The excavation of an ancient street in Pompeii is the subject of an upcoming lecture at 黑料不打烊. Jeremy Hartnett, assistant professor of classics at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., will present 鈥淓xcavation Photographs and the Rediscovery of the Via dell鈥橝bbondanza at Pompeii鈥� on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 5:30 p.m. in Grant Auditorium in the College of Law.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the 黑料不打烊 Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), in conjunction with the . For more information, contact Gloria Hunt at grhunt@syr.edu.
Hartnett鈥檚 presentation centers on Vittorio Spinazzola, an Italian archeologist who excavated Pompeii from 1911-1923, and was among the first to use photography to scientifically record the unearthing process. Known for his careful, systematic work, Spinazzola devoted considerable time to unearthing and restoring portions of a main thoroughfare called the Via dell鈥橝bbondanza (Street of Abundance). The result was an exposed patchwork of paintings, graffiti, facades and balconies that revealed life in this Roman town, annihilated by a volcanic eruption in A.D. 79.
Spinazzola spent the end of his life publishing a book about the excavation, containing more than 600 photographs and two dozen lithographs. Allied bombings during World War II destroyed not only the publishing house鈥攁long with every single copy of Spinazzola鈥檚 book鈥攂ut also large portions of the Via dell鈥橝bbondanza, making Spinazzola鈥檚 archival efforts all the more enlightening.
The first part of Hartnett鈥檚 lecture considers how the use of photography has changed the presentation of the excavator and his work. The second part concentrates on Spinazzola鈥檚 excavations and what they reveal about life along one of the most colorful and vibrant streets of Pompeii.
A Wabash faculty member since 2006, Hartnett specializes in Herculaneum, Pompeii and the Bay of Naples; Greek and Roman art and archeology; architecture and urbanism; and Latin language and literature. He is the author of numerous scholarly publications, including the forthcoming book 鈥淪treets and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum.鈥� He earned a Ph.D. in classical art and archeology from the University of Michigan.
