Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Pheidias and the Frieze of the Parthenon, 1868

Birmingham, Birmingham Museums Trust, 1923P118

Image here via: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1868_Lawrence_Alma-Tadema_-_Phidias_Showing_the_Frieze_of_the_Parthenon_to_his_Friends.jpg

Travel books were A Thing in the ancient world. Long before Rough Guides/Lonely Planets/101 Things To Do Before You Die listicles and social media “bucket lists”, the Greeks and Romans were eagerly travelling, armed with guide books and must-see itineraries. 

One of the most fascinating of these comes to us courtesy of a delightfully enthusiastic Greek, Pausanias. By his time (C2 AD), Rome ruled the world, and his native country was a political and economic backwater. But it still had cultural capital, as wealthy Romans well knew - masses of it in fact! 

No Roman “gap year” was complete without a visit to Greece…which meant visitors from all over the Roman world: Europeans, Africans, Asians… They just needed to know what to see. 

There’s only so much time… as ever! And that’s where Pausanias stepped in. Let’s follow his guidebook, and have fun exploring ancient Greece at a key moment in the Roman Empire!

RJW F2523 Online (via Zoom)

A 5-hour short course, delivered via 2 x 2½-hour sessions on consecutive Saturdays (Saturday 6 & Saturday 13 September).

£40 (individual registration); £72 (for two people sharing one screen).