Bob Hohlfelder, "The Emperor Nero and the Enhancement of Rome’s Maritime Infrastructure: Deeds and Dreams."

450 Jane Stanford Way Building 110, Stanford, CA 94305
112
Talk Description:
Was Nero the perverted, eccentric, immoral, cruel, and possibly insane autocrat? Was he an astute populist favorably regarded by the plebeians as a compassionate benefactor although despised by Rome’s elite for his populism, his checkered youth, and dubious accession to imperial office? Was he both? Since only vituperative and biased non-contemporaneous literary accounts of his short imperial reign exist, it is difficult to pierce the myths surrounding him to ascertain the truth. Surprisingly, Trajan held the quinquennium Neronis in high regard and praised Nero by claiming that he was more worthy than all his predecessors. Surely, the Optimus Princeps was aware of the rumor, gossip, fantastical fabrications, and disinformation that informed Nero’s negative legacy. His positive assessment of the last of the Julio-Claudian line only underscores the paradoxical aspects of Nero’s life and times.
But what was it about Nero’s reign that would have been so worthy of Trajan’s praise? I believe it was the consonance of their kindred policies to assure that the Mare Nostrum would always serve as the highway of Rome’s empire by maintaining and enhancing the imperial maritime infrastructure. I’ll discuss Nero’s successes in this regard (e.g. completing and dedicating Portus Augusti, constructing a harbor of refuge at Antium, and expanding maritime installations in the Bay of Naples, et alia) and some of his visionary projects, such as building a canal across the Corinthian Isthmus or an inland canal connecting the Gulf of Pozzuoli to the Tiber River, that were started but never completed as his short reign came to a sudden end in 68 CE.
Biography:
Bob Hohlfelder is a professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of History at the University of Colorado in Boulder. His special research interests are in ancient maritime history and archaeology, the world of late antiquity, and ancient numismatics. In addition to over 130 published articles, he has written, co-authored, or edited nine books, including his most recent one - Building for Eternity: The History and Technology of Roman Engineering in the Sea, Oxford, 2014 and reprinted in 2021. He was twice a research fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks; a visiting research fellow at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia on two occasions and once at University College, Dublin; four times a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome; and currently is a visiting research scholar at Wolfson College, University of Oxford where he also served as an Honorary Associate of the Centre for Maritime Archaeology.
Bob had 30 national lecture tours for the Archaeological Institute of America; participated in or directed 50 maritime archaeological expeditions in the Mediterranean including deep-water explorations in the Aegean and Cretan Seas; co-directed the Roman Maritime Concrete Study; served as an archaeological tour expert on cruises for the National Geographic Society, Lindblad Expeditions, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Archaeological Institute of America throughout the Mediterranean world for more than three decades; presented more than 160 papers at professional conferences in 13 countries and 300+ public lectures at universities and museums around the world; served as mission expert for UNESCO/ICOMOS and the World Heritage Committee; and has received over 70 post-doctoral national and international grants to support his research. He is currently working on a book tentatively entitled, The Julio-Claudian Emperors and the Sea: Building a Maritime Infrastructure as the Nexus of the Roman Empire.
This talk will not be available on zoom and will not be recorded.