Sunday 22 November 2015, 11am–4pm
PROGRAMME
• Family Craft Fun: Make Your Mark!
All day, 11am-4pm
Remember the Romans by carving your own inscription.
Suitable for ages 5-11, with adult supervision.
• Story Telling: Roman Myths and Legends
With Tanya Bentham, Living History specialist
11.45-12.15pm, 2-2.30pm
We heard the stories that every Roman learnt as a child, with living History specialist Tanya Bentham.
Cast Gallery (14), Ground Floor
• Gallery Tour: Rose-tinted records?
Reality & Aspiration in Roman memorials
With Prof Alison Cooley, Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project (University of Warwick)
11.30-11.50am, 12.30-12.50pm, 2.30-2.50pm, 3.30-3.50pm
Did Roman inscriptions for the dead offer an accurate picture of someone's life, or a rose-tinted record of an ideal? Were epitaphs formulaic and standardised, or personalised expressions of loss? Expert tour of the collection, looking at the individual lives behind the tombstones.
Gallery 21, Ground Floor
• Activity: Meet the Romans
With Helen Ackers, Faculty of Classics (University of Oxford)
12.30-12.50pm, 2.45-3.05pm
What can Roman portraits tell us about the people they depict? We discovered the famous faces of the Roman Empire, from despotic rulers to their glamorous wives.
Cast Gallery (14), Ground Floor
• Activity: What did the Romans Wear?
With Tanya Bentham, Living History specialist
11-11.30am, 12.30-1pm
We discovered the different clothes worn around the Roman Empire.
Atrium, Lower Ground Floor
• Activity: How the Romans made their Clothes
With Tanya Bentham, Living History specialist
2.45-4pm
Roman textiles with drop-spindle spinning, Roman dyes, and loom weaving. With Living History specialist Tanya Bentham.
Atrium, Lower Ground Floor
• Activity: Learn to read a Roman Tombstone
With Dr Jane Massiglia, Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project
11.30-11.50am, 12.30-12.50pm, 2.30-2.50pm, 3.30-3.50pm
We tested our code-cracking skills on real Latin inscriptions and our newly-installed interactives. No previous Latin was required!
Reading and Writing Gallery
• Activity: Hands-On History
With Dr Hannah Cornwell, Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project (University of Warwick)
11am-1pm, 2pm-4pm
How do we make sense of the objects we dig up? We honed our sleuthing skills and handled real Roman objects.
Lower Ground Floor
• Talk: The Roman Art of Dying
With Ashmolean Keeper of Antiquities, Dr Paul Roberts
Twice, at 12pm and 2.30pm
In the Roman world death, thanks to war and shorter life expectancy, was more familiar than it is for us today. But being remembered after death was essential. This talk looked at the beautiful funerary art the Romans produced across their empire, from Britain to Syria, and why it was so important to them.
Lecture Theatre
