7.10.2019
17:15-18:45
Lecture room D113, Topelia (Unioninkatu 38, 00101 Helsinki)
Antonio Lopez Garcia (University of Helsinki): Hadrian’s Auditoria: The History of a Building from Antiquity to Modern Times.
Between 2007 and 2010, a series of archaeological surveys for the construction of a station for Metro Line C were performed in the area of Piazza Venezia in Rome. In the survey conducted in the Piazza della Madonna di Loreto, were found a number of structures belonging to different periods from the Late-Republican to the Modern Age. Archaeologists from the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma proposed the identification of these structures with the Athenaeum of Emperor Hadrian, an academic institution only known through literary sources. The hypothesis about structures belonging to the Hadrianic era released a passionate debate among Roman topographers. In this seminar we will discuss the history of the building, will raise some hypotheses about its functioning, and finally, will survey the possible relation with the Roman administration and the courtrooms.