APPLETON, WIS. — Marjorie Venit, professor of ancient Mediterranean art and archaeology at the University of Maryland, presents the slide-illustrated address “Ancient Egyptomania: The Lure of Egypt in Graeco-Roman Alexandria” Monday, Oct. 9 in a Archaeological Institute of America lecture at Lawrence University.
The presentation, at 7:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium, is free and open to the public. An informal reception with the speaker will follow the address.
Venit will explore the various ways Greeks and Romans, particularly those who lived in ancient Alexandria, both adopted and adapted the visual themes and motifs of Egypt into their own cultures. The talk will pay special attention to Ptolemaic and Roman-era tombs, among the best preserved monuments of ancient Alexandria.
A scholar of Greeks in Egypt and the ancient city of Alexandria, Venit has focused her research interests on the intersection of cultures and ethnicities. She has conducted field research at Tel Anafa, Israel, and Mendes, Egypt, and has written extensively on the social, religious, economic and political context and implications of Greek painting, especially vase painting. Among Venit’s main publications is the 2002 book “Monumental Tombs of Ancient Alexandria: The Theater of the Dead.”
A two-time recipient of UM’s College of Arts and Humanities Student’s Outstanding Teacher Award for Excellence in Teaching, Venit earned a bachelor of fine arts degree at the San Franscisco Art Institute and holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.
