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"Repopulating the House of the Faun in ancient Pompeii" - Prof. Rebecca Benefiel Classical Archaeology Lecture

October 4

Join us for a lecture delivered by Professor Rebecca Benefiel titled, "Repopulating the House of the Faun in ancient Pompeii." Here is a description of the talk: "If tourists visit one house in Pompeii today, it is likely the House of the Faun, one of the two largest houses in the city, beautifully laid out with large gardens and the famous mosaic of Alexander the Great. This talk investigates this fine residence and explores what is impossible to see today: traces of the people who inhabited and frequented this house, their personal interests, and the way they communicated with others."

Rebecca Benefiel is Professor and Chair of the Department of Classics at Washington and Lee University. Her research focuses on the intersection of literature, archaeology, and the social and cultural history of the Roman Empire. She has published on a range of subjects, from the Roman army to ancient ideas on female virtue, but she is an internationally recognized expert for her work on Pompeii and Herculaneum. She is Director of The Ancient Graffiti Project, which is editing and making accessible thousands of handwritten inscriptions from the first century. These texts, preserved primarily in the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, offer a view of ancient history from the ground up. Her work has been featured in National Geographic, USA Today, Science News,Forbes, and Smithsonian magazines. She has been interviewed on NPR's Radio IQ, on television in the program, The Secrets of Christianity, on the History Channel in and on PBS in the documentary, The Nero Files.

This lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.