8
Reclaiming and Refraiming Classics
President Jenny Hu
What do you picture when you think of ancient Rome? Perhaps muscular, golden-haired Hercules, or marble-pale Augustus, or even mischievous blond Sextus from Ecce Romani. According to pop culture and the media, you would be absolutely right. In movies, cartoons, and many Latin textbooks, the characterization we see of the Roman Empire is overwhelmingly male and overwhelmingly "white."
However, as researchers and historians have proven, the empire was diverse not only in cultures but also in ethnic groups. At its largest, Rome stretched from Britain to North Africa to Turkey, engulfing the Mediterranean and its surrounding regions. The idea of race didn't even exist at this time. In fact, the average Roman was not necessarily fair-skinned and light-haired; in Rome's cosmopolitan Forum, one could hear a myriad of different languages, as people from all corners of the empire gathered there to trade goods.