Empire and Symbol (handout)

Ancient Rome and its culture still exerts an enormous influence on modern culture, particularly in the west. Through media such as film, literature, art, architecture, law codes and political institutions we are still influenced by Rome and we continue to reuse and reinvent Roman forms.This lecture considers some of the ideas which are transmitted when we tell narratives of Rome (for example in the films Gladiator or The Life of Brian) or make reference to ancient Rome in buildings, paintings and even in the classroom. While Rome is still alive for us, we can see that each historical era has reconfigured ancient culture to suit its own ends and remade Rome in its own image.

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