Posted on August 15, 2022
| 4:14 p.m.
Colossal head of Julius Caesar from Trajan’s Forum in Rome, early 2nd century AD, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. (Courtesy photo)
Chris Hallett, professor of Roman art with the Department of History of Art, UC Berkeley, will talk about Julius Caesar as Second Founder of Rome & the Evolution of the First Imperial Forum, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, as part of Art Matters Lecture series in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Mary Craig Auditorium.
Julius Caesar spent a vast amount of money on building projects in the late ’50s and early ’40s BC, constructing an extension to the Roman Forum, a great Basilica in the Forum itself, and a temple to Venus.
Because Caesar was assassinated with most of his building projects left unfinished — and with some of them not even started — his impact on the city of Rome, and the nature of the interventions he made, is today disputed.
The new joint Danish-Italian excavations of Caesar’s Forum, now underway, offers an opportunity for scholars to re-open this and other important questions about Caesar’s original intentions, and to offer a comprehensive re-evaluation of his legacy as a builder.
The event is free students and Museum Circle members/$10 SBMA members/$15 for non-members,Get tickets at tickets.sbma.net.
Visitors who plan to attend an event in Mary Craig Auditorium must show proof of being fully vaccinated with a booster (if eligible), or, in some cases, supply a negative Covid-19 medical test result (taken within 72 hours prior to each event), along with an official photo ID, before entering the venue.
All visitors must also follow SBMA’s mask policy and wear a mask while attending events in SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium.