This upper-level on-site course examines the archaeological remains of Rome from the perspective of the different ethnic, cultural and social groups that populated the city and whose interaction created Roman identity. Roman society has often been presented as a uniform monoculture but developments in archaeological theory have allowed us to recognize diverse influences and to chart the evolving construction of Roman identity which underlay political power. What was considered ‘Roman’ was not static but changed according to period, class and setting and nearly always involved negative judgments of “others” who were perceived as displaying non-Roman characteristics.

*Course content subject to change