Serena Connolly (Rutgers University–New Brunswick) "Hadrian the Intellectual, Revisited"

Talk description:

Scholars have long paid attention to the emperor Hadrian’s philhellenism, in particular his support for Greek arts and culture. His commitment to science and technology has been comparatively neglected, despite our considerable evidence. This paper seeks to remedy that imbalance and will also argue for understanding Hadrian’s interests in science and technology as inspired by not only personal predilection but also precedent stretching back to Augustus.

Short Bio:

Serena Connolly is Professor and Chair of Classics at Rutgers-New Brunswick. She teaches Roman history and Latin literature, with research interests spanning Roman social and political history, women and non-elites in the Roman world, and the history of science and technology. She is the author of Lives Behind the Laws: The World of the Codex Hermogenianus (2010) and Wisdom from Rome: Reading Roman Society and European Education in the Distichs of Cato (2022). Her forthcoming book, Learned Emperors: Science, Technology, and Power at the Roman Imperial Court, examines the relationship between intellectualism, science, technology, and imperial power.

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