Affiliation: University of Arizona, Tucson
Alison Futrell is Associate Professor of History at the University of Arizona. Her research is guided by her interest in the performance and imagery of power in the Roman Empire, with particular focus on spectacle and gender. She is also fascinated by representations of the ancient Mediterranean in modern popular culture. She has appeared in a range of public-facing media, including, most recently, for BBC History Extra, National Geographic, and as a featured expert in ‘Colosseum’, an eight-part series on the History Channel. She is the author of Blood in the Arena (1997) and Roman Games (2006) and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World (2021) and co-creator of the University of Arizona Enhanced Experience for Age of Empires IV.
Mass events in the Colosseum were highly visible performances of Rome’s imperial power. But how did the arena impact the lives of ordinary individuals? This talk explores evidence for the experiences of the people in the sands, the seats, and the substructures, beyond the emperor’s box.
