Lennox Seminar: Domesticating Empire: Egyptian Landscapes in the Casa dell’Efebo, Pompeii
Nilotic scenes—Roman depictions of imagined Egyptian landscapes—are important sources for the iconography and material constitution of Roman imperialism. Because these images are most commonly found in household contexts, they provide an opportunity to explore the embeddedness of imperial ideology within everyday life. This lecture uses a case study from Pompeii to investigate the construction and representation of “Egypt” in Roman household space, and, by extension, the ways that ancient viewers encountered and interacted with domestic images of empire.
In the garden of the house known as the “Casa dell’Efebo,” paintings of Egyptian riverscapes shared space—and interacted with—a complex assemblage of architecture, wall paintings, statuary, and vegetation. Dr. Barrett recontextualizes the Nilotic frescoes within this eclectic ensemble, examining how the contents of the garden work together to create a sense of place, construct real and imagined landscapes, and shape the experiences available to the people who used this space. In contrast to older interpretations connecting Roman Aegyptiaca to Isis cult or the problematic concept of “Egyptomania,” a contextual analysis of this garden assemblage destabilizes both of these readings and suggests new possibilities for meaning. Simultaneously faraway and familiar, the garden’s imagined landscapes transform domestic space into a microcosm of empire and encourage their occupants to engage in open-ended ways with changing constructions of imperial, local, and cultural identities.
This program is part of the Lennox Seminar Lecture series presented by Trinity University’s Department of Classical Studies.
San Antonio Museum of ArtTrinity University, Dicke Hall 104
Ticket Price: FREE
Ticket Price Members: FREE
Nilotic scenes—Roman depictions of imagined Egyptian landscapes—are important sources for the iconography and material constitution of Roman imperialism. Because these images are most commonly found in household contexts, they provide an opportunity to explore the embeddedness of imperial ideology within everyday life. This lecture uses a case study from Pompeii to investigate the construction and representation of “Egypt” in Roman household space, and, by extension, the ways that ancient viewers encountered and interacted with domestic images of empire.
In the garden of the house known as the “Casa dell’Efebo,” paintings of Egyptian riverscapes shared space—and interacted with—a complex assemblage of architecture, wall paintings, statuary, and vegetation. Dr. Barrett recontextualizes the Nilotic frescoes within this eclectic ensemble, examining how the contents of the garden work together to create a sense of place, construct real and imagined landscapes, and shape the experiences available to the people who used this space. In contrast to older interpretations connecting Roman Aegyptiaca to Isis cult or the problematic concept of “Egyptomania,” a contextual analysis of this garden assemblage destabilizes both of these readings and suggests new possibilities for meaning. Simultaneously faraway and familiar, the garden’s imagined landscapes transform domestic space into a microcosm of empire and encourage their occupants to engage in open-ended ways with changing constructions of imperial, local, and cultural identities.
This program is part of the Lennox Seminar Lecture series presented by Trinity University’s Department of Classical Studies.
Caitlín Barrett is Associate Professor of Classics at Cornell University. She is an archaeologist who investigates everyday life, religious experience, and cross-cultural interactions in the ancient Mediterranean. Dr. Barrett has published extensively on interactions between Egypt and the Greco-Roman world and is the author of two books: Egyptianizing Figurines from Delos: A Study in Hellenistic Religion (Leiden: Brill, 2011) and Domesticating Empire: Egyptian Landscapes in Pompeian Gardens (Oxford University Press, 2019). She also co-directs the Casa della Regina Carolina Project, an archaeological field project at Pompeii.
The Trinity University Lennox Seminar was made possible by the Martha, David and Bagby Lennox Foundation.
