2,768 Years Old and Counting: Penn Museum Marks Rome’s Birthday with Gladiatorial Bouts, Tours, Talks and Demonstrations at a Day-Long Celebration: Saturday, April 18 |
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April 7, 2015, Volume 61, No. 29 |
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Trying on reproduction military regalia at a Roman arms and armor station. Photos courtesy of the Penn Museum. |
Felix sit natalis die! Roughly translated, that is “happy birthday” in Latin—a great phrase to use at the royal celebration of Rome’s Birthday on Saturday, April 18 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the galleries at the Penn Museum. Guests will be treated to explosive gladiator fights and interactive legionary tactical demonstrations, mythology gallery tours in the Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greeks and Romans suite of galleries, toga wrapping demonstrations and laurel wreath-making craft tables, short lectures and minute “pop up” presentations on ancient Roman history and life.
As legend has it, Rome was founded on April 21, 753 BCE on the banks of the Tiber River by Romulus and Remus, twin brothers abandoned after birth and raised by a she-wolf. When a fierce argument erupted between them, Romulus killed Remus and gave his own name to the tiny settlement that would grow into a great empire.
It’s all free for PennCard holders, Museum members, children under 6, active US military and with Museum admission donation: $15 general admission; $12 for seniors 65+; $10 for full-time students with ID and children 6-17. Attendees are encouraged to get in the spirit of the day; those daring enough to wear a toga or gladiator attire will receive half-off the price of admission.
Gladiatorial Bouts and Military Tactics
No Roman celebration is quite complete without the ancient Roman army to keep order, and Legion XX Valeria Victrix from Maryland will join Legion XIII Gemina from New Jersey for a series of interactive presentations of Roman battle tactics that all ages can participate in starting at 11 a.m. The legions will instruct new recruits in creating a testudo, or tortoise formation, when Roman foot soldiers align their shields to create a packed and protective formation covered with shields on the front and top. In addition, guests of all ages will be invited to explore and even try on reproduction military regalia at a Roman arms and armor station.
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Gladiators vie to “win the crowd” with battles in the Museum’s courtyard. |
Gladiators from Ludus Magnus Gladiatores (The Great School of the Gladiator) will vie to “win the crowd” with battles at 1 and again at 3 p.m. Sword-wielding fights will take place in the Museum’s outdoor courtyard (indoors in event of rain) with reenactors hailing from Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and as far as Maine. Visitors can see a roster of gladiators, dressed in a range of armor with weapons that match their fighting styles. In between risking life and limb, Ludus Magnus Gladiatores will demonstrate fighting techniques and tell the history of pitting and pairing gladiators in combat. Legion XXIV Media Atlantia from Pennsylvania will attend as arena guards and fight presenters.
New Discoveries About the Ancient Roman Empire
Guests interested in learning more about contemporary research on the ancient past can attend two lectures by leading scholars.
Justin Leidwanger, assistant professor in the department of classics and a faculty member at the Stanford Archaeology Center, will offer a 2 p.m. talk, Between East and West at the End of Antiquity: The Late Roman ‘Church Wreck’ at Marzamemi, Sicily.
At 3:30 p.m., Penn Museum’s C. Brian Rose, Ferry Curator-in-Charge of the Mediterranean Section, will take armchair archaeologists on a whirlwind tour with New Discoveries in Ancient Rome, a lecture sponsored by the America-Italy Society of Philadelphia.
Graduate students in the University of Pennsylvania’s art and archaeology in the Mediterranean World and classics departments will offer 60-second “pop up” presentations about Rome—guests can look for them to “pop up” in the Worlds Intertwined galleries throughout the day.
Tales from Greek and Roman mythology will be in the spotlight during family-friendly “Mediterranean Myths” gallery tours by Jennifer Reifsteck, public program manager at the Museum.
Party Pretty
For those who left their Roman togas at home, there will be opportunities to learn the fine art of proper toga dressing at a demonstration station. At a craft station, everyone can create a Roman-style laurel wreath headdress suitable for wearing.
The Museum’s Pepper Mill Café will get in the act with Italian-inspired luncheon options.
Exploring the Ancient Mediterranean World
Penn Museum’s suite of galleries, Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, features more than 1,400 ancient artifacts, including marble and bronze sculptures, jewelry, metalwork, mosaics, glass vessels, gold and silver coins and pottery of exceptional artistic and historical renown, all drawn from the Museum’s Mediterranean collections, dating from 3000 BCE to the 5th century CE. A large-scale interactive map of the region will help visitors visualize how these ancient civilizations overlapped and co-existed thousands of years ago.
Rome’s Birthday is the final program in the Penn Museum’s World Culture Days 2014-2015 lineup. The popular series is designed to introduce visitors of all ages to the rich cultural traditions found throughout the Museum’s galleries and, indeed, throughout the world.
Celebrate Rome’s Birthday at the Penn Museum on Saturday, April 18 with gladiator bouts, talks, togas, tours and more: http://bit.ly/1HqAzvj
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Guests of all ages are invited to explore and even try on reproduction military regalia at a Roman arms and armor station during the Penn Museum’s celebration of Rome’s Birthday, Saturday, April 18 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. |
Gladiators from Ludus Magnus Gladiatores (The Great School of the Gladiator) vie to “win the crowd” with battles at 1:00 and again at 3 p.m. during the Penn Museum’s celebration of Rome’s Birthday, Saturday, April 18. Sword-wielding fights take place in the Museum’s outdoor courtyard (indoors in event of rain) with reenactors hailing from Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, and as far as Maine. |
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