Curator's Perspective: The Reach of Rome—Then and Now
Good. Evening and welcome, I'm. Megan rust educator, for public programs at the frist Center and, I'd like to thank you for joining us this evening, we. Are privileged, to have Sam Morehead fines advisor for iron age and Roman coins at the British Museum here. With us this evening to present the reach of Rome then. And now in honor, of the opening of Rome, City and Empire, if. You haven't had a chance to see this wonderful exhibition, we are open until 9:00 p.m. this, evening so we encourage you to head. To the galleries afterwards, and see all the, beautiful works from the British Museum. The. Presentation, of this exhibition is a collaboration, between the British Museum and the frist Center in addition. To dr. Moorhead we are honored to have several. Distinguished, guests with us this evening, Leslie. Fitting keeper, of Greece and Rome at the British Museum and Emma. Kelly head, of international, touring exhibitions, join, me in welcoming them. We. Would like to thank the following sponsors of Rome City and Empire in the Ingram gallery our, platinum. Sponsor, the, HCA, foundation on. Behalf of HCA, Tristar, health and our, hospitality, sponsor, Union Station hotel, this. Exhibition is supported in part by our 2018, Frist gala patrons, and is. Also supported, in part by an indemnity. From the Federal Council on the arts and the humanities and, as. Always we could we appreciate the continuing, operating, support from the metric Metro Nashville Arts Commission the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment, for the Arts. At. This time it's my pleasure to, introduce Sam, Morehead dr.. Morehead was awarded a scholarship to, read classical, archaeology and, ancient, history at the University, of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Here. He published his first book and has written numerous articles on, Roman. Coin hoards and site finds ever since, for. Many years he taught art taught archaeology. In ancient history before, joining the museum as a staff lecturer, in archaeology, as, head. Curator of interpretation. He worked on some major exhibitions. Such as mummy the Inside Story. Michelangelo. And Persia the latter involving, work in Iran, he. Is currently national, science advisor for Iron Age and Roman coins with. The portable antiquities scheme, at the British Museum and, overseas, coin finds made across England, Wales, please. Join me in welcoming dr., Sam Morehead. Thank. You Megan. Don't. Believe a word of it. It's. Action, to be in Nashville I'd.
Like To say thank you to all the, wonderful. Staff at the frist who have treated us like kings while we've been here I'm sure I speak for my two colleagues Leslie. And Emma who. Are in the back it's. Been a wonderful time and I have to say that the show has. Been put on so. Well by. Mark. And his team of designers. Lighting. Experts, interpreters. Educators. I'm not going to what I said on Wednesday, but it sings. In a way that it it, never sings in the British Museum because we just don't have the. Space and we're, not able to give all the individual, objects the treatment, that you given them so thank, you so much to the frist for doing that for us, and. Also I, don't. Want to embarrass him but I happen. To Nashville, before it was actually 37, years ago when, I was at, university. And the, person who brought me here is in the audience today Thank You woody but, could I just remind you woody what happens in the fraternity stays. With eternity. Now. So. I'm, going to try and keep you a whistle-stop, tour of. The Roman Empire what, it might mean then, what it might mean today, and if, I ramble in a direction, you're, welcome to call me to order but, I hope it will give an insight into how this show is, trying. To give. You an idea, of what it was like to be in the Roman Empire but not just in Rome anywhere. In the Empire and so I shall try. To give you some sort of background, that. Show is much more important, than anything I will say though now. The. Roman Empire stretched. From Scotland. And this. Is the Antonine, wall brought, against, the Caledonians. Who. Were always a thorn in the ribs for the Romans the Romans never fully, conquered, Scotland, so, any of you a Scottish ancestry, can be proud of that. We've. Gotten all the way to Syria, this. Is the slightly more poignant, image an image I took in March 2011. Of the, theater at, Palmyra. And, sadly. This part now no. Longer exists, and. Then. We come back all the way to Morocco. Now. If Scotland is on the latitude of Nova Scotia, Morocco. Is on the latitude of. Florida. So. That's giving you an idea of the climatic, change and, this is the the, southernmost, city, in the Roman Empire at. Sala. Colonia. And. Then. We go all the way up, again to Germany, to, one of the largest amphitheaters. For gladiatorial, games in, the Roman Empire a tree, err I'm sure many of you been to many of these places. So. I don't want to teach grandmothers to suck eggs but I'm just giving her that extent. It's. An empire of. Almost. 2 million square miles it's comparable, to the United States except. That geography is totally, different your geography is quite conveniently, rectangular. With. A few exceptions, well. If the Roman Empire is around. The. Mediterranean. Three. Different continents Africa Asia, and Europe it's, a much more complex, geographical. Configuration. It. Covers over 50, modern countries, and, you. Have 50 states don't you sir well again. When. We finally give up in Britain you have 51. So. And. Then about. A hundred million people now, population. Estimates. Archaeologists. Make, up most of what they tell you anyway, but. Population. Estimates are desperately difficult and, one. Thing that's happening now. With. Archaeology. Is remote sensing, light. Our for example and I don't know how many of you seen the, recent work in Guatemala. Where. They have opened up an entire Mayan, landscape, we never knew existed, we. Are in my scheme, of what work I do at the British Museum with. Recording. Finds made by, metal detectorists, also, identifying. Hundreds. If not thousands. Of new roman sites we never knew existed and this. Means the population estimates, are going to rise and I think if, I was to stand here in ten years time that figure, would be much higher but. It's only a rough idea of the numbers, and that the, various, people. Here I show you are all in the exhibition, and they, range from people who come from Spain Syria. Italy. Germany. Algeria. Sub-saharan. Africa. Libya. And, Turkey. So, this is the snapshot of the places, that you'll see and. Of. Rome started, on the Seven Hills was mortal, from, a display in Rome itself shows you the Palatine, Hill with. A few little, huts and in. Fact the. Way that archeologists. Reconstruct, those hearts is from the earth from the post, holes that are found but. Nothing else is found so what should they use they.
Use The, scenery on the funeral iron which you will see in the first or, the second room of the exhibition, which. Is when. You cremated. Someone you will put their bones inside. This urn and bury it and I, should remind you the ancient cremation, they. Didn't have that they couldn't reach the temperature that you can today so, you have a lot of bone you can actually up to sex or age the, person even. From acclamation so they went in here and into, the ground so this is the evidence we use for those Hut's look like all, those years ago in the 8th century BC, and. Of course the story of Rome starts, by. The time that they created, the full mythology. The full legend. With. Romulus and Remus. Suckling. The wolf here and of, course then limas plows, the furrow for the city our boundary. Of Romulus. Does Remus, jumps over it Romulus. Kills him the. City is founded, and that is the start of Rome but. Before. Rome becomes, a republic, it, is a monarchy, ruled. By the Etruscans. People, from the north the. Etruscans, already had a lot of close links with the Greeks in the south of Italy and so, much of the Greek mythology, is already, coming into their world and so. This, wonderful, toilet box here has. The, scene of Persephone, and Hades. The. Story of Persephone Demeter, and Hades six, years under in the, in the. Underworld six, years living above and, this. Bronze, mirror of, the Etruscans, has, a scene with which you, are all perfectly, familiar. Because. You have it just down the road the, birth of Athena so. I don't need to teach anyone in Nashville about the birth of Athena and in, fact Leslie, who. I should tell you that she finished the keeper of Greek and Roman so she is, one. Of the higher, echelons. Of, British Museum unlike, me who scrabbles around lower down and we. Went there yesterday and, we, both thought that the new painted, Athena is marvellous. Absolutely. Wonderful and we. Are going to have an image of her if we're allowed on the copyright reasons in our gallery as soon as possible, but. There is worth Athena as you, know the story zeus, had a headache and out, came Athena. In. Rome. Itself the Roman Forum we. Have the heart of the Republican, system that developed, after they rejected the Etruscans. The. Senate and the, Senate consisted, of 300, or more of the wealthiest people of Rome the aristocracy classes. And from. Them were, elected, the magistrates, the, two consuls, two. Fighters, the crisis, and a whole range of other magistrates, even. People who responsible for the aqueducts, or the sewers, people. Are responsible, for striking the coins this. Is where the Senate sat although. This is a reconstructed building in the, late Roman period after, a fire it's interesting, because. It doesn't have the grandeur, of the other Roman buildings, and I believe this is because what, was important, in the Senate was what the people were doing inside, most. Of the grand buildings, you see Roman temples, and you. Didn't go inside a temple it was to be seen from outside and this, is quite a contrast, to, another, famous Senate, which, you'll all know about. Where. The. Capitol, and, in, fact I know this sounds ridiculous but my um my grandfather. Had a rather, nice house in. England. Before the Second World War and when. He came went to the war I'm afraid he lost everything in the war and the house had to be sold but, it was designed by the same architect as, the capital, which, the only one or two buildings, in Britain by the same architect but, this. I we think looked rather like a wedding cake. But. It is obviously classically, inspired and, the, word Senate comes, into into, your world obviously and it, gets even closer, the. Little, bronze statuette. Here which. You will see in the second room is a Licht or he's a junior magistrate, so, he would walk in front of the consuls and he, held the fash gaze now this, has. Been Tom afraid of the talk but. It would be straight and it, is actually the, rods. And the axe which. Appears on back of your dimes in, the last century, and these. Are the symbols of authority, the. Authority, to, beat with. Gods to, punish or if. People have been especially naughty, to execute, and, this. Symbol has been used throughout history and, I was told by one of the wonderful docents, you have here that George, Washington had his, table legs were made of the first case and.
On. That, topic. You. May not know this but. Your. Founding, fathers, were steeped in the classics well you know this much. More than people, might be aware of this. When, I was at UNC, the. I remember, I was up in there through a general meeting area, and the professors were all fingering, a photocopy, and they, were all going oh this is the original syllabus, at the University, of North Carolina and. I. Then. Emailed, about a month or so ago the, classics department saying could you send me a copy I didn't, realize I was going to court the biggest amount of chaos in the archives, at the University, and their emails coming back we don't know what you're talking about where is it what is it they found this this, is this it's actually 1823. Now as you know North Carolina is the oldest state university, in the country and. 1780s. But, this is early, enough and if, I go on to the next here you will see at the start of all the syllabi, you. Have cornelius, nepos Sallust. Roman, antiquities, virgil. Cicero. And then. You get the lesser subjects, after it's like elements. Of ancient modern geography or arithmetic algebra and, then right down the bottom English, so. The. Classics, were at the top of the list that is what you did when you were an undergraduate, in Old West the, first whole, residence, at, the University. Now. Italy. Itself the. Rome, is here this, is a trust Cantera Torre these. Are the same islands were some Knights and the Greeks in the south and, it. Took the Romans about 300, years of expansion. To, actually gain Italy, it. Was some, bloody wars and once. Again distally they then made Sicily therefore province. But. They. Were to meet a very. Variable, foe in the form of the Carthaginians, who were Punic, people who originally came from Lebanon, and Syria on the coastline so they were Eastern, origin, and. The. Carthaginians. Were to prove a real thorn in the ribs for the Romans for about a hundred years they. Fought three major Wars against them and the. Elder. Cato, whenever. He stood up in the Senate and said, something, he always ended. His speeches with. Carthago. Delenda asked. Carthage. Must be destroyed, and, in. The end he got its own way or they died by then in, 146, it was finally, destroyed, this. Coin which, is on display is one of the finest coins in. Obvious. Type in existence, and in fact getting, this priceless, out of the hands of the curator responsible. For it was an interesting, experience.
But. You see one of Hannibal's elephants but he took over the Alps before. He defeated the Romans in several battles but, it became a war of attrition and that's why he lost but. When you get a traffic you see that these, are the Punic houses the. Romans, built above, them they destroyed, them and they built enormous, substructure, above for, their buildings, much higher and this. Really is how you show the enemy who's in charge but. What is more interesting though. Contrary. To the belief of, the. General tech what the general texts tell us Punic. Help to continue and you will see in the gallery a, Punic, stealer a funerary monument, under the, bust of a lady. Who's African, who. Are the survivors, of the Punic culture, who still keep their cultural, traits in the Roman, period so. Even, though they were defeated they. Did remain as, an independent culture. The. Eastern Mediterranean. Was, conquered, when Mark. Antony and Cleopatra were, defeated at the Battle of Actium and, you'll see that the general who did that a grip. The right-hand man the henchman the fixer of Augustus, and here. Cleopatra's. Dying in a highly, imaginative painting. This. Is not Antony who is in the exhibition it's a tiny little ring. I apologize. For small ring but, there. Are very few busts, of Mark Antony in existence, we don't have one that is museum who do have one in your collection at home who does have it but I'm. Afraid we, had to use other objects, but this ring is indicative. Of the. Rings worn by the followers, of these late, Republican. Leaders like Caesar Crassus. Pompey. Lepidus. The men who started, to turn the Republic upside down and they, had all their followers, and we, have a wing of the museum of a, follower of Caesar so. It was your way of showing loyalty to, these people who basically were, populist, leaders who usurped and broken, the rules and in, the end brought the, Republic, crashing down. Caesar. Meanwhile is conquering, northern Europe this. Is Caesar here and, he's. Wearing a golden laurel leaf which served two purposes it. Showed that he was a. Victorious. General defeating. Goal but, also it covered a bald patch which he was very embarrassed about, and. On. The, other side on the. Inscription, it says he's dictator. Perpetual. Dictator. For, life this. Is one of the reasons why he. Was to be assassinated to more comfort in a minute but. On another one of his coins in great, contrast. It shows the, Gallic, Leader. Vercingetorix. Who led the rebellion against the Romans and he's. Shown very, much as the noble barbarian, and any. Of you who've got Scottish, or Irish or Welsh ancestry, and you'd, like to see yourself as Celtic if, you want to be authentic Celtic. You. Let him wash your hair in spikes. Like. A punk rocker. That. Is the authentic limewash. Hair of a, northern European. At this time when, Caesar was in goal he. Made two preliminary, exhibition. Expeditions, to Britain and, he. Arrived literally, at this very point the, white cliffs with. His sips my. Ancestors. Were standing, all the way along the cliffs and. He. Decided to sail around the edge until he get onto a beach and he did manage to land but. The problem, that Caesar had when he arrived was his, cavalry. Got, swept away by the tides he. Had no cavalry and we, in Britain were a bit backward, then we. Had a form of warfare that had gone out of use it was very much the warfare of the Trojan War that. The chariot warfare and here.
On The other side of the coin I have shown you it says, to British charioteers. And they. Employed. A hit-and-run tactic, they. Would the charioteer, would drive the chariot up to the Roman legions the. British warrior who, would be a very high-status name indeed would get off he clobber, a couple of Romans and then get on the chariot and ride off again and this. Hit-and-run tactics. Confused. The Roman army enormous, ly and it took him a long time to adjust to it but it, is actually funnily enough in the British tradition, because. Those of you who know the Lawrence of Arabia, he. Adapted, this policy. Of hit-and-run. Insurgency. Tactics in, the, Arab revolt in 1917. In the Jordanian, desert and then. In the Second World War the, Special Air Service, the SAS, are special troops adapted, exactly, the same policy, in the, northern, desert in Africa. With the 8th army and of course your special services, play, the same game as well so. This, idea of hit-and-run, warfare, being. Used is not a something. Which died out with the chariot of the Britons I'd like to think it's a tradition, that still exists. But. Coming, back to Caesar. This. Is the most famous Roman coin ever struck, it's. Very rare there are only about 30 of them in existence and, I'm pleased to say in British Museum throughout for. It. Sells you to daggers. The, cap of Liberty in, the middle when, you were a slave and you were given your freedom, you were given the Peleus the cap of Liberty and. Of course this is used in the French Revolution, the absolute. Archetypal. Iconic, image of French Revolution, is the the cap of Liberty and then. But now below, the giveaway, is I tomorrow the. Ides of March so this, is a coin struck, by Brutus. Who. With Cassius, were the ringleaders, in the assassination, of Caesar and, it's. A very potent, piece in the, Roman world you were not supposed to celebrate publicly. The, killing of a, fellow Roman, it was a taboo, topic, and in, fact it didn't happen again until, the reign of Constantine the, Great true hundred years later but. Here Brutus is celebrating, the, killing, of Caesar and claiming. That he's bringing Liberty to the Roman world, well, alas. Alack it didn't work like that Brutus, and Cassius themselves. Were both killed at the Battle of Philippi and, I have a suspicion, that these, coins were generally withdrawn from circulation as, fast as possible. It. Led the way for. Octavian. Who, defeated Antony and Cleopatra to, become the first Emperor and what. He did was he cleverly, created, this veneer, of the. Old republic remaining. The consuls remained the Senate. Remained all. The other magistracies. Remains, but, what effectively, happened, within a few decades is, the emperor gained control of, everything and now. We have an imperial, world rather than a republican, one and this. Buster Octavian, is interesting, this, is made around about the time of the Battle of Actium as, a youthful. Man, but. When, he dies of, seventy-seven, about thirty years later, 35 years later or so, the. Busts have pretty well the same look he. Never gets older, than thirty and. To, say the couch of the youth is a new thing it's not at all the other. Thing is whether. He look like this or not is a moot point because. This is highly, stylized. Upon. The earlier. Busts. Of, Alexander. The Great and. When you're going to the gallery you'll see him next to Agrippa and here, is the wonderful, clean-shaven. Very. Almost. Boy like God, like Octavian. An extra. Mercy the rugged, rather. Fearsome, looking Agrippa, his, right-hand man, in contrast, who I'll show you in, a second. But. When Augustus came, to the throne the. Court poets, just take off, Virgil. Of it Horace all those people who those of you who studied Latin at school will remember and. Today. You get political sound bites and. Little. Sound bites in Britain are so, sophisticated now, we have one witches brexit. Means brexit. Having. The first idea, what that is, and I. Won't say what the sign bites are out here but there are two words one being were there from one bringing with n.
You. Can work it out but. This. Here, is what, Assam bites would be, forget. Not Roman, that. Is your, special, genius to. Rule the peoples to. Impose the ways of peace to. Spare the defeated, and to, crush those who, will not defeat. Well. That's. A fairly potent statement and it sums up Romanus, in pretty well one sentence. Rome. Brought, the Pax Romana. But. The deal was that you. Would have the benefits, of a Pax Romana if you submitted, it. Did not submit you, will be beaten up until you get submit. Empire's, are brutal, by their very nature and, this. Barbarian, here, has. Been on the receiving end, of that brutality. And he's. Actually seated his arms, tied. Behind his, back with. His beard showing him as being a rugged uncouth, uncivilized. Man with, a hat which is an Eastern barbarian, hat, he's, an archetypal. Generic, barbarian. And is. Seated at the skirts, you can't see the big statue is no longer just a victory, so. That is how they depicted, the. The, vanquished. Foe and, they. Went on vanquishing, more, people in the, Imperial, period so, I'm afraid my poor country, britannia, is conquered. In 43, and here is Claudius. Vanquishing. Smiting. Britannia, herself, I couldn't. Really missed you it's actually in Turkey, at Afridi's yes but, you have got this which. Is a little coin he built a triumph for the Arts in Rome, Gabe, returned the. Conquest of Britain about the conquest of Britain and on top is Claudius, on horseback with, two trophies on either side and. In. Britain, we. Work to be the most shop world one of the most troublesome, provinces. For a - I'll come to the other one in a minute we, were always causing. Problems for the Romans to win, a conquest, in Britain was. To win the greatest. Triumph, you could in Rome so there were Emperor's you actually, picked a fight in Britain so. They could say they beaten the Britons and the. Scots even more so and. Haven. Here is, to build this wall when they decide that actually, it's not worth conquering Scotland. It's. Too, much of a problem and here. You see Hadrian's Wall and we, were all discussing in England only a few years ago when they had the independence, vote in Scotland, whether. We'd had to rebuild it again but. Hildren. Also was, the first person, to put Britannia, on a coin and here. Is the coin with, Britannia, seated like a warlike Minerva, and he. Sits, on rugged, rocks, Britain. Receives the rugged rocky, terrain, with, lots of dark woods and swamps. And bogs, that's, how they depicted us and. Bitanga. Then, in. The way that charles ii, in, 1660. S come. Back on the British coins. And here she is over here and I, thought I'd choose you a very, poignant, coin. With, Britannia, on just. To see if you regret or not. Because. This, is, Britannia. On the. Back of a hate me of, that, famous King, King. George the third and. The. Gates is. 1775. Do. You wish you had a time machine I don't know. The. Other troublesome. Province was Judea and, in. Judea. The, Jewish, religion, object very much its own cultural, entity.
Did. Not like having. To worship, the Emperor and. There. Were all sorts of other Judaic. Practices. Which were, very typical, to them which the Romans objected, to, circumcision. Being one of them for example and. This. Led, to to. Read the votes the first great revolt was in 66, to 73, and this. Is when the emperor Titus, crushed. It there was a bust of crisis in the exhibition, but this coin also, were Titus, standing, under. A palm tree and. Dejected. Julia seated, underneath. Again. Showing the vanquished, enemy, but. Those of you who've been to Israel, I don't know how many if you have heard some wonderful sights there and I, was sucking after x-rays in Israel for five years of my life but. This is procedure. Rank that. The Romans, built up. To Masada you, get an idea for scale, this. Is Roman engineering for, you this is what empires, do it says great empires, are not upheld, by being timid and. This. Is where the, final, zealots. And Julian's. Were taken, Muslim. Committed suicide before they were captured, by. The Romans I think only a few women and children actually survived and. After, this the, treasures. From the Temple in Jerusalem were. Brought to Rome including the gold, and, we. Know from other sources, they survived in the roman treasury for great period of time but. They're depicted, here on the, arch of Titus in, Rome which, you can still see today so here, is the, very visible statement, that Titus is making, I have, conquered to, dare. Trajan. Goes one further the. Emperor Trajan from. Spain a Roman family from Spain is really. Seen. As the second Alexander, the Great and. He. Conquers, the, Dacians, modern. Romanian north of the Danube and, his. Conquest is celebrated, by Trajan's, column in Rome which I'm sure any, of you been to Rome would have seen it we, couldn't bring the column to you obviously, but. Next. Best thing you will see in the, gallery a, print. Which is about that size maybe, a bit bigger even four meters tall of Trajan's. Column and. Cradled. Column, shows. The victory.
Over The campaign's, over the. Dacians. For, almost 200 meters, on it going spiraling, rounds and this. Particular print. By Piron AZ caused, us a great deal of headache, it, took us three attempts. To get it framed correctly, so, he could travel all the way to America and, it's. The first time that any member. Of the public has seen this print so. You are the first known in Britain's ever seen seen, it before and of, course the idea of columns, has. Caught on in modern society, so in, Trafalgar, Square obviously, we have a column with, Nelson, on the top this, is again, another, almost. Certainly copied, from the Roman tradition. What. To the Roman army do well. The, first thing they do is they build roads and this, photograph was taken by, Bobbili. One of the the preeminent, aerial. Photographers, in the Roman, world he's. Been working in Jordan for about 30 years now and this, you can see the road the veer Nova Triana going, although out it starts. Down here in the Red Sea at Aqaba and it, goes all the way up through, the Jordanian, desert up, to. The Haram into. Syria through. Damascus and up. To the Euphrates, and. This, is the road going through Damascus I took that photograph in March 2011. Just. Before the civil war broke, out I don't, know what it looks like now we'll, see I hope. When, peace finally is restored, whenever, that might be the. Roman army also built forts they, analogy, with the uses, were new all pressed westwards. Across. The states and your. Cavalry built that area sports the, whole territory this. Is exactly what the Romans did and the. Kaiser the German Kaiser villain in the early 19th, century we, built one these Roman forts in Germany a Kjellberg, and you, can see what these forts are like and the, great thing about these for, the Romans was they were little pockets, of romanization. And. So the soldiers, there would start. To influence, the local culture, they, would up to marry into local. Families. And around. The outside of the fort you get shanty, towns that then became more solid, of, traders. Local. People living there and so, you'd have a whole little mini, Rome and these, forts all over the northwestern, part of the Empire were the way that they romanized the local population, and. The. Most important. Thing that the Roman army brought with money you. And I go to a cash machine or, we, go to the bank to get our money in those, days you had to wait until the Roman army or officials. Spent, their money on goods, and services that you are providing to, get money so, the Roman army were crucial for the source of money and I, know this from Britain the work I do we, can tell you when the Roman army move on the, coins ceased to be found, they, are the, conduit for, loot and money and. The. One thing that if you were provincial, soldier the Roman army has made up of 30 legions, and they were Roman systems but. They then had, numerous. Provincial, units who are normally cavalryman archers. Even slingers, from the balearic, islands in the Mediterranean and, these. Specialist, units of eventual, troops they, were after one thing at the end and that was, Roman citizenship, and.
Citizenship. Today is a big issue in Europe we're all discussing, about the rights of Europeans, living in Britain now after brexit I know you're having discussions, in the United States about who should and shouldn't be citizens it's been an age-old, problem and, this. Tablet recalls, that a man called. Jim Ellis, who's. Been serving in the Hungarian, cavalry, in, Britain, after. 25. Years he gets his citizenship, and what. Did he do he's, had enough of being in Britain if they straight back home to. The Danube and he dies in Baguio, and that's where this discharge, cabbage, is found but. Because, of this tablet his, children, become citizens, he has financial. Fiscal, judicial. And legal rights beyond. Those of the. Provincials. The. Classroom used to be. Now. If, we come to amp Rome, and the Empire since the. Urban, centers themselves. This. Wonderful, picture and I've actually credited the person who took the photograph, because what, happened is we give them our photographs, to the British Museum. So. They're all copyright, but David start with co-author Amir several books took, this wonderful, photograph, of Rome which. Graces your entry gallery and this. Is what we think of when we think of Rome really we think of the grandeur, of the city and, they. Went on celebrating. Their victories in the cities who have triumphal, arches like this one that septimus, severus built, to. Show his defeat of the Parthians, in the east and of, course the. Arc de Triomphe in Paris is. Just the more recent part, of this tradition. They. Also Roman. Religion, is absolutely. At heart of everything, they do basically. In Roman religion, you, have to honor, the, gods who sacrifice, the. Bull being the, most important, animal sacrifice, and if, you honor the gods for sacrifice. They in turn should, honor you back with, blessing. Contracts very, different from Christianity. And. What. Is interesting is that the. Chief. Priests and Roma were both called the Pontifex Maximus opting. It with the Emperor or another. Leading after, crashing Rome and here. I show you a gripper that this is the bust you will see of Agrippa in the gallery he's actually dressed, shown.
With His toga over, his head because, he's in a priestly, role of sacrifice, he was never actually a pontifex maximus, but. This. Title, is inherited, immediately, by the, Pope's, so. The purpose now of the Pontifex Maximus this. Is tradition, coming up to today. Continuing. All. The way through from two and a half thousand, years ago. There's. Reasons we have the traditional, religions, of the. Olympian, gods shown. Here by Diana you're see all of those traditional, Greek or Roman gods in the altar, we have the priestesses, and in, fact this priestess, is shown. With. The features, of the Empress, Livia, the. Wife of Augustus, and she. Herself with, the very interesting, character. Olivia. We, are told in not a little justice near her bed what. Sort of marriage it was I don't know. Also. Livia was determined, that her son from a previous marriage Tiberius. Became, Emperor, so, Livia removed, all the opposition and, by, removed I mean had them killed. Livia. Then decided. She had enough of Augustus, himself so. She poisoned, his fix and, then. She. Managed to convince Claudius, to make her a goddess. So. Libya was a pretty pretty, mitla, character, and there. Are in the Roman world some, very very strong women, especially. At the end of the Roman world when all the men are giving up it's the women who hold the show together and, then. Finally, talking about the end of the Roman Empire we have mystery cults coming in from the east and this, is Mithras. Slaying the bull, by. Slaying Belen a cave he, brought life to, the. World. And he brought light to the world and this. Show this. Event. It's the, religion itself gave salvation, they gave afterlife, community. Even. Had a communion, Robert Simmons of Christianity, in, the end of the Roman Empire when things became more insecure. They turned to these mystery cults to have personal. Salvation robbing. The older traditional, very impersonal, Roman, religion. But. You also you. Could be made a god or a goddess. So one Emperor workings, right dies very early in the rain he, made her an empress and she is in the exhibition, Faustina.
And He, built her a temple in the forum so. She has her own temple, which then is dedicated. To him as a god, when, he dies. But. When. I came into, the museum. Yesterday I looked to the south figures, herself and. I saw this statue on top of the building, minutes, mercury. Here. Is mercury, in the exhibition, from a silver statuette, a mouse, on horn of course mercury with the god of thieves. But. Also of course he was the god of communications. And this, is your train station, I'm told so. I. Apologize. I don't want to offend you but even. Today. The. Roman gods are used for, their correct purpose and in fact I think one, of your telecommunications. Company, not for the Bell company actually had mercury on the, logo, so. He is the God of communications. And. Then. We get the cleanliness and, baths, bothering. In the Roman world was a big issue and. Caracalla. Here who, was one of the most, unpleasant, of all the Roman emperors they. Were given the famous historian who wrote the decline and fall of the Roman Empire about. The same time as you broke away from Britain, in the, 18th century he, actually said that Caracalla, was the common, enemy, of mankind. But. Those, in Rome wouldn't. Have had a word of it because, he, built them a bathhouse that was 24 acres large. And. It could hold over, a thousand, people at any one time in all sorts of bars and you would go they're not going to get clean - and to exercise but. You'd also go there to. Do business so those, of you in the room who are businessman, you go to the local leisure center here and have a swim I don't maybe we do business that way that's, houses in the Roman world this. Was where everything. Happened and you have women and men at different times as well mixed, bathing was, heavily. Frowned upon and. You. Have in the exhibition. Astragal. And an, oil flask, the, oil flask depicting, a person, from sub-saharan Africa. So, a black African, who, they used to call Ethiopians. Return. And you, would use oil to clean yourself and scrape it off I'm not going to go for the full bathing process I'm sure you understand, it but in Algeria, at, Cantera. There. Is a Roman bathhouse that, is still used and there. They all are the local population, using the Roman baths at Kinsella. Then. You move on to the Colosseum which. Is obviously the greatest monument in Rome and. 50,000. People which would. Have, sit here at any one time for, the games and. The. Objects. We've shown you one is a rather, prosaic object. It's an altar to Hercules a strong man by. A person, who, was in the trade of marble, at. The time the Colosseum was built so, you can imagine this man was making a lot of money out of providing marble, for the Coliseum but.
On The other side we have what, actually, went on so. In the morning, you had the animal, fights you. Had wild beasts, that could be elephants, tigers lions, leopards. You name it they had them and here. We have a cautionary. Tale and, the, bridge museum we've always joked about this but this, is what happens, when you take on a line with a rolled-up newspaper. You. Lose it's. Probably a club of some sort but, this, is a fight, people got killed by these beasts, and, then at lunch time you, have executions. And the third, most famous executioner. That has actually come down in the record. It'll Caledonian, bear from Scotland, and she. Was used as an executioner, you sent him the captive and off she went just, my business and she was so famous that. When she got too old they. Retired, her off with a pension, and, she. Lived happily in a park outside Rome, for the rest of her life, but. Then in the afternoon you had the real games that gladiatorial, combat, and had, also certain gladiators, you've seen the film gladiator you, have the the heavily-armed, optometrists. Or circuit or here. We have a heavily armed gladiator. Who, had the light the armrests the RSB strident, and net but. Up here you have a real novelty, you. Have two women gladiators. Actually, achillea, and Amazonia, and these, were. Genuine. They existed, the, emperor Domitian was very fond of women gladiators. And these, two were, told on the inscription of IV been sent back to the barracks alive. Or they'd been given their freedom all together and, you, will see in the gallery there was a discharge - giving, a gladiator, freedom. So. This is this is the cur cases, of juveniles, Planum at the tents ate bread and circuses, as long as the people in robe have flew grain free, bread and free. Games they're, happy, and. Of course this, tradition, of games. Success. Today I have, to say that that touchdown. That the quarterbacks caught the cheeky little touchdown, was run with delicious moments, of American. Football I've ever seen it was very classic it was a great Super Bowl but someone that afterwards might explain to me what's happening in this play here but. The, idea of the arena. Around. Sport is a Roman one the Greeks had their, brakes. Traction light but the arena in closing, which we all now have for, football basketball. Soccer. This. Comes. Directly from the Romans but. Also they. Had their, horse racing, and their chariot racing and this. Is the Circus Maximus. Just. Before I think those, are the bars of Caracalla, in the distance massive. But, this is the racecourse down here and, you can see the chairs coming up to the palatine hill and, the, imperial box was up here, so, the emperor will come out from his palace and you could watch everything below and, you, had three hundred thousand, people here, an enormous. Number and i was trying to get an analogy, race. Courses in britain don't, really have very big stands that the Epsom, house fairly large stands a tree but nothing great and, then luckily you, helped me out because, you. Have. Obviously, churchill drama yep the kentucky derby and actually. Those stands are the closest I could find to, what you would have had at, the Circus Maximus. This. Enormous, number of people close on watching, and in the Roman world who had two teams in the end the blues and the greens and. If. Your support, of one or the other you when. You're in the arena you hated the other and in, the bazan time period they even became religious, factions, two, different Christian factions, who had two different beliefs about the Trinity and what the Trinity was I don't, mean that happens today except, in Scotland. We do have two, football teams in Glasgow. Rangers. And Celtic and they. Are blues and greens and also. Celtic, League they Mock the Catholic, Scottish side and Rangers, of the Protestant cross the side so there, are games from modern analysis. Hildren. Was to build his Pantheon, in Rome which, is still, has, the largest freestanding. Dome, of any building in the world, Michelangelo. When he books and pizzas made, sure it was slightly smaller because, he didn't want to write to Hadrian. But. Probably, what you don't know is, that these. Columns in the front which. Weigh about 60, tons they came, all the way from Egypt as. Ron, those you mean Egypt from the first contraction, but. Others. Miles, out in the Eastern desert a month Claudia Armas and one, of my colleagues Derek, wells with British Museum has worked there and this is the column that never made it.
60. Tonne column they. Required. 300, donkeys, to pull it across the desert. Now, I come from a farming background and, I know the problems of dealing with one donkey. But. Dean with 300, it gives you an idea for scale, of, organization. And administration required. To, build this structure in Rome, and. Rome. Itself. Which. Had at its height probably, a million inhabitants was, consuming, things like olive oil at vast quantity, this was found in the baths of titus in. In. Rome and, the. Potsherds, were then stacked, up on a hill and there's, an entirely, man-made Hill, Kamata statue, of broken. Up wine, and olive, oil vessels. If. We get to if, I'm going over time you've got to tell me, if. We get, to a private. Architecture. And private, houses this is reconstruction, or obviously if the house of the Vettii of Pompeii. We. Have in the gallery, various, items from this so, houses. Like this mosaics. On the floor which. Were ubiquitous throughout, the Roman Empire and. Then wall painting just one from Pompeii that survived because of the eruption of Vesuvius and, I, had no idea when, I chose this object that it would be coming to Nashville because, this is Apollo with god of music which. Is highly appropriate I suppose, we should have put a Martin, or Gibson, guitar in there instead. But. Um there, he is and. The. Romans obviously loved their drink this. Is the lone amp the amp Fuhrer for 20 liters the decanter, here the. Glass. Clinking. Horn and the, man drinking, from it and Bacchus. The god of wine arriving. At her party, he's, already inebriated. Being, held up by one of the satyrs. The. Whole Clinton tradition there are objects, you'll see they're very popular. But. Again, towards the end that. Is Rome high culture, but what about the actual Empire, itself as I. Said to people many times there's no such thing as Roman art its art in the Roman Empire because, it's so different and give, you an idea of the reach of. Roman. Art and Roman, items these, are both pull, no, glass bows. Made, in Italy probably. In the same workshop, one. Is found in Bahrain. In the, Gulf and the other in England, just north of London this. Shows you how things, moved across, the Empire and. If. We look at art and Britannia, it's, very different these, this, isn't monumental, sculpture, you've just been seeing, someone. Who's always said it's just a Tennessee, Walking Horse. Seriously. It doesn't last well it isn't per such but it may well be in that tradition, you will see a horse in the gallery being, trained by its, Rider, which. May well be straight out of your traditions. But. In Scotland the. Scots that I told you were never defeated and, when. The Romans arrived they brought the mettle of Scots did not have which is brass and, brass. With copper and zinc and. You. Had brass, coins and a, lot of brass helmets, and other equipment, military, equipment so, what do the Scots do they, melt them down and, they make these wonderful armbands. So. That's their way of basically. We say in England picking two fingers at the Romans we're, going to make your material, into armbands, I'm gonna, show off our independence. But. You have also this, dragon s brooch, both, of them have enameling, enameling. In the Roman world is best, in Britain and this. Dragon s both worn commonly, by the Roman army again. Very different from what you find in Rome itself, and then. The ladies you, have these cosmetic, sets this, is the pestle, a grinder. And the, grooving crop of this where, you will grind up carbon, and other. Makeup. To apply to you and these are very very popular and they were hung round the neck on a string often so they be for ready use. But. Having. Had all this rather, British, almost. Barbarian, arts you then get this man corrales, through the Roman Emperor, who.
Declares, Independence in, Britain and he. Was successful. For 10 years, managed. To keep the Roman Empire away so. As I say now quite topically, he is the first breath but. What. You don't expect is, on, his coins for the first and only time in the Roman period he. Starts quoting the poet Virgil, so. Here. Is expect. Rightly vainly welcome a long awaited run and, return. Of the, golden age is referred to here so. You have the. Outpost, of empire in Britain and yet, they are quoting the. Most, famous of the Roman posts on the coins so, you have to be very careful, when you try, to draw conclusions about the nature of different provinces, they could be more Roman than the Romans and in. Britain we do something else it should curse and. This. Lady has lost some cloth so. She asked, the god mercury to. Curse the person, who stolen, it and it. Says here of man woman free or slave they, then say. May. They not be able to sit down stand, up walk sleep, until, they return the material, to me and she, promises, with God a third of the value I don't. Believe that they would have done this unless it worked and, so. This. Is again a very personal, item if, we go down to Africa. And I mentioned earlier this. Is where we have the art which is so different from what you see in Rome, Roman. Concept. This funeral. Gravestone. But, the actual style is very local, as is, this lady here, she's. Almost. Certainly, a black African, from Algeria, and you, can see the, style of her hair is so totally different but, the concept, is Roman the style is, African, and this, is what I mean by art in the Roman world is the fusion of the two and in. Egypt we gets even better why, have, we put this object in an exhibition, on the Roman Empire because, that is the emperor Tiberius. Honestly. Honoring the Theban gods he. Became a Pharaoh in Egypt just like the, Greek kings after, Alexander, the great gate and Horus. On the other side it shows, the Roman rather than the Egyptian, he's, wearing a Roman tunic, with scale. Armor and. In. Egypt in the desert has, found, the papyrus you will see with census, and this, is what's often missing from, the Roman records is it'd, be like today if all. The emails suddenly, got grabbed, across the world for, the last ten years archivists. Would have nothing to, go on really who writes letters anymore well. In those days the, parish doesn't survive at all well, nor does parchments, nor, the wooden writing tablets we have in britain unless, you have very hot climate for, papyrus, or waterlogged. Conditions, stop. Bacteria eating, the wood in Britain and then. You find a myriad. Of these objects which give us information about daily, life and in, fact the British one here and I'm sad Lee we couldn't bring them over because they are too delicate to travel, then otherwise you even travel out to the museum this. Is two Centurions. Talking. To each other and one saying to the other saying look please will get me the money because the result get me the 500 denarii for that corn I'm going to lose my deposits and then. He says I can't deliver you the leather which, is down another four because the roads are so bad and, so. You get this insight. Into life at. That level people. Haven't a wheel and deal people having to transport items which, you don't normally see when. You look at that the more impressive, works are, and. Finally. For the provinces we go to the east where. You, have, some. Wonderful cities like a per mayor here this, is a photograph again taken, just before the Syrian civil war started. The longest high street in the roman empire and through, here would have come items like gold, emeralds. Through. India, garnets, from India you have had pepper from English soups from China and. Shown. On this coin here of Arabia. With a camel. Alluding. To the caravans, will arrive and of, course most, of them come through Palmyra. And. Your. See some parting heads next or fuelie bust this. Lady and a man in, there. Finally, with their silks and their jewelry and when. 20, years ago I commissioned. At the Museum these costumes, to. Palmyra ladies, and these. Are designed. By the man and, by one of the people. Who did the costume for the I Claudius, series, some you might remember retrocam, stood and he, used the colors of silk, found in the tombs in Palmyra, and this. Is something you have to remember a game we missed the color, these. Would have been painted you could still see some paint just up here the. Color and the vibrancy which. Is what we lose most. Of the marble sculpture, you will see next drawer was painted so, that's something else to remember and, Polly. Tells us that the. Lowest reckoning, India China and the Arabian, Peninsula take from our Empire a hundred, million sesterces that's, worth a thousand, million dollars, every.
Year This, is the amount our luxury on our ladies cost. So. This is the silk don't my ladies you get your own back try. The things trick, and. This. Is one of the coins that was exported, to India to, pay for it and the. Indians is to put slashes, through the head properly, so it couldn't go back from the Roman world and we used his money because, you didn't deface. The empress portrait, and. We. End up the exhibition with in memoriam, and marcus we just said soon you will be forgotten the world will have forgotten so, soon you will have forgotten the world and the, world will have forgotten you that's a very cheerful statement. Discuss. Because. The Romans actually, commemorated. People in all sorts of ways so. You. Could, have a casket, like this which. Is that, contains, the remains. Cremated. Remains of three people a man, his wife and his daughter very personal. And the inscription in both Latin and Greek or. You. Could be. Even less. Well-off and you would just have a glass scenario, and to put the ashes in as in this British piece or in, the late Roman Empire, you, could have highly. Ornate shock, off of this car with, the wedding. Of Ariadne, and Bacchus, in all its full riot which. Is a symbolism, for eternal, life and life after death Bacchus. Dionysus. Giving you another, life so, you had all these various ways of commemorating, the. Day and, in. Egypt. You, have these, mummy portraits from, this ones next door lovely. Painted, portrait on the mummy and we know from work on another mummy that actually, their idealized, this. Isn't really what the people look like because, this and many, others are based on Imperial, portraits, of the time and you. Can see an extra gallery the, portrait, that this one is based upon it's, based upon 15 of a second, the daughter of Antoninus. Pius the, wife of Marcus Aurelius the, mother of Commodus. Who is the Emperor in the opening gallery and she, also is looking through, the gallery at probably the first time ever her, mother who, is the massive, statue head, of fast. Jena in the, corner of the other gallery so she is linked, all the way across the galleries but, this is what you did you copied the imperial hairstyles, and. My. Favorite. Story. About memorials, is, this man here at Gaia sisters, buildings of a pyramid in Rome and, it's likely given. The dates. Here. That he was on a campaign, that went south of us weren't interested on and, because. This pyramid, is from the style, with. Steep sides of pyramids. Of Saddam Egypt. And here, they are at jebel, barkal so. He's probably copying, a Sudanese monument, back in Rome. The. End of Rome comes. With Christianity, Constantine. Here.
Gazing, Towards heaven in. The, catacombs, you. Would. Have a funeral feast when, you buried your, relatives, you would smashed your glasses and the, base of the glass which was designed which, had gold leaf design in. This case the. Saints peter and paul would, then be mortared, in. Next. To your relative. Forever, after America and that's, why we have some of these from the catacombs, and the. Churches, that were built weren't designed upon, temples, they, were designed upon the, Roman law. Courts, and town, halls the Basilica, and that's, where the billikin, church has come from this is some, Paul's outside the wall that was built in the original. Of three twenties but, though at this time was incredibly, wealthy and. This. Is a horse, trapping, in silver, with gold gilt. Used. By the aristocracy senatorial. Classes, in their great procession through the Roman, fallen. Into, the Circus Maximus at, the very end and they, were carrying, out these wonderful parades, and processions, right. Up to the time that. The. Goths came to seeds Rome and. When. The God came to seize Rome much, of the silver with. Berries and that, horde that came from a horde of silver found in Rome that was probably bearish at the, time of the sack of Rome in 410. But. We finish up at, the end you've been very patient with. Venerable. Reid who the monk in fact near Newcastle up. In North. England who, wrote several. Centuries later as long. As the calcium stands. So, long stands Rome but. When it falls then, Rome Falls and with, it the whole world so, we need to make sure that the Colosseum remains standing. But. There. Are some people who, try to keep the Roman world going and this. Is the centenary. Of the. Roman. Society which, has an enormous number of American, members as well we've actually had our conferences, in America, Ann, Arbor, recently, and, this. Shows you for staff the bush museum dresses, Romans to celebrate, the hundredth anniversary the deputy director who was the president and a brunette dressed of the Emperor Vespasian. Flanked. By. Bettany. Hughes is a major media star, on the ancient world in Britain and Mary. Beard who you might be reading her book spqr, that, professional, classics, of Cambridge University, and she. I'm afraid of blocking, Leslie fitten who is in back of the room who. Is behind, her I am. An, honorary slave, in this organization. So I don't feature and. In this photograph but, the Roman society promotes, the teaching of Latin, in schools, across Britain, and we give our grants, ylim and is, one of many societies. That keeps her in the world living but. Of course the population of the whole people, the whole are more interesting, in the entertainment that one provides, such films like gladiator, and I can remember Leslie, and I and all our other colleagues, went to the premiere of this in, London it's, the most amazing movie, it mangles, the history yes.
But. It's, still an amazing film and of course York. And Phoenix doesn't, have a beard here that, is what he should have had, anyway. So. I end. With marcus aurelius and, he. Says look closely at the past and it's, changing empires and it's, possible, to foresee the things to come well. It's Robert right statement, but I think it's true and it. When you go around the show if you take away just one thought, about. The past which, might inform, about the future I'll be happy because, I do think that the Roman world has so much that, underpins, our world and it's. Still relevant today and, I, think that a time in the world when, we are all undergoing, phenomenal. Change and none of us know what, life is going to be like in ten years but, looking back at empires like Rome that, had to deal with change, all the way through as well it's, actually quite useful to know that even though Rome did, fall her. Traditions, and all. Her various cultural, influences. Have continued, on the earth of us today so. We, may change but things won't be all that bad I promise you good, night. Thank. You Sam thank you all for coming please see Rome city and Empire on to you now in our Ingraham galleries, thank you.
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