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3203 Southeast Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97202-8199

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Mary Beard of the University of Cambridge will deliver the Norton Lecture on the topic of "Mistaken Identities: Tracking Down Roman Emperors in Modern Art".

Classical Roman emperors were often represented in Renaissance and later art, despite their collectively thuggish and often murderous natures. In her lecture, Beard explores why they were such a popular subject, whether they just wall-paper for the elite, and how we are so bad at identifying them. The lecture will be referring in part to the recent exhibition Silver Caesars at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which showcased the 16th century set of 12 silver-gilt standing cups known as the Aldobrandini Tazze, each of which included a figure of one of the first 12 Caesars.

Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at Newnham College, University of Cambridge, Professor of Ancient Literature for the Royal Academy of Arts, and Classics Editor for the Times Literary Supplement. She holds degrees from the University of Cambridge, and her extensive areas of expertise encompass ancient history and Classical art and archaeology. Her published works include SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (Profile Books, 2015), and in 2013 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

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