News Archive

The University of Western Australia is supporting the WA Museum's A Day In Pompeii exhibition (May 21 - Sept 5) and will have four experts presenting insights into the ancient civilisation of Pompeii famously preserved in time by hot ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Professor David Kennedy's Roman Archaeology Group will host three talks at a free lecture program on 28 August in the UWA Social Sciences lecture theatre:

• Associate Lecturer Nathan Leber will explore Pompeii's historically informative and notoriously explicit graffiti.
• Professor David Kennedy will peer beneath the surface - drains, sewers and public toilets.
• Assistant Professor Glenys Wootton will discuss the wall paintings of Pompeii including those in the Room of the Initiation from the Villa of the Mysteries.

Assistant Professor Wootton will also provide an insight into the life of a gladiator in her talk on 11 June at the State Library Theatre entitled "Celadus ... adored by the girls!":  Gladiators in Pompeii .

Winthrop Professor John Melville-Jones was part of an Australian team of archaeologists granted permission to investigate one of the biggest houses in Pompeii called the House of the Coloured Capitals.  In his lecture on 18 June at the State Library Theatre, Winthrop Professor Melville-Jones will present the evidence of life uncovered at this house of two storeys, with some 60 rooms, housing an extended family and many slaves.

Details and booking information for the Pompeii lecture series can be found at the Western Australian Museum

Media references

Winthrop Professor David Kennedy (UWA School of Humanities)  (+61 8)  6488 2150
Assistant Professor Glenys Wootton (UWA School of Humanities)  (+61 8)  6488 2146
Winthrop Professor John Melville-Jones (UWA School of Humanities)  (+61 8)  6488 2164
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716