The life of an “Ordinary Roman” featured in annual archeology lecture

Emi Bingham - Contributing Writer

Last week, the 9th annual Thomas and Anne Sienkewicz Lecture on Roman Archaeology looked at how one second century Roman’s epitaph encouraged funeral visitors to enjoy life and it pleasures, especially wine and sex.

This year’s lecture, held in the CSB, titled “The Wine Was Never Lacking: A Roman Life and Death on the Margins,” was delivered by Wabash College classics professor Jeremy Hartnett.

“I study Roman archaeology because I like to get into the individual people,” said Hartnett. “I’m tired of talking about them as an undifferentiated mass, and today scholars lean more and more towards how do we get individual stories, particularly of the people who were gazing up at palaces, rather than peering out from those palaces.”

Hartnett discussed a dig from 400 years ago in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome that accidentally found the funeral ensemble of Flavious Agricola, a second century roman. Among the artifacts was a marble portrait showing him with wine cup, half naked reclining. Also found was his epitaph encouraging the visitors to enjoy themselves because “after death, earth and fire consume all.”

Hartnett is specialist in Roman archaeology and social history, and has studied many sites in Italy, including Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, and Rome.

The Thomas and Anne Sienkewicz Lecture Series on Roman Archaeology was established in 2017 and is sponsored by the department and the Western Illinois Society of the Archaeological Institute of America.