A Mediterranean Tour: Not just a Load of Old Stones

Wednesday 6 May 2015 at 2.00 pm

Gillian Hovell

Gillian Hovell took a BA (Hons) in Latin and Ancient History at Exeter University and then branched out into archaeology. Formerly with the BBC, she is an award winning writer and author who specialises in relating the ancient world to our modern lives, in person, in the field, on line and in the media (most recently on Radio 4). Publications include ‘Visiting the Past: A guide to finding and understanding Britain’s Archaeology’ and ‘Roman Britain’.   Forthcoming works are ‘Latin Yesterday, Today and For Ever’ and ‘A Mediterranean Tour: not just a Load of Old Stones’. Gillian teaches adult education courses in Latin, archaeology and ancient history and has publicly lectured widely and passionately, on cruises and tours and to the national press, universities, literary festivals, and diverse societies including Classical Associations, the U3A and the National Trust.

A tour of the Mediterranean is a visit into the past: ancient sites are littered with ruined architecture and museums are full of works of art testifying to once great civilisations. This virtual tour of the Ancient Mediterranean will share not only who those civilisations were and how they fit together into a ‘big picture’, but especially how to identify whose art or architecture are whose and why their lives and cultures prompted them to create such features; learn what to expect from sites and how to find the special personal details that thrill archaeologists; discover how to walk in the footsteps of the ancients and to see the sites as they might have done. You’ll never look at ancient sites in the same way again …

Gillian’s website, The Muddy Archaeologist, contains lots of information on archaeology, lectures, courses, tours, etc.

Caption: The interior of the Pantheon in the 18th century, painted by Giovanni Paolo Panini

The lecture notes leaflet can be downloaded here

Below are photos of this lecture