Wee[k] 3: Bear Down Domitian

I'm reposting a thing because I can't figure out how to edit something and make that edit stick.

I'll be heading to the UA in approximately 10 hours...

Week 3 has gone by incredibly fast. I'm learning a lot about Rome, and it's nice to be able to sit and read and learn. Professor Kendall and I discussed the topic for my final paper, and after talking it through, I decided to write about the idea of memory in relation to these epigraphs(like the one below). She gave me an article to read about Roman triumphal painting which is exactly what it sounds like. There were a few sections of the article that mentioned memory, and those piqued my interest, helping me to decide on my topic. I have since passed the article on to Hope, and this was the way information got around in ye olden days of no electronics. It reminded me of a passage I read in a book about how individuals would read a book or pamphlet then pass it on to a friend and so on. Anyways, hey look! Pictures!

For the final product of my project, I'm going to create a corpus of epigraphs from around Tucson, and this is one I found on the UA campus on Friday, "Bear Down" with a  backwards "N." This epigraph is promoting school spirit. The success of the basketball team could act as a catalyst for school spirit. Maybe the individual who wrote this is an avid basketball fan. It's unclear from just the text. Sharpies are permanent, easily accessible, and quick for writing something that you want to be permanent. This was written with sharpie on a metal maintenance box of some sort. The Romans used to inscribe epigraphs into metal, and they considered something inscribed into metal to be "ultra" permanent. I think times have changed. Sharpie can be scrubbed off if one is persistent enough while an inscription has to be carved away(see below). This potentially says that public writing does not possess the same level of permanence that it had during the Roman's time. Although, we have the internet where everything is permanent. 

The morning class finished Vespasian in a day which I was a bit sad about. The guy seems pretty cool. Now we have moved onto Domitian, Vespasian's youngest son who was never intended to be emperor. 

This is an inscription about or to Domitian. Most emperors were deified, but the one's that weren't received what was called a damnatio memoriae. It was a posthumous condemnation by the Senate that was intended to erase an mention of the damned individual from society. I wrote my Capstone Latin paper on this idea, and it ties into my SRP as well. An inscription in stone was meant to be permanent, but when it's erased, the erasure is made permanent. This damnatio memoriae was not successful because we know Domitian's name and life. Professor Kendall's morning class went over Domitian's like and rule which provided me with background as to why the Senate hated him. He treated them like the advisory board that they were which put a twist in their togas. Did he deserve to be publicly erased from memory? Maybe, Suetonius certainly thinks so. 

Laborate bene, amici.  

Week 2: When in doubt...read.

Salvete; qui vales? 

This week has still been lots of reading and attending classes. My morning class finished with Nero on Friday. From hearing and reading about Nero, I've learned about what kind of legacy people can leave. To the common people of Rome he was great, but it was only the ruling classes that had problems with him. After all a damnatio memoriae or obliteration-of-any-trace-of-you-anywhere was passed and executed by the Senate, well the ones that Nero hadn't executed yet. 

Theodore Mommsen's Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum is amazing and utterly insane to finally see. These volumes would literally stop a bullet, probably multiple of not too large a caliber to be honest. Right now, I'm looking at part I of volume VI which is only a portion of the inscriptions from Rome. ONLY ROME! This is where I got the idea of doing this project on literacy because Mommsen cataloged thousands and thousands of inscriptions, but these are still a very small percentage of what existed during Roman times due to, you know, that ever present thing called time. Anyways, if the number of inscriptions and instances of public writing was even more common in antiquity than what we can see of it, then there must have been a significant percentage of people that could read it, right? 

One of the books I'm reading tracks public writing and social media circles from the time of Cicero through till modern day, and it has been a useful resource for seeing how people have changed the way in which they share information. 

Professor Kendall's morning class is more about how high profile individuals, emperors, are remembered while the afternoon class is said to be more about Rome as a whole. I'm not sure; Wednesday we were killing off Brutus and being lectured on the ramifications of reading Caesar's will in public. Was he or was he not a tyrant? That is the question. It's interesting because he left a legacy. Next is how Rome was viewed during the Renaissance...flashback to 10th grade APEuro. 

I haven't gotten much into the twitter side of things yet...

Week 1: Gotta Start Somewhere...

Imagine that there is some sort of clever introduction here because I've got nothing other than a bunch of excitement about my project. Salvete amici. (equivalent to "hello friends")

For this particular endeavor, I am looking at public language(graffiti, dipinti, and twitter) and why it matters. Even though so little of it remains from the Roman period, public language was an important part of their culture. It allows us the opportunity to better understand their world, and I'm looking at to see what public language says about our modern world. I had initially thought that I would be looking into the language and literacy associated with public language, but the more I read and think about the topic, the more ideas I generate.

On a mildly related and important side note, my BASIS advisor is Dr. Williams who has helped me so much with research for all my classes. His proper title is The Most Honorable Herr Professor Doctor Magister Williams, but that gets a little lengthy to type up each time. My on-site advisor at the University of Arizona is Professor Jennifer Kendall who has already been a great help to me even though the first week has been mostly figuring out scheduling matters. Not only has she been helping me with research and contextualizing the Roman epigraphy I'm looking at, she is also more than willing to chat about the figure skating at Sochi.

Back to the ideas, I know that I need to edit my ideas down so that I can end up with a focused final product, but I have a few possible themes that I am considering at the moment. The idea of literacy and the meaning of symbols gets into a lot of semiotics business which is a headache to most.

As a continuation of my Latin capstone paper, I would look at the permanence of language and memory in public writing. The Romans had ways of messing with the permanence of an inscription, and digital social networking today has its ramifications for posts. I'm thinking about looking at the permanence of memory, language, an individual, or the permanence of a culture.

Also, by looking at the people who are putting up this public writing I can get a sense of the deeper meaning behind the latest tweet from an individual. The writing comes from both minorities and groups already in power although the same vehicle of public writing is being used to convey opposite meanings.

 For an overarching concept, I'd like to gain an understanding of why any of this matters. Why are humans so inclined to sharing everything and making these connections? Basically, what is the point of all of this?

This week, while figuring out scheduling issues, has been a lot of reading with my nose in various books. There's already a stack of books on epigraphy and social media sitting on my desk waiting for me to read. Professor Kendall and Dr. Williams have been especially helpful with providing me with background reading to inform the direction of my research about modern epigraphy.

Professor Kendall has offered for me to sit in on her two classes. One in the mornings is about several Roman emperors who may not be as bad as they are made out to be. Nero, well he wasn't fiddling while Rome burned that's for sure, and this is because the fiddle wasn't invented yet. From this class, I'm seeing how what monuments he put up affected the public's view of him as an individual and a leader. Her afternoon class is about how other cultures have viewed Rome throughout history going up to Mussolini and WWII.

I'd thought that college classes would be startlingly different from high school classes, but it turns out that that's not true, for humanities at least. Well, the desks are quite a bit smaller, and more people are in what appear to be pajamas with the accompanying flip flops.

The first week was really to iron out any details we could think of for starting out, but now that those are smoothed over, I can't wait to start reading and researching more about my topic.

Valete.
(Be well.)