Communicating on Rome’s Edges: Tongues, Gesture, and Art

How did Romans communicate along the expanding edges of empire—on the verbal, physical, and visual levels—when Latin is unavailable? This illustrated presentation treats four different periods and locations: 1) interactions between Etruscan and Roman culture in the early to middle Republic; 2) modes of contact during the late Republic and early empire, in particular between Julius Caesar and the Gauls; 3) monumental inscriptions from the imperial period erected in the eastern reaches of the empire; 4) gestural communication and artistic exchange during late antiquity that arises from commercial activity beyond the easternmost portions of Rome’s expanse.