in the iconography of fleshiness and slenderness across a stretch of several hundred years. Such bodies could be evaluated in a number of different ways, and this article exposes the diverse — and sometimes contradictory — responses to body fat in the art and culture of the Roman world. It first examines the significance of obesity and emaciation in language, literature and medicine, and then discusses visual representations under three headings: ‘Fertility’; ‘The marginal and the ridiculous’, examining the relationship between body fat, humour and figures at the edge of civilized society; and ‘Portraits’, exploring fat and thin in the portraiture of real-life individuals in the realms of philosophy, Hellenistic rulership, Etruscan funerary art and Roman public sculpture.
This chapter examines the reception in Victorian and Edwardian Britain of Tacitus’ Agricola, an encomiastic biography of the historian’s father-in-law Agricola, governor, subjugator and arch-romanizer of Britain. The Agricola set Britain... more
This chapter examines the reception in Victorian and Edwardian Britain of Tacitus’ Agricola, an encomiastic biography of the historian’s father-in-law Agricola, governor, subjugator and arch-romanizer of Britain. The Agricola set Britain on the receiving end of imperial conquest and scrutinized the moral and ethical ambivalence of empire that also permeated British intellectual and popular debates in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter explores the impact of Tacitus’ provocative text on the formation of nationalist attitudes and experiences in the context of contemporary political, social and educational developments, as well as how imperial culture influenced editions, translations and interpretations of Tacitus’ work.
This article explores the significance of paint and pigment traces for understanding the aesthetics and artistic composition of ancient marble architectural and statuary sculpture. It complements the pioneering technical and... more
This article explores the significance of paint and pigment traces for understanding the aesthetics and artistic composition of ancient marble architectural and statuary sculpture. It complements the pioneering technical and reconstructive work that has recently been carried out into classical polychrome sculpture by approaching the subject from the perspective of the cultural history of colour and perception in the ancient world. The study concentrates in particular on the art of imperial Rome, which at the present time is under-represented in the field. By integrating visual material with literary evidence, it first reviews some of the most important pieces of sculpture on which paint traces have survived and then assesses the significance of sculptural polychromy under four headings: visibility, finish, realism and trompe-l'oeil. Finally, it considers some of the ways in which polychromy can enrich our understanding and interpretation of the Prima Porta statue of Augustus.
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A brief discussion of the colour 'amber' for Cabinet Magazine.
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This short article, written for a non-academic readership, is a version of a paper that explores the representation of Roman civilisation in the language, imagery and storytelling of the emergent children’s literature of Victorian and... more
This short article, written for a non-academic readership, is a version of a paper that explores the representation of Roman civilisation in the language, imagery and storytelling of the emergent children’s literature of Victorian and Edwardian England. The role played by Rome in a wide range of contemporary adult discourses (political rhetoric, textbooks, satire, architecture, novels, moral philosophy, etc.) has been thoroughly documented and discussed through the work of N. Vance, R. Hingley and others, but in what ways were younger readers at the time being exposed to the society, history and culture of ancient Rome? Was Rome a model or foil to civilised British culture? Was it a familiar or alien place for children? How far did its imperial practices and aspirations compare to those of the British Empire? Were accounts of Rome sanitised for their young readers? At what age groups were they aimed, and in what context were they read? And how did they compare to contemporary descriptions of ancient Greece? This paper examined patterns of representation in several successful children’s authors across this period (including Gilbert à Beckett, Rudyard Kipling and George Henty), and set them in the context of contemporary reforms in British education and the emergence of a consumerist sense of ‘popular culture’ in which the British people en masse were encouraged to compare and contrast the classical past with the social, political and moral climate of the British imperial present. By concentrating on culturally ‘difficult’ aspects of Roman civilisation such as imperialism, slavery and gladiatorial combat, this paper also explored some of the differences and continuities between the experience of Victorian childhood and that of the late twentieth century.
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This conference will explore the history of a medium that has occupied a pivotal role in Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman and Judeo-Christian religious tradition: incense. Fragrant smoke drifting up towards the heavens emblematized the... more
This conference will explore the history of a medium that has occupied a pivotal role in Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman and Judeo-Christian religious tradition: incense. Fragrant smoke drifting up towards the heavens emblematized the communication that was established between the mortal and the immortal realms, which in turn contributed to the sensory landscape of the sanctuary. Although several studies have drawn attention to the role of incense as an ingredient in ritual and a means of communication between men and gods, there remains no comprehensive examination of the practical functions and cultural semantics of incense in the ancient world, whether as a purifying agent, a performative sign of a transcendent world, an olfactory signal to summon the deity, a placatory libation, or food for the gods. Moreover, recent archaeological research has provided evidence (alongside literary, epigraphic and iconographic evidence) that the physical origins and chemical constituents of incense are complex and diverse, as are their properties: resins, vegetable gums, spices, and a welter of aromatic products that could be exhibited and burned before ancient eyes and noses. These were components of a multi-sensory religious experience in which music, colourful costumes, lavish banquets and tactile encounters defined the ritual sensibilities of the community.
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The workshop on the first day of this two-day event considered diverse cartographic approaches to understanding and representing urban space. Through the interdisciplinary composition of the three panels, it set out to establish and... more
The workshop on the first day of this two-day event considered diverse cartographic approaches to understanding and representing urban space. Through the interdisciplinary composition of the three panels, it set out to establish and sustain dialogues across the arts, humanities, social sciences and engineering. The presentations addressed: (i) maps as sources for analysing and conceptualising urban space, both historical and contemporary (in research) and for visualising and communicating new spatial understandings (in teaching and public engagement); (ii) the craft, method and performance of urban mapping, especially, but not only, with regard to new cartographic technologies; and (iii) the cultural role and significance of urban maps, atlases, and cartographic models.
The workshop was targeted at scholars from various backgrounds, and promoted the diffusion of both the latest cartographic know-how and new critical perspectives on mapping across traditional disciplinary boundaries. To scholars from the arts, humanities and social sciences it showcased the technological prospects, possibilities and limits of urban mapping. To scholars from the sciences and engineering it promoted critical reflection on the purpose and potential of visualising urban data.
The workshop was targeted at scholars from various backgrounds, and promoted the diffusion of both the latest cartographic know-how and new critical perspectives on mapping across traditional disciplinary boundaries. To scholars from the arts, humanities and social sciences it showcased the technological prospects, possibilities and limits of urban mapping. To scholars from the sciences and engineering it promoted critical reflection on the purpose and potential of visualising urban data.
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This interdisciplinary conference examined the significance of pollution and cleanliness in the art, literature, philosophy, and material culture of the city of Rome from antiquity through to the twentieth century. Dirt, disease and... more
This interdisciplinary conference examined the significance of pollution and cleanliness in the art, literature, philosophy, and material culture of the city of Rome from antiquity through to the twentieth century. Dirt, disease and pollution and the ways they are represented and policed have long been recognised by historians and anthropologists to occupy a central position in the formulation of cultural identity, and Rome holds a special status in the West as a city intimately associated with issues of purity, decay, ruin and renewal. In recent years, scholarship in a variety of disciplines has begun to scrutinise the less palatable features of the archaeology, history and society of Rome. This research has drawn attention to the city’s distinctive historical interest in the recognition, isolation and treatment of pollution, and the ways in which politicians, architects, writers and artists have exploited this as a vehicle for devising visions of purity and propriety.
As a departure point, then, the organisers proposed the theme of ‘Pollution and Propriety’ and the discourses by which these two antagonistic concepts are related. How has pollution in Rome been defined, and by what means is it controlled? How does Rome’s own social and cultural history affect the way states of dirt and cleanliness are formulated? Does purity always accompany political, physical or social change? Does Rome’s reputation as a ‘city of ruins’ determine how it is represented? What makes images of decay in Rome so picturesque? The conference brought together scholars from a range of disciplines who were interested in dirt, disease and hygiene in Rome in order to examine the historical continuity of these themes and to explore their development and transformation alongside major chapters in the city’s history, such as early Roman urban development, the Roman Empire, early Christianity, decline and fall, the medieval city, the Renaissance, the Unification of Italy, and the advent of Fascism. In addition, papers explored a wide range of social, political and cultural themes, such as: death and burial; the management and representation of disease and the history of medicine, sexuality and virginity, prostitution, sewers and waste disposal; urban segregation; religions, purity and absolution; public and private morality; bodies and cleansing; decay, decline and fall; ruins and renovation; concepts of pollution.
As a departure point, then, the organisers proposed the theme of ‘Pollution and Propriety’ and the discourses by which these two antagonistic concepts are related. How has pollution in Rome been defined, and by what means is it controlled? How does Rome’s own social and cultural history affect the way states of dirt and cleanliness are formulated? Does purity always accompany political, physical or social change? Does Rome’s reputation as a ‘city of ruins’ determine how it is represented? What makes images of decay in Rome so picturesque? The conference brought together scholars from a range of disciplines who were interested in dirt, disease and hygiene in Rome in order to examine the historical continuity of these themes and to explore their development and transformation alongside major chapters in the city’s history, such as early Roman urban development, the Roman Empire, early Christianity, decline and fall, the medieval city, the Renaissance, the Unification of Italy, and the advent of Fascism. In addition, papers explored a wide range of social, political and cultural themes, such as: death and burial; the management and representation of disease and the history of medicine, sexuality and virginity, prostitution, sewers and waste disposal; urban segregation; religions, purity and absolution; public and private morality; bodies and cleansing; decay, decline and fall; ruins and renovation; concepts of pollution.
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Interest in the connections between classics and imperialism has mounted rapidly in recent years. This conference brings together scholars of modern and ancient culture to explore historical, textual, material and theoretical interactions... more
Interest in the connections between classics and imperialism has mounted rapidly in recent years. This conference brings together scholars of modern and ancient culture to explore historical, textual, material and theoretical interactions between the two. Focused on the British empire and on classical scholarship in English, papers at the conference concentrate on discrete historical or discursive moments, but collectively they span a wide chronological, geographical and conceptual range. The conference is intended to result in a book, which should provide a wide-ranging analysis of the synchronous development of the Second British Empire and modern English-language classical scholarship.
The conference theme of 'Hegemony and Cornucopia' alludes to the routes by which empires forge power from heterogeneity, imperial elites profiting from the diversity of empire while constructing discourses of identity and of alterity to maintain control. How was a changing Western scholarly understanding of ancient Greece and Rome connected to the ways in which European empires employed and understood the variation of their constituent populations, cultures, environments and products? How did encounters between European and non-European traditions of 'the classical' shape ancient historiography and modern imperialism? Topics explored by conference papers include:
• the role of classics in attempts to justify and consolidate European imperial power;
• the intellectual and material connections between British imperialism and the practice of philology and archaeology in the nineteenth century;
• ancient and modern interpretations of power, identity, citizenship and slavery;
• representations of the classical world in imperial popular culture;
• the use and representation of the European classics in colonial literature.
The conference theme of 'Hegemony and Cornucopia' alludes to the routes by which empires forge power from heterogeneity, imperial elites profiting from the diversity of empire while constructing discourses of identity and of alterity to maintain control. How was a changing Western scholarly understanding of ancient Greece and Rome connected to the ways in which European empires employed and understood the variation of their constituent populations, cultures, environments and products? How did encounters between European and non-European traditions of 'the classical' shape ancient historiography and modern imperialism? Topics explored by conference papers include:
• the role of classics in attempts to justify and consolidate European imperial power;
• the intellectual and material connections between British imperialism and the practice of philology and archaeology in the nineteenth century;
• ancient and modern interpretations of power, identity, citizenship and slavery;
• representations of the classical world in imperial popular culture;
• the use and representation of the European classics in colonial literature.
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Classicists have long pumped a great deal of scholarly energy into the theme of cultural difference, extraordinary political principles and bizarre social priorities. How could Athenian "democracy" be so misogynistic and xenophobic? What... more
Classicists have long pumped a great deal of scholarly energy into the theme of cultural difference, extraordinary political principles and bizarre social priorities. How could Athenian "democracy" be so misogynistic and xenophobic? What made the Romans think of their slaves as little more than livestock? How could they derive pleasure from watching wild beasts tear people apart in the arena? And so on.
This conference aims to push the interface between sameness and otherness to new levels, and consider whether the Greeks and Romans actually experienced the world in the same way that we do. Did they see, hear, feel, smell and taste things just as we do, or did they package their environment using a repertoire of sensory perceptions altogether different from our own?
Sensory perception has been a highly interdisciplinary province of research, finding expression in fields as diverse as philosophy, anthropology, experimental psychology and linguistics. It has rarely caught the attention of classicists. This conference aims to incorporate some of the developments and established themes from these disciplines, and find a place for Classics at the cutting edge of this expanding field of cultural studies. What can a classicist learn from an anthropologist about reading the experiences of a different culture? How important are linguistic registers for reconstructing sensations? To answer some of these questions, general papers on the dynamics of sensory perception will be accompanied by more specific papers addressing aspects of visual studies and literary studies.
Sensory perception constitutes a vast intellectual field, and the issues addressed by this conference will constitute the tip of the iceberg. We aim to lay out why an understanding of the mechanics of sensory perception might be important for classicists. Does "sensory perception" have a history? Is dealing with senses in antiquity different from dealing with (for example) ancient warfare? Where do we draw the line between a sensory perception and cultural concept/ idea/ theme? Are sensory perceptions (just) functional (i.e. do we map on to our environment the sensory categories that we need) or are things phenomenological – just there to be experienced? Is sensory perception all about cultural memory (i.e. every perception is a "re-perception")? In what ways can we access sensory perception through the source material available to us? How limiting are ancient cultures for this? What are we losing by thinking about sensory perceptions in abstract? Can we find neat sensory divisions between sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste in the ancient world? Why are we so preoccupied with the visual?
This conference aims to push the interface between sameness and otherness to new levels, and consider whether the Greeks and Romans actually experienced the world in the same way that we do. Did they see, hear, feel, smell and taste things just as we do, or did they package their environment using a repertoire of sensory perceptions altogether different from our own?
Sensory perception has been a highly interdisciplinary province of research, finding expression in fields as diverse as philosophy, anthropology, experimental psychology and linguistics. It has rarely caught the attention of classicists. This conference aims to incorporate some of the developments and established themes from these disciplines, and find a place for Classics at the cutting edge of this expanding field of cultural studies. What can a classicist learn from an anthropologist about reading the experiences of a different culture? How important are linguistic registers for reconstructing sensations? To answer some of these questions, general papers on the dynamics of sensory perception will be accompanied by more specific papers addressing aspects of visual studies and literary studies.
Sensory perception constitutes a vast intellectual field, and the issues addressed by this conference will constitute the tip of the iceberg. We aim to lay out why an understanding of the mechanics of sensory perception might be important for classicists. Does "sensory perception" have a history? Is dealing with senses in antiquity different from dealing with (for example) ancient warfare? Where do we draw the line between a sensory perception and cultural concept/ idea/ theme? Are sensory perceptions (just) functional (i.e. do we map on to our environment the sensory categories that we need) or are things phenomenological – just there to be experienced? Is sensory perception all about cultural memory (i.e. every perception is a "re-perception")? In what ways can we access sensory perception through the source material available to us? How limiting are ancient cultures for this? What are we losing by thinking about sensory perceptions in abstract? Can we find neat sensory divisions between sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste in the ancient world? Why are we so preoccupied with the visual?
Research Interests:
Working in mud, examining our latrines and faeces, and treasuring our discarded debris, archaeologists are uniquely placed to offer insights into our complex relationship with waste and dirt. Peer through the lens of archaeology to find... more
Working in mud, examining our latrines and faeces, and treasuring our discarded debris, archaeologists are uniquely placed to offer insights into our complex relationship with waste and dirt. Peer through the lens of archaeology to find out just how dirty our past was, the wonders contained in a speck of soil and what the future holds for the study of our filthy remains.
My contribution will explore approaches to human waste in ancient Rome, and will concentrate on differences between ancient and modern responses to dirt. It will do this by concentrating on two topics in Roman culture: the development and architecture of Rome's magnificent sewer system and its integration into the city's religious rituals; and the widespread use of human urine as a detergent for cleaning Roman clothes. Both topics will be set within the theoretical framework of Mary Douglas' definition of dirt as 'matter out of place', and will allow us to explore the ways in which filth and the control of dirt are determined by culture, and not just by biology.
My contribution will explore approaches to human waste in ancient Rome, and will concentrate on differences between ancient and modern responses to dirt. It will do this by concentrating on two topics in Roman culture: the development and architecture of Rome's magnificent sewer system and its integration into the city's religious rituals; and the widespread use of human urine as a detergent for cleaning Roman clothes. Both topics will be set within the theoretical framework of Mary Douglas' definition of dirt as 'matter out of place', and will allow us to explore the ways in which filth and the control of dirt are determined by culture, and not just by biology.
This paper sets out to discuss the significance of sculptural and painted representations of ‘overweight’ and ‘underweight’ body types in the visual culture of Roman Italy from the fourth century B.C. through to the late Empire. Evidence... more
This paper sets out to discuss the significance of sculptural and painted representations of ‘overweight’ and ‘underweight’ body types in the visual culture of Roman Italy from the fourth century B.C. through to the late Empire.
Evidence for obesity, corpulence and emaciation in the sculpture and painting of Roman Italy is rather thin on the ground: the default position for an ancient artist setting out to represent the bodies of mortals, heroes and gods alike was to reproduce, in the case of males, a youthful athletic figure with modest musculature, tight skin, broad shoulders and narrow hips and, in the case of females, a young healthy figure of childbearing age with soft, supple skin, rounded hips and shapely breasts. This idealized model, the prevailing standard across Greek, Hellenistic, Etruscan and Roman art, echoed a widely recognized physiognomic doctrine in which the well-balanced Mediterranean body occupied the desirable intermediate middle ground in terms of diet, climate and lifestyle. In medical discourse, such bodies were physical manifestations of a moderate balance of humours and represented an ideal state of health, contrasting with the cold, moist and fleshy populations of the north, or the hot and parched bodies of skinny southerners. What this ideological standardization of body types means is that any variation in the shape or proportion of bodies represented in art is particularly striking: fleshy cheeks, double chins, flabby arms, love handles, excessive musculature, skin rolls and protruding bellies, as well as sunken eyes, bony cheeks and skeletal torsos, represented a conspicuous variation from the idealized norm, and these features brought with them various sets of social and moral associations which distinguished the subject matter socially, economically and ethnically from the vast majority of corporeal representations.
This paper will first discuss some of the lexical categories with which ancients classified fat and thin bodies and then explore some of the literary contexts in which such bodies were described and evaluated, before moving on to discuss visual representations under five headings: fat and thin in Greek and Hellenistic art; the 'obese' Etruscan; fertility; marginalized bodies; and Roman portraits. The paper will finish by considering comparative evidence for the representation of unusual body shapes in Renaissance and modern art.
Evidence for obesity, corpulence and emaciation in the sculpture and painting of Roman Italy is rather thin on the ground: the default position for an ancient artist setting out to represent the bodies of mortals, heroes and gods alike was to reproduce, in the case of males, a youthful athletic figure with modest musculature, tight skin, broad shoulders and narrow hips and, in the case of females, a young healthy figure of childbearing age with soft, supple skin, rounded hips and shapely breasts. This idealized model, the prevailing standard across Greek, Hellenistic, Etruscan and Roman art, echoed a widely recognized physiognomic doctrine in which the well-balanced Mediterranean body occupied the desirable intermediate middle ground in terms of diet, climate and lifestyle. In medical discourse, such bodies were physical manifestations of a moderate balance of humours and represented an ideal state of health, contrasting with the cold, moist and fleshy populations of the north, or the hot and parched bodies of skinny southerners. What this ideological standardization of body types means is that any variation in the shape or proportion of bodies represented in art is particularly striking: fleshy cheeks, double chins, flabby arms, love handles, excessive musculature, skin rolls and protruding bellies, as well as sunken eyes, bony cheeks and skeletal torsos, represented a conspicuous variation from the idealized norm, and these features brought with them various sets of social and moral associations which distinguished the subject matter socially, economically and ethnically from the vast majority of corporeal representations.
This paper will first discuss some of the lexical categories with which ancients classified fat and thin bodies and then explore some of the literary contexts in which such bodies were described and evaluated, before moving on to discuss visual representations under five headings: fat and thin in Greek and Hellenistic art; the 'obese' Etruscan; fertility; marginalized bodies; and Roman portraits. The paper will finish by considering comparative evidence for the representation of unusual body shapes in Renaissance and modern art.
In this talk, I introduce my new volume 'Classics and imperialism in the British Empire' which brings together scholars of modern and ancient culture to explore interactions between classics and imperialism during the heyday of the... more
In this talk, I introduce my new volume 'Classics and imperialism in the British Empire' which brings together scholars of modern and ancient culture to explore interactions between classics and imperialism during the heyday of the British Empire from the late eighteenth through to its collapse in the early decades of the twentieth century. The talk will focus on the interactive role of British imperialism and ideas about classics in the context of British museums.
This paper explores the significance of paint and pigment traces for understanding the aesthetics and artistic composition of ancient marble architectural and statuary sculpture. It complements the pioneering technical and reconstructive... more
This paper explores the significance of paint and pigment traces for understanding the aesthetics and artistic composition of ancient marble architectural and statuary sculpture. It complements the pioneering technical and reconstructive work that has recently been carried out into classical polychrome sculpture by approaching the subject from the perspective of the cultural history of colour and perception in the ancient world. The study concentrates in particular on the art of imperial Rome, which at the present time is under-represented in the field. By integrating visual material with literary evidence, it first reviews some of the most important pieces of sculpture on which paint traces have survived and then assesses the significance of sculptural polychromy under four headings: visibility, finish, realism and trompe-l'oeil. Finally, it considers some of the ways in which polychromy can enrich our understanding and interpretation of the Prima Porta statue of Augustus.
I was consultant and talking head for this documentary, presented by Michael Scott and Alexander Armstrong, in which I discussed some of the myths and traditions surrounding Roman bathing.
Research Interests:
A short interview, which you can follow here, on the problems of ancient colour perception, and the elusive history of the colour "blue" - triggered by #that dress. Available to listen to here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0540h09
Research Interests:
Did people in the distant past see colour in the same way that we do? The most famously perplexing ancient colour description is Homer’s ‘wine-dark sea’. It's led to the proposition that the ancient Greeks had defective colour vision,... more
Did people in the distant past see colour in the same way that we do? The most famously perplexing ancient colour description is Homer’s ‘wine-dark sea’. It's led to the proposition that the ancient Greeks had defective colour vision, perhaps they were collectively colour blind. Or did they understand and perceive colour in an altogether different way to us?
Available to listen to here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bodysphere/do-you-see-what-i-see3f/5251682
Available to listen to here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bodysphere/do-you-see-what-i-see3f/5251682
Research Interests:
I was lead consultant and talking head on the three-part BBC4 series 'Rome: A History of the Eternal City', presented by Simon Sebag Montefiore and aired in December 2012. The series focused on the enduring relationship between religion... more
I was lead consultant and talking head on the three-part BBC4 series 'Rome: A History of the Eternal City', presented by Simon Sebag Montefiore and aired in December 2012. The series focused on the enduring relationship between religion and the city of Rome from ancient times through to the Renaissance (and beyond), and I took the BBC crew down into the Cloaca Maxima, and inspected a liver in the manner of a haruspex (Etruscan priest). Available to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b53F_BaF_ss.
Research Interests:
An early discussion of my research on obesity, corpulence and emaciation in Roman art: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/how-were-fat-and-thin-body-images-portrayed-roman-and-greek-cultures
Research Interests:
I was academic consultant and presenter for a documentary entitled 'What did "The Romans" ever do for us' to accompany the DVD release of the 1960s Doctor Who 'The Romans' episode in 2009.
Research Interests:
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
Research Interests:
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
Research Interests:
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
Research Interests:
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
Research Interests:
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use.... more
This is one of a set of initial worksheet tasks, and follow-up guidance, for a range of key topics in classical studies, which were utilized by the Young, Gifted and Talented Programme in c. 2010, but which are now no longer in use. Please feel free to make use of these as you feel appropriate for secondary school teaching and learning.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
I also have short one-minute introductory videos to accompany each of these worksheets: file-types not supported by Academia.edu, but I would be happy to share them with you if you contact me.
Research Interests:
In this series, historians of all periods, experts in visual culture and literary scholars explore the many ways in which faces have been represented in the past and present, and in particular the issue of facial difference,... more
In this series, historians of all periods, experts in visual culture and literary scholars explore the many ways in which faces have been represented in the past and present, and in particular the issue of facial difference, disfigurement, beauty and 'ugliness'. Faces are central to all human social interactions, yet have been neglected as a subject of study in themselves outside of the cognitive sciences and some work on aesthetics of the body. Titles in the series will range across themes such as approaching the difficult history of disfigurement, how facial difference and disability intersect, the changing norms of appearance relating to the face and other features such as the hair (facial and otherwise), violence targeted at the face, and the reception and representation of the face in art and literature.