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X-WR-CALNAME:Bob Hohlfelder (University of Colorado Boulder) "The Emperor N
 ero and the Enhancement of Rome’s Maritime Infrastructure: Deeds and Dre
 ams."
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260813T060320Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_48773734940101
DTSTART:20250228T200000Z
DTEND:20250228T210000Z
DESCRIPTION:Talk Description: \n\nWas Nero the perverted\, eccentric\, immo
 ral\, cruel\, and possibly insane autocrat? Was he an astute populist favo
 rably regarded by the plebeians as a compassionate benefactor although des
 pised by Rome’s elite for his populism\, his checkered youth\, and dubio
 us accession to imperial office? Was he both? Since only vituperative and 
 biased non-contemporaneous literary accounts of his short imperial reign e
 xist\, it is difficult to pierce the myths surrounding him to ascertain th
 e truth. Surprisingly\, Trajan held the quinquennium Neronis in high regar
 d and praised Nero by claiming that he was more worthy than all his predec
 essors. Surely\, the Optimus Princeps was aware of the rumor\, gossip\, fa
 ntastical fabrications\, and disinformation that informed Nero’s negativ
 e legacy. His positive assessment of the last of the Julio-Claudian line o
 nly underscores the paradoxical aspects of Nero’s life and times.\n\nBut
  what was it about Nero’s reign that would have been so worthy of Trajan
 ’s praise? I believe it was the consonance of their kindred policies to 
 assure that the Mare Nostrum would always serve as the highway of Rome’s
  empire by maintaining and enhancing the imperial maritime infrastructure.
  I’ll discuss Nero’s successes in this regard (e.g. completing and ded
 icating Portus Augusti\, constructing a harbor of refuge at Antium\, and e
 xpanding maritime installations in the Bay of Naples\, et alia) and some o
 f his visionary projects\, such as building a canal across the Corinthian 
 Isthmus or an inland canal connecting the Gulf of Pozzuoli to the Tiber Ri
 ver\, that were started but never completed as his short reign came to a s
 udden end in 68 CE.\n\nBiography:\n\nBob Hohlfelder is a professor emeritu
 s and former chair of the Department of History at the University of Color
 ado in Boulder. His special research interests are in ancient maritime his
 tory and archaeology\, the world of late antiquity\, and ancient numismati
 cs. In addition to over 130 published articles\, he has written\, co-autho
 red\, or edited nine books\, including his most recent one - Building for 
 Eternity: The History and Technology of Roman Engineering in the Sea\, Oxf
 ord\, 2014 and reprinted in 2021. He was twice a research fellow at Harvar
 d University’s Center for Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks\; a visiti
 ng research fellow at Edith Cowan University in Perth\, Australia on two o
 ccasions and once at University College\, Dublin\; four times a visiting s
 cholar at the American Academy in Rome\; and currently is a visiting resea
 rch scholar at Wolfson College\, University of Oxford where he also served
  as an Honorary Associate of the Centre for Maritime Archaeology.\n\nBob h
 ad 30 national lecture tours for the Archaeological Institute of America\;
  participated in or directed 50 maritime archaeological expeditions in the
  Mediterranean including deep-water explorations in the Aegean and Cretan 
 Seas\; co-directed the Roman Maritime Concrete Study\; served as an archae
 ological tour expert on cruises for the National Geographic Society\, Lind
 blad Expeditions\, the Smithsonian Institution\, and the Archaeological In
 stitute of America throughout the Mediterranean world for more than three 
 decades\; presented more than 160 papers at professional conferences in 13
  countries and 300+ public lectures at universities and museums around the
  world\; served as mission expert for UNESCO/ICOMOS and the World Heritage
  Committee\; and has received over 70 post-doctoral national and internati
 onal grants to support his research. He is currently working on a book ten
 tatively entitled\, The Julio-Claudian Emperors and the Sea: Building a Ma
 ritime Infrastructure as the Nexus of the Roman Empire.\n\nThis talk will 
 not be available on zoom and will not be recorded.
GEO:37.427985;-122.170551
LOCATION:Building 110\, 112
SUMMARY:Bob Hohlfelder (University of Colorado Boulder) "The Emperor Nero a
 nd the Enhancement of Rome’s Maritime Infrastructure: Deeds and Dreams."
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.stanford.edu/event/bob-hohlfelder-the-emperor-
 nero-and-the-enhancement-of-romes-maritime-infrastructure-deeds-and-dreams
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