This seminar examines Fascist appropriation and misappropriation of Roman history, art, literature, architecture, and archaeology, especially in the city of Rome, but throughout the Italian peninsula and the short-lived Italian empire, with the focus on the years 1922-1943. The focus is especially on Mussolini’s casting about in the past to shape his public image, first as Julius Caesar but eventually as the 20th century’s answer to Augustus, the founder of the Roman empire. The Fascist regime’s dual emphasis on restoring ancient monuments and building new monumental complexes will receive close attention.
The seminar will utilize an array of sources to understand the main developments in the era, including small media and ephemera (postage stamps, coins, medallions, postcards, school notebooks), and—especially important—contemporary newsreel footage culled from the ca. 4,000 hours now available on the Cinecittà Luce website.
About T.C. Brennan
T. Corey Brennan is Associate Professor of Classics at Rutgers University at New Brunswick, NJ. Raised in Scranton, PA, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts. A Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, he continued to earn a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D from Harvard University in 1990. He taught at the Bryn Mawr from 1990-2000 when he began teaching at Rutgers. From 2009-2012 Brennan was appointed Andrew W. Mellon Professor-in-Charge of the School of Classics at the American Academy in Rome.
Brennan is the editor of the American Journal of Ancient History. As a scholar of Roman and Greek history, Brennan has appeared on several documentaries and television programs, including ones for the Discovery Channel, History Channel, and National Geographic.