Reception: Stanford Archaeology Center (500-106). Appetizers and drinks provided. 5-5:30pm

Talk description:  “What an artist dies in me!” – the supposed last words of the emperor Nero, as theatrical and infamous as his reign. But what kinds of artistry shaped the way his story was written? This lecture considers Tacitus’ Annals not just as a historical source, but as a work of prose poetry. Centred on his celebrated account of Agrippina’s murder in AD 59, it reveals new dimensions of the complex interplay between fact, drama, and rhetoric at the heart of ancient history writing.

Short bio: Christopher Whitton is Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He works on Latin imperial prose literature, with particular interests in style, intertextuality and the intersection of literature and history. His publications include a commentary on Pliny Epistles 2 (2013), The Arts of Imitation in Latin Prose (2019), and three co-edited volumes, most recently the Cambridge Critical Guide to Latin Literature (2024). Current projects include a commentary on Tacitus Annals 14 and two books on intertextuality.

The Lorenz Eitner Lectures on Classical Art and Culture publicize classics and classical scholarship to a wider public. The series has been endowed by Peter and Lindsay Joost, great friends and benefactors of Stanford Classics, in honor of the late Lorenz Eitner, director of Stanford’s art museum, now known as the Cantor Center, in the 1960s-80s. He also chaired what was then the Department of Art and Architecture and was a distinguished expert of French Romantic painting, and the author of a dozen books on art and art history. In naming these annual lectures after him, we honor the memory of a renowned scholar, teacher and writer who oversaw the expansion of our art museum to a leading regional art collection.

This talk will not be available on zoom and will not be recorded.