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Catharine Edwards, Birkbeck
Thursday 08 May 2014, 17:15-18:30
The topography of decline: Gibbon and the city of Rome
- 👤 Speaker: Catharine Edwards, Birkbeck
- 📅 Date & Time: Thursday 08 May 2014, 17:15 - 18:30
- 📍 Venue: Classics Faculty, Room G.21
Abstract
While Gibbon’s monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is concerned with the fate of the empire as a whole, Rome as a city has a critical role to play in his account. The Capitoline hill, one of Rome’s most symbolically resonant locations and the culmination of the ancient ritual of the triumph, is presented as the spot where he conceived his historical project and where his history itself draws to a close. Gibbon’s cityscape serves not as a backdrop to historical events but rather as an agent, with the capacity to inspire different individuals and groups to particular actions – and to inflect the interpretation of those actions.
Series This talk is part of the Cambridge Classical Reception Seminar Series series.
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