Rome and Pompeii were part of the "Grand Tour" for upper-class elite from the 17th through the 19th centuries, and remain today the primary sites through which we reach back into the Roman empire's past. R. Scott Smith explores the archaeological remains of Rome, the "Eternal City," and Pompeii, the town that was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, and discusses the problems of preserving these ancient ruins. The latter issue is especially important as the great monuments that symbolize the past have recently been threatened (the Coliseum by frigid temperatures in 2011-12) or completely destroyed (The House of the Gladiator by torrential rains in 2010).

R. Scott Smith, Professor of Classics at the University of New Hampshire, has been studying and writing about the myths of the Greeks and Romans for the past fifteen years. Following his earlier works on myth (Anthology of Classical Myth (2004); Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae (2007); Writing Myth: Mythography in the Ancient World (2013), Ancient Rome: An Anthology of Sources (2014), and The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography (2017). In addition to his love for all things mythical, he also specializes in the history of Rome, and enjoys taking students each January to the eternal city to see the ancient monuments and partake in the food and culture.

Sponsored by the Atkinson Historical Society and hosted by the Kimball Library.