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“Roman Myth and Mythmaking,” an exhibition examining how the ancient Romans constructed and spread their religious and cultural beliefs as seen through mostly small-scale objects they created and used on a daily basis will be on display in the Jundt Galleries of Gonzaga University’s Jundt Art Museum from Sept. 17 to Dec. 17.
The objects on display in this exhibition include coins, gems, lamps and statues. The historical figures, divinities, personifications, and heroes chosen by the Romans to decorate these objects inform us about the Romans’ history, their beliefs, and their myths.
“These are the objects that the Romans saw and handled on a daily basis, kept in their homes, were the focus of religious practice, and were used to pass on myths and lessons of their past,” Andrew Goldman, who teaches history at Gonzaga, said in a press release. “These physical remains, with their vivid images of gods and heroes, help to reveal the complex story of how the Romans understood their world and identity, their past and their gods, as they expanded and conquered the Mediterranean world.”
The Jundt Art Museum will host a free public reception for the exhibition from 5-7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16.
The Lecture Series
Gonzaga will host a semester-long lecture series – titled “Ancient and Modern Perceptions of Roman Myth, Memory and Culture” – on each Thursday evening (except Thanksgiving Day) this fall at 7 p.m. in the Charlotte Y. Martin Lecture Hall (Jundt 110) at the Jundt Art Museum. The 10 lectures, beginning Thursday, Sept. 22, and continuing through Thursday, Dec. 1, are free and open to the public.
-SCHEDULE OF LECTURES-
‘Ancient and Modern Perceptions of Roman Myth, Memory
and Culture’ Lecture Series Schedule (Fall 2016)
All lectures will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday evenings in the Jundt Art Museum Auditorium (Jundt 110). The lectures are free and open to all.
Sept. 22
“Myth and Memory in the Roman Historical Imagination”
Professor Alain Gowing, University of Washington
Sept. 29
“Livy’s Legendary Ladies”
Professor Ellen Millender, Reed College
Oct. 6
“(Re)imag(in)ing Republican Rome: Visions of State and International Power”
Professor Sarah Davies, Whitman College
Oct. 13
“The Spirit of Roman Republican Coinage”
Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Oct. 20
“Making Your Hair Stand on End: Medusa in Mythology and Contemporary Cultural Texts”
Professor Ann Ciasullo, Gonzaga University
Oct. 27
“Graeco-Roman Wellsprings: Antiquity’s Voice in Avant Garde Painting and Design”
Professor Tony Osborne, Gonzaga University
Nov. 3
“The Other Side of the Coin: Spinning the Roman Historical Myth”
Professor Mary Jaeger, University of Oregon (Humanities WA Lecture)
Nov. 10
The 2016–17 Alphonse A. and Geraldine F. Arnold Fund Lecture
“Elite Negotiation and Consensus Building: Rewriting Early Roman Imperialism”
Professor Nicolas Terrenato, University of Michigan
Nov. 17
“The Half-Life of Miracles: Replicas and Imitations of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”
Professor Jennifer Tobin, University of Illinois-Chicago
Dec. 1
“Rome as Cinematic Myth: Screening a New Spartacus”
Professor Monica S. Cyrino, University of New Mexico
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.
