"Everyone's image of that is in some way based on modern movies. In some ways, I think those were rather impressive, but they got some things terribly wrong. I think the main function of the triumph is for Romans to think about what it is to be Roman, but it has another side to it, which is, it puts fear into the enemy."
"It's hard to picture ancient Rome now, because we see it inevitably through film and through television where it's very grand, it's very white, its architecture is white, its art is white, and its people are white. One thing we know about Ancient Rome is that it was a multicultural, cosmopolitan society. You only have to read a bit of Roman literature to discover that the city is a home to people from everywhere in the western world and from Africa too."
Rethinking familiar aspects of Roman culture can produce substantial change in understanding. The triumph functioned both to define Roman identity and to intimidate defeated enemies. Modern film and television have created a misleadingly white, grand image of Rome that obscures its ethnic and cultural diversity. Roman literature reveals a city populated by people from across the western world and Africa. Social customs differed from modern expectations, for example certain male greetings involved kissing rather than handshakes. Translation of classical works necessarily involves interpretation and a contemporary conversation that can expose textual difficulties in new ways.
Read at Big Think
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