Matthew Trundle Memorial Lecture - Prof Franco De Angelis

In-Mediterranean, Definite Places, and Indigeneity: Putting Rome’s Rise to Power into Context

When The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History by Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell hit the market, it immediately revitalized and revolutionized Mediterranean studies, introducing a paradigm shift that has continued ever since. Horden and Purcell questioned how previous research largely discussed history as merely happening somewhere in the Mediterranean. Instead, they emphasized the history of the Mediterranean—in other words, as an environmental and ecological entity that fundamentally shaped history. Scholars influenced by The Corrupting Sea paradigm have done remarkable research in the last quarter-century, emphasizing, for instance, connectivity, redistribution, networks, globalization, and the sharing of similar cultural practices. In this lecture, Prof Franco De Angelis will begin by arguing that scholarship has inadvertently swung the pendulum to the other extreme, and that the time has come for a rebalance that highlights local environment, agency, and difference, or, to put it another way, indigeneity. De Angelis will illustrate this argument with case studies drawn from his current book project on why ancient Rome succeeded over its contemporary competitors to become the dominant power in the western Mediterranean – with a focus on what he calls the In-Mediterranean that restores its indigeneity.

About the speaker

Franco De Angelis is Professor of Greek History and Archaeology and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. He is a leading figure in the study of the social history and archaeological record of ancient Sicily. He is the author or editor of numerous books and field reports, has held visiting appointments around the world, and is frequently invited to deliver keynote addresses at learned conferences. His current project is a book to be entitled: Why Rome? Long-term Archaeologies of the Western Mediterranean, which will be published by Oxford University Press.

Registration is required to attend the lecture.