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Consumerism and Consumption in the Late Antique City

Lecture by Visiting Professor Elizabeth Murphy (Florida State University). Lecture 5/5 in the lecture series "Socially Re-Constructing the Late Roman City: Labor, Networks, Economy, and Narratives of Urban 'Decline'".

Info about event

Time

Tuesday 17 November 2020,  at 13:00 - 14:00

Location

Online via Zoom

Organizer

UrbNet, Centre for Urban Network Evolutions

N.B. the last lectures in this series will be virtual due to the Covid-19 situation. 

Registration

The lecture will be livestreamed using Zoom. If you wish to participate, please sign up by contacting Centre administrator Christina Levisen at levisen@cas.au.dk to get the necessary ID and password - please provide your full name and affiliation. Please turn off your camera and microphone when you are joining in on Zoom.

Registration deadline: 16 November 12:00.

The ID and password will be used for the entire lecture series so it is only necessary to sign up once.

Abstract

The abundance of shops and shopping spaces in Late Antique cities has long been a noted feature of cities in Asia Minor, and investment in new shopping streets and their elaboration through decorative mosaics and statuary attest to the significance of these activities in the city.  Drawing on recent scholarship on Roman consumerism and consumption studies, this lecture will analyze the evidence for Late Antique shops to understand the nature of consumerism in the period. It also draws together the disparate threads of the preceding lectures, suggesting that at least until the mid-sixth century AD, some segments of society were actively reinventing their cities and negotiating their place in them.