W&M Featured Events
[PAST EVENT] Departmental Lecture - "Streaming Emperorship in Praise of Constantine"
Location
Boswell Hall (formerly Morton Hall), Room 220100 Ukrop Way
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
- Open to the public
The Department of Classical Studies presents Professor Roger Rees, Professor in the School of Classics at University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, UK, on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 5:00 pm, Boswell 220. The title of his talk will be "Streaming Emperorship in Praise of Constantine". This will talk will address a Latin panegyric given in Trier in 313CE, our first surviving account of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, when Constantine defeated Maxentius. I will argue that the orator unites discourses of geography, mythology, warfare and epic poetry to figure Constantine as a force of nature, the source and the course of a metaphorical riverine system which irrigates the world. The majority of his research focuses on the Latin Literature and Roman history, from the Late Republic (i.e. from Cicero) through to Late Antiquity (i.e. to the mid fifth century). This is, of course, a huge field, and my own particular interests are in panegyrical discourse (i.e. praise) throughout that period. A specific area of interest of his is the XII Panegyrici Latin collection.
Occasional diversions have included writing a source/evaluation book on the Tetrarchic period and editing a collection of articles on the reception and representation of classical material in the poetry of Ted Hughes.
Contact
Joyce Holmes at [[jrholm]]