Roman Spectres

Abstract

Roman Spectres explores ancient Roman identity and how contemporary societies have conceptualised the ancient Roman world. The exhibition brings together significant Roman portraiture of the Nicholson Collection with large ceramic vessels (amphorae), funerary inscriptions and Pompeiian frescoes as individual touchstones to the lives of named and unnamed Roman people. Underlying themes of death, commemoration, remembrance and discovery underpin each section of the exhibition. The objects selected for display were chosen in order to highlight the role of these particular material types in academic constructions of historical narratives.

Roman Spectres also includes a LEGO recreation of Pompeii, with three different narratives woven together in an anachronistic presentation of the history of the site, including its ancient buildings, re-discovery and role in European and Western popular culture. Through re-telling the history of this significant archaeological site in a popular and accessible medium, it is intended that visitors will be able to reflect on how historical meaning is created in the modern day, and on Pompeii's role in shaping modern understandings of ancient Roman society.