•  
  •  
 

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

Roman Republic, Pompeian building complex

College

Humanities

Department

Comparative Arts and Letters

Abstract

The period of the late Roman Republic (ca. 80 B. C. to 44 B. C.) is the best documented of all the historical periods of Roman history. The age is characterized by intense struggles for political dominance among the leading politicians and generals of Rome, as well as a flowering of artistic and creative output. Cicero, the statesman and orator, provides much information about this period through his speeches and, more important, his letters to a variety of recipients. It is one of these letters where the research for this project began. In 55 B. C., Cicero wrote a letter to his friend Marcus Marius in which he described the recently completed games of Pompey.1 In celebration of his second consulship, one obtained not without difficulty, Pompey held a five-day celebration that included gladiatorial fights, beast hunts, and theatrical and musical performances. The crowning event of this party, for this was indeed one of the most expensive and elaborate celebrations Rome had ever seen, was the dedication of the new theater and its attached temple of Venus Victrix.

Share

COinS