What everyone gets wrong about women in ancient Rome; from super-nerd to medievalist

What everyone gets wrong about women in ancient Rome

When you imagine life in ancient Rome, do you ever picture women working as doctors or running their own businesses? If not, then historian, author, and podcaster Emma Southon has some unexpected, definitely delightful stories to tell you about how women actually lived in ancient times. This is the hidden truth history books often miss.

Take a glimpse into the realities of life for Roman women

Sign up for Southon’s online talk: A Rome of One’s Own: Putting Women back Into Roman History

From super-nerd to medievalist

Meet Larisa Grollemond: assistant curator of manuscripts at Getty, lover of the feel and smell of old books, and curator of the Getty exhibition Blood: Medieval/Modern, on view through May 19, 2024. Her journey to becoming a medievalist started with her passion for Disney movies and Renaissance faires—huzzah!

How she turned a fascination with the past into a career

Intimate Addresses: Recording Artists Live

In season two of the Recording Artists podcast, titled Intimate Addresses, host Tess Taylor dives into the lives of six artists through personal letters pulled from Getty’s archives. This Anthem award-winning podcast is now out with a special episode, recorded live at Getty, that features a discussion between Taylor and Getty Research Institute curator Pietro Rigolo about the making of the series, what she discovered through the letters, and artists’ stories and letters that didn’t make the cut. Author Maya Binyam joins them to bring the letters to life via dramatic readings.

Listen now

Blood: Medieval/Modern

Through May 19, 2024

Blood has both fascinated and repelled generations of artists and viewers. In examining the meanings of blood in medieval manuscripts, this exhibition extends to intersecting contemporary conversations—artists have used the potent visual connotations of blood to explore issues of feminism, HIV/AIDS, and the science of DNA. Medieval and modern approaches to the representation of blood offer instances of both connection and rupture across time.

Explore the exhibition

Julius Caesar and Caesar’s Forum: A Formative Space in the Heart of Rome

Sunday, March 10, 1:00 pm

Getty Villa, Auditorium

What we know about Julius Caesar’s influence in Rome comes largely from written sources; but archaeology also offers clues. In this talk, Rubina Raja, director of the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions at Aarhus University, revisits Caesar’s legacy in light of archaeological discoveries made during the recent excavations of Caesar’s Forum.

Get tickets to this free in-person event

SONOROUS PRESENT: Songs of Border Crossings, Sunrises, and Mournings

Saturday, March 16, 6:00 pm

Sunday, March 17, 3:00 pm
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Getty’s annual Sounds of LA concert series launches with an exclusive performance of immersive, poetic music from Alex E. Chávez’s forthcoming album SONOROUS PRESENT, inspired by the music and poetics of Chávez’s award-winning book Sounds of Crossing.

Get tickets to this free event

Legacy: Debussy + Hamelin

Saturday, March 2, 7:30 pm, The Wallis

Sunday, March 3, 7:30 pm, Zipper Hall

Join the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and pianist Marc-André Hamelin for a program celebrating the multi-generational musical pedagogy and landscape of France. Use code LACO for 20% off tickets.

Learn more and get tickets
 

Sometimes a window frames a view just so, turning it into a work of art.

Get Inspired subscriber Andrea Levine took this shot in Abu Dhabi, through a doorway. (Note how the door frame curves at the top to echo the domes outside.)

Have a window-framed scene “hanging” on your wall? Did you snap one somewhere else? Send us the photo! Include your name, camera used, location, and anything else you’d like to share. stories@getty.edu