Are We Rome or Greece: America's Infatuation with Classical Antiquity

Dr. Caroline Winterer 
Professor of History and Classics, 
Stanford University 

Dr. Winterer explores the question of which culture has influenced the United States the most – Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome?  She begins her presentation by using as an example the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S.  She connects this to the way Americans “have embraced the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome — especially Ancient Rome – as a way of framing their analysis of what happened to us on that day a little over 10 years ago.” She goes on to illustrate how, over the course of American history, those cultures “have filled the American imagination and have become a font of ideas, so that when something like 9/11 happens, we have a frame of reference for understanding it.” Dr. Winterer’s appearance serves as the CSU, Chico History Department’s annual Joanna Cowden Memorial Lecture. 

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Recorded: October 21, 2013