The lecture is part of the New Work in the Humanities Series 2013–14: New Work on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The lecture will delineate the notion of the future expansion of Christianity as this is expressed in the works of Eusebius of Caesarea and as it is implied in the statements and actions of Constantine. It will attempt to conjure up what Christians of the age of Constantine thought about the future prospects of Christianity. By this means, the lecture will define what was considered by Christians to be the limits of the possible in the age of Constantine, and, hence, what they could accept as the measure of their success. In so doing, it hopes to rescue discussion of the age of Constantine from many anachronisms that project onto this period ambitions and expectations of success for the Christian church that belong to later generations.

Peter Brown is Philip and Beulah Rollins Professor Emeritus of History at Princeton University. He previously taught at London University and the University of California, Berkeley. Brown has written on the rise of Christianity and the end of the Roman Empire. His works include: Augustine of Hippo (1967); The World of Late Antiquity (1972); The Cult of the Saints (1981); Body and Society (1988); The Rise of Western Christendom (1995 and 2002); Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (2002); and Through the Eye of the Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West (350–550 AD) (2012). He is the winner of an Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award, a Klug Prize, and numerous honorary degrees and book prizes.

The lecture will be held in English. Simultaneous translation will be available. Seating on a first-come, first-served basis. The Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale will be held in the Academy's salone from 10am to 5pm on the same day.

The event is part of the New Work in the Humanities Series 2013–14: New Work on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The question of Christian-Pagan relations in Rome during the final centuries of empire has been a vexed one, with some positing a kind of pagan revival, intent on preserving the old religion in the face of Christian ascendency, while others have argued that the very notion of hard “Christian” and “Pagan” categories fails to describe the way late antique people identified themselves during this age of change. In this lecture duet, reknown scholar Alan Cameron, whose monumental recent book The Last Pagans of Rome offers the fullest assessment yet of pagan identity, discusses how the senator and alleged hard-core pagan Symmachus corresponded with Christian friends and colleagues. Archaeologist Kristine Iara takes up the problem from another angle, examining the small and subtle ways in which the Rome Forum continued to be a pagan sacred space in an increasing Christian city. This event is organized in collaboration with Incontri Tardoantichi a Roma (ITAR).

Alan Cameron (Columbia University/American Academy in Rome Scholar in Residence): Were Pagans Afraid to Speak their Mind in a Christian World: The Correspondence of Symmachus

Kristine Iara (American Academy in Rome): Sacralità ostinata: la persistenza della sacralità pagana nel Foro Romano tardo antico

The presentations will be held in English and Italian.

The event is part of the New Work in the Humanities Series 2013-14: New Work on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

New work carried out by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali on the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Circus Maximus, the Aurelian walls and various aqueducts has revealed new information about life in Rome during the 4th-8th centuries. Members of the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali will present new finds. Speakers will include Valeria Bartoloni, Laura Braccalenti, Marialetizia Buonfiglio, Elisabetta Carnabuci, Caterina Maria Coletti, Ersilia Maria Loreti, Stefania Pergola, Gian Luca Zanzi. Closing remarks by Riccardo Santangelo Valenzani.

The presentations will be held in Italian. The event is in collaboration with the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali.

The event is part of the New Work in the Humanities Series 2013-14: New Work on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The history of law and judicial institutions in medieval Italy has long been a particularly active field of research. By broadening the categories of analysis from law and courts to conflict and dispute resolution this research is revealing the co-existence of informal complementary methods and institutionalized judicial systems as well as interconnections between social, cultural, and political history. This half-day conference will present new work on disputes, dispute resolution and peacemaking practices in medieval Italy from the central to the later Middle Ages, considering not only lay but also ecclesiastical disputes.

Speakers include: Katherine Jansen, FAAR’95 (Catholic University/Lester K. Little Scholar in Residence); Maureen Miller (University of California Berkeley, American Academy in Rome Scholar in Residence), Giuliano Milani (Università di Roma, “‘La Sapienza”); and Claudia Storti (Università degli Studi, Milano). Commentary by Christopher Wickham (All Souls College, Oxford).

The presentations will be held in English and Italian.

The lecture is part of the New Work in the Humanities Series 2013-14: New Work on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Twenty years ago, the archaeology of Puglia in the later Roman and medieval periods was barely known. Thanks to the efforts of Giuliano Volpe, Rettore of the Università di Foggia, and Paul Arthur of the Università del Salento, Puglia is now revealed as one of the richest regions in the Peninsula, with extraordinary churches, rich villas and a flourishing rural village culture.

Giuliano Volpe (Università di Foggia) and Maria Turchiano: Il sito rurale di Faragola (Ascoli Satriano [FG]) nel contesto dell'Apulia tardoantica e altomedievale.

Paul Arthur (Università del Salento): The archaeology of a 'dark age' Byzantine village and its context in the Terra d'Otranto.

Two presentations will be given, one in Italian and one in English.

The presentations are part of the New Work in the Humanities Series 2013–14: New Work on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

A monumental wall mosaic has recently come to light beneath the baths of Trajan. Meters tall and featuring standing figures in a monumental architectural framework, this discovery changes our assumptions about the history of ancient wall mosaics, typically thought to have seen their fullest expression in late antiquity. Members of the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali will present the new find in its context. Speakers will include Giovanni Caruso, Marta Giacobelli, Francesco Pacetti, Simonetta Serra, Carla Termini, and Rita Volpe.

The presentations will be given in Italian. The event is in collaboration with the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali.

Le origini dei comuni italiani, 1050-1150 d.C.: Roma / The Origins of the Italian City Communes, 1050-1150 A.D.: Rome

The lecture is part of the New Work in the Humanities Series 2013-14: New Work on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

In this final lecture of a three-part series on medieval cities, renowned historian Christopher Wickham considers the problem of Rome. Rome is often thought to be the untypical commune, as its traditional rulers were popes not emperors, and their power did not diminish in the long run. Rome nonetheless developed communal practices across a similar time period to those of the kingdom of Italy to its north; until suddenly, in 1143, its citizens revolted against both the pope and the city‘s traditional élites and developed a rather more radical and self-conscious commune than in other cities. Why that was, and what it tells us about the lack of self-consciousness elsewhere, will be the focus of this lecture.

Christopher Wickham is Chichele Professor of Medieval History at All Souls College, University of Oxford. This event is in collaboration with the American University of Rome.

The lecture will be held in English with simultaneous translation available into Italian.

RELATED EVENTS
30 September 2013 - 6:30pm
The Origins of the Italian City Communes, 1050-1150 A.D.: Milan
American University in Rome - Via Pietro Roselli, 4
www.aur.edu

1 October 2013 - 5pm
The Origins of the Italian City Communes, 1050-1150 A.D.: Pisa
Centro Studi Americani - Via Michelangelo Caetani, 32
www.centrostudiamericani.org