Fall 2019/Spring 2020
This series replaced the lecture series, "Revealing Pompeii: Its Past, Present and Future", originally scheduled In conjunction with Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture exhibition entitled "Pompeii, The Immortal City," The exhibition and associated lectures were impacted by the coronavirus.
About the Lecture Series
Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture hosted an exhibition entitled “Pompeii, The Immortal City,” from early February to early May, a show that brought ancient artifacts excavated from Pompeii to the Inland Northwest for the first time.
Dr. Andy Goldman of Gonzaga’s History Department has organized a series of twelve lectures related to this show and the culture of ancient Pompeii. With the generous support of the Spokane Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the MAC and the GU Faculty Senate Speaker’s Series Funds, Dr. Goldman was able to bring in seven local and national speakers who are professional archaeologists and ancient historians with an expertise in the study of ancient culture.
Lecture Series Schedule & Zoom Registration
Prostitution in the Immor(t)al City: Investigating Pompeii's Brothel
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Dr. Sarah Levin-Richardson (University of Washington)
Abstract: This talk bought to life Pompeii’s purpose-built brothel, the only assured brothel from Greco-Roman antiquity. We took a virtual tour of the structure’s material evidence, from architecture to ancient graffiti (including the infamous erotic frescoes). In the process, we discovered a world in which male and female prostitutes could flout the norms of society and proclaim themselves as sexual agents, where prostitutes and clients exchanged gifts, greetings, taunts, and praise, and where clients from all walks of life, from slaves to elite men, could act like free men.
Roman Gladiators: Killing Machines? Fact and Fiction
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Dr. Andrew Goldman (Gonzaga University)
Abstract: The Roman gladiators were the ultimate fighters, famous for their blood-thirsty behavior and the kill-or-be-killed world in which they lived. Or so they are often depicted, in modern movies and television shows. But were they really voracious killing machines? Evidence for gladiators in the ancient world is quite plentiful, and an exploration of the surviving archaeological and textual evidence shows that gladiators – men and women – led very different lives than is often generally assumed. This lecture separated fact from fiction concerning Roman gladiators, offering a more complex, nuanced and interesting story about the lives of these fighting men and women.
Street Theater: A Pompeian Neighborhood in Five Acts
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Dr. Jeremy Hartnett (Wabash College, IN)
Abstract: When we think of Roman cities, it is tempting to conjure images of temples, baths, and amphitheaters. This talk stormed into the narrow streets of Pompeii to make the case that, for most Romans, the real action happened on the neighborhood level. By examining five stories at just one intersection far from the city’s monumental center, we learned about (a) streetside religion, the former slaves who presided over it, and the suspicions that they sought to tamp down; (b) eating and drinking by regular folk, as well as the key connective roles played by barmaids in Pompeian society; (c) small-scale industry and the way that shopkeepers deployed deities to push product; (d) neighborhood rivalries across competing businesspeople and their efforts to outdo one another via street signs; (e) and the retorts that elite Pompeians used to undercut upstarts. All told, we saw how ancient historians repopulate “empty” ancient spaces with a raucous cast of upper-class politicians, slaves, hucksters, donkeys, and so many more – all scratching out a living, make their mark, and upstage competitors in the street.
Kitchens, Dining Rooms, and Latrines: Daily Routines in a Roman House
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Dr. Mira Green (University of Washington)
How did ancient Romans perform daily routines like cooking, dining, and using the toilet? This presentation explored the accounts from Roman literature about cooking, dining, and excreting alongside the archaeological evidence from Pompeii in order to recreate some daily routines in Roman houses. Roman law and literature indicate that household cooks and domestic laborers were assumed to be slaves. Because ancient Rome was a slave society, most households likely relied on slave labor. Thus, this presentation also considered how the tools, locations, and movement of daily routines established and maintained domestic hierarchies in Roman homes
Humans as artifacts: inventing and displaying Pompeian body casts
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Dr. Kevin Dicus (University of Oregon)
This talk examined the modern life histories of Pompeii’s body casts. It began by tracing the development of the casting technique that created the most tangible and poignant remains of Pompeii. These casts, however, are far from being snapshots of that infamous day; rather, modern intervention, and even fabrication, have blurred the distinction between ancient and modern. With the imagined biographies assigned to the victims, to the methods of forming and displaying the casts, they potentially present distorted information about how the people lived and died. However, recent scientific analysis seeks to remedy this and to reinstate their original identities as much as possible. The final part of this paper introduced these scientific methods and revealed new details about who these people really were.
Fall 2017/Spring 2018
The 13th Annual Northwest Undergraduate Conference on the Ancient World (NUCAW; formerly the Oregon Undergraduate Conference in Classics, or OUCC)
April 2018
Universities in Oregon host a one-day undergraduate conference for talented undergraduates to present their work, for example a BA thesis or outstanding seminar paper, in a 20-minute talk to an audience of undergraduates and their faculty mentors. Papers are generally welcome in any area of classical studies, including language and literature, history, philosophy, and material culture. Two students and two faculty attended at Willamette University in 2015 (see above photo). More information on this event will be available in the spring of 2016.
The Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference (SIRC)
Spring 2018
Normally, the Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference is held in April in the Spokane area, at either Gonzaga University or Whitworth College. The conference is dedicated to promoting and recognizing distinguished, original undergraduate student research performed in partnership with faculty or other mentors. More information on this conference will be posted during the academic year.
The Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest (CAPN),
March or April, 2018
This year's meeting will take place at the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma WA.
Fall 2016/Spring 2017
Lecture Series: "Ancient and Modern Perceptions of Roman Myth, Memory and Culture"
Speaker: Nine speakers over 10 weeks (Sept. 22 - Dec. 1, 2016)
Location and Time: Jundt Museum 110, 7 pm on Thursdays
Lecture: "A Persian Oikoumene? Mapping the World in Herodotus' Histories"
Speaker: Prof. Jessica Romney (University of Calgary)
Location and Time: Tuesday, Apr. 19, at 12 pm, College Hall 101
Fall 2014/Spring 2015
Lecture: "Happy Now? The ONE Thing that Hellenistic Philosophers Could Agree On"
Speaker: Prof. Danielle Layne (Gonzaga University)
Location and Time: Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 4:30 p.m., Jepson Center
Lecture: "In the Footsteps of Roman Soldiers: Excavations at Vindolanda and the Archaeological Landscape of Hadrian's Wall"
Speaker: Prof. Elizabeth Greene (University of Western Ontario)
Location and Time: Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 12 p.m., Jepson Center
Lecture: "Short Lives and Forgotten Deaths: Infant Skeletons from the 'Baby Well' in the Athenian Agora"
Speaker: Prof. Maria Liston (Reed College)
Location and Time: Thursday, Mar. 5, at 12:15 p.m., Wolff Auditorium
Lecture: "Classical Sparta and the Spectacle of Hoplite Warfare"
Speaker: Prof. Ellen Millender (Reed College)
Location and Time: Thursday, Apr. 16, at 4:30 p.m., Wolff Auditorium
Fall 2013/Spring 2014
Lecture: "Martin in Purple: Spiritual vs. Secular Power in Late Antique Gaul"
Speaker: Prof. Richard Goodrich (Gonzaga University)
Location and Time: Thursday, Nov. 7, at 4 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Lecture: "How to Tell a Doctor from a Quack in 5th-Century Greece"
Speaker: Prof. Nigel Nicholson (Reed College)
Location and Time: Friday, Mar. 21, at 4:30 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Lecture: "Why Study Fakes? When 'Virgil' isn't really Virgil"
Speaker: Prof. David Oosterhuis (Gonzaga University)
Location and Time: Friday, Apr. 11, at 4:30 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Fall 2012/Spring 2013
Lecture: "The Athenian Rationale for Torture"
Speaker: Prof. David Mirhady (Simon Fraser University)
Location and Time: Friday, Sept. 28, at 4 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Lecture: "Reading Roman Roads"
Speaker: Prof. Catherine Connors (University of Washington)
Location and Time: Thursday, Apr. 11, at 4:30 p.m., Wolff Auditorium
Fall 2010
Lecture: "Going with the Grain: Athenian State Formation and the Question of Subsistence in the 5th and 4th centuries"
Speaker: Prof. Ulrike Krotscheck (Evergreen State University)
Location and Time: Thursday, Nov. 4, at 12 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Spring 2010
"Greek Week", March 22-28, 2010
Fall 2008/Spring 2009
Lecture: "A History of Greek Coinage"
Speaker: Prof. Douglas Domingo Foraste (California State University - Long Beach)
Location and Time: Friday, Feb. 6, at 11 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Dinner Lecture: "Make Haste Slowly: Constantine, His Coinage, and the Conversion"
Speaker: Prof. Kenneth Harl (Tulane University)
Location and Time: Wednesday, May 13, at 6 p.m., Bozarth Mansion
* Event co-sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), a sit-down dinner in celebration of the Spokane Society's 60th anniversary.
Lecture: "Alexander the Great: A Man for All Seasons"
Speaker: Prof. David Mitten (Harvard University)
Location and Time: Friday, May 22, at 8 p.m., Jepson 017
* Event co-sponsored by the Harvard Club of the Inland Northwest
Fall 2007/Spring 2008
Lecture: "Mother Goddesses of Lower Germany and Roman Britain"
Speaker: Prof. Thomas Rust (Montana State University - Billings)
Location and Time: Wednesday, Apr. 30, at 12 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Fall 2006/Spring 2007
Lecture: "To Throw Schliemann's Discoveries Forever into the Shade: Luigi Palma di Cesnola and the Treasure of Kourion"
Speaker: Prof. Georgia B. Bazemore (Eastern Washington University)
Location and Time: Wednesday Feb. 7, 4:30 p.m., Jundt Auditorium (JU 110)
Lecture: "What you seek is here: Alexander the Great"
Speaker: Prof. Carol Thomas (University of Washington)
Location and Time: Friday Feb. 23, 4:30 p.m., Jundt Auditorium (JU 110)
Lecture: "Imperial Temples and the Roman Imperial Cult at Sardis"
Speaker: Prof. Nicholas Cahill (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Location and Time: Wednesday Apr. 11, 1:00 p.m., Foley Teleconference Room
Fall 2005/Spring 2006
Lecture: "Geographies of Power: Imperialism in Theoretical Perspective"
Speaker: Prof. Bradley J. Parker
Location and Time: Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 5 p.m., Jundt Auditorium (JU 110)
Lecture: "Pirates, Ancient Harbors and Underwater Archaeologists in Rough Cilicia (Turkey)"
Speaker: Prof. Cheryl Ward
Location and Time: Friday April 7, 4:30 p.m., Jundt Auditorium (JU 110)
Lecture: "Keeping it all together: preserving archaeological materials in both the
short and long term"
Speaker: Kent Severson (Head Conservator, Sardis Excavations)
Location and Time: Monday April 24, 4:30 p.m., Jundt Auditorium (JU 110)