Tag: research
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Happens Every Time
What a whirlwind! I’m writing this post after finally making it home to Baltimore from a tiny detour in Rome and, before that, blazing all around the island-nation of Cyprus, where visits and trips included places like the Cyprus American Archaeological Institute (CAARI), and the ancient sites of Kourion and Paphos. These were all after…
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Why Archaeology is Important
In my last post, I set out on the surprisingly complex task of defining Archaeology. To summarize, I concluded that Archaeology is a humanities discipline that uses material remains to study the past and its people so that we might better understand the human experience. And while all that sounds nice to the layperson, often…
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The Career of an Archaeologist
In my last post, I highlighted that archaeology’s importance lies in its ability to turn the narrative of history into an experience, which contributes to the heritage of global populations and the formation of a unifying world heritage. The natural followup is how we turn these slightly abstract and idealistic notions into real-world applications and…
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What is Archaeology?
I recently realized that I’ve spent a lot of time writing and discussing the act of doing archaeology, but I haven’t done much to explain what archaeology actually is. At first thought, the question seems simple and obvious: “You know, Indiana Jones and digging and stuff…” Sure, Harrison Ford did play an “archaeologist” in the epic movie…
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Part One (b): Who was Suetonius?
Now that we’ve gotten to know Plutarch, let’s ask: Who was Suetonius? Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was born ca. 70 AD, at the ascendancy of the Flavian dynasty (emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian). Unlike Plutarch, Suetonius was born a Roman citizen into an equestrian family. His father initially served as tribune in the short-lived faction of emperor Otho…
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Part One (a): Who is Plutarch?
In the introduction, we established that in order to conduct a valuable, critical reading of ancient literature, the reader must take time to understand who is writing, why they are writing, and who was the author’s intended audience. Let’s start here with the first “Who?” The information I have gathered here can primarily be found…
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Introduction: Researching Roman Biographical Literature
As mentioned before, one of the primary focuses of my research is to conduct a critical reading of classical literature to address the question: “How did the Ancient Romans perceive the sociopolitical changes of the last century BC and first century AD, summarized by the end of the Republic and beginning of the Empire?” For those…
The Starving Archaeologist 