Trajan’s Column conveys a war-story; and truth is said to be war’s first casualty. With due awareness of current events, this lecture offers a fresh analysis of how the monument unfolds according to certain principles of perspective and ‘narrative stimuli’. What makes a story told by images credible – if not ‘the truth’?

This event will be in English.

CITY OF ROME LECTURE SERIES

Nigel Spivey teaches Classical archaeology at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Fellow of Emmanuel College. His most recent book is The Sarpedon Krater: Life and Afterlife of a Greek Vase (2018).