The Department of archaeology and ancient history at Lund University organises a two-day workshop on The Forum Romanum – Architecture, space and politics, 12–13 May.
The great forum – Forum Romanum – was a locus of utmost distinction and centrality in the city of Rome. It constituted the religious, political, economic and administrative hub of the Roman realm for more than a millennium. This workshop aims to bring together a number of scholars who address various aspects of the Forum Romanum – archaeological, architectural, and historical – in order to further a cross-disciplinary discussion on a unique architectural and historical context.
All are welcome to attend. Please register through lovisa.brannstedt@klass.lu.se
The Forum Romanum – Architecture, space and politics
LUX building room B237
THURSDAY
10.00–10.50 Coffee and registration
10.50–11.00 Welcome (Lovisa Brännstedt, Henrik Gerding & Nicolò Dell’Unto)
Session A – Recent work in the Roman Fora
11.00–11.30 The archaeology of the Forum Iulium. Results from the new Danish-Italian excavations, Rubina Raja, Aarhus University
11.30–12.00 Water disposal systems in the Forum valley, Valentina Roccella & Edoardo Santini
12.00–12.30 From archaeology to visualisation of the past. The Forum of Augustus, Daniele Ferdani, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute of Heritage Science
12.30–13.30 Lunch
Session B – The transformation and agency of space
13.30–14.00 The stratigraphy of the Roman Forum between biography and agency, Dunia Filippi, University of Cambridge
14.00–14.30 Shifting grounds. Revisiting the foundations of the Forum basilicas, Henrik Gerding & Nicolò Dell’Unto, Lund University
14.30–15.00 Control through construction. Managing opposition in the Roman Forum, Penelope Davies, Lund University/University of Texas at Austin
15.00–15.30 Coffee
Session C – Functions of state
16.30–17.00 Diplomatic space and the negotiation of the other in the Forum Romanum, Hanna Cornwell, University of Birmingham [Video link]
17.00–17.30 Ancient perceptions of architectural space and decoration on the Anaglypha Fori, Francesco de Angelis, Columbia University
17.30–18.00 The courtroom in the virtual world: The Centumviri in the Basilica Iulia, Leanne Bablitz, University of British Columbia [Video link]
FRIDAY
Session D – Performance in the Forum
9.00–9.30 Comitium: ekklesiasterion or temple? Understanding space and performance in the middle and late Republican forum, Amy Russell, Brown University
9.30–10.00 The forum, the contiones – and the problems with the acoustics, Susanne Muth, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
10.00–10.30 The other rostra: Lauding the dead from the temple of the deified Julius Caesar, Ida Östenberg, University of Gothenburg
10.30–11.00 Break
Session E – Gendering the Forum
11.00–11.30 Decedam ego illi. Matronal mobility privileges in Republican Rome, Lewis Webb, University of Oxford
11.30–12.00 The temple of Diva Faustina. Gender and Rome’s Imperial mother in the Forum Romanum, Margaret Woodhull, University of Colorado
12.00–12.30 Over her dead body. Female resistance in the Curia Julia, Lovisa Brännstedt, Lund University
12.30–13.30 Lunch
Session F – Identity and diversity
13.30–14.00 Creative action and embodied presence in the Roman Forum, John Hopkins, New York University
14.00 –14.30 The Forum as instituting imaginary for Roman diversity, Nandini Pandey, The Johns Hopkins University
14.30 –15.00 Discussion and summing-up