Augustus, from Prima Porta (C1 AD)
Rome, Vatican Museum
The private lives of Roman emperors have been a source of fascination for centuries. The wealth of contemporary written sources, coupled with a dazzling material culture, which is in many places still very much in evidence and visited by multitudes of eager tourists, have created an imagined understanding of Roman imperial culture which we all know. From Caligula making his horse a consul to Nero fiddling while Rome burnt, there is a shared perception that while Rome’s empire became ever grander, its rulers became ever more degenerate.
Successive generations have revisited the evidence to offer more accuracy and/or nuance to this narrative – the British Museum’s current Nero: The man behind the myth exhibition is the latest major example of this – but how much can we really know? This course will introduce students to some of the key pieces of written and material evidence on which this perpetually enduring fascination is based, in order to enable them to draw their own conclusions.
10 weeks, Tuesday 21 September – Tuesday 30 November (incl., with half-term break on 26 October)
Please note that this is a WEA course, and can only be booked directly with the WEA. For further details and booking, please follow this link.