Thomas Hendrickson is the winner of the Arthur Ross Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize in Ancient Studies and a PhD candidate in the Department of Classics at the University of California, Berkeley.
What part of the United States did you come from?
I’m originally from the Twin Cities area in Minnesota, although I’ve been living in the San Francisco Bay area since I started grad school at Berkeley in 2006.
Why did you apply for the Rome Prize?
I’m interested in the relationship between spaces and the life lived in them, and there’s no substitute for being here. You can look at all the maps and plans and pictures you can find, and it won’t tell you nearly as much about a place as simply walking through it. Also, there’s no substitute for the people the Academy brings together. I’m a philologist, but in my work I try to take advantage of the great work that’s been done in archaeology, history, and art history. At the Academy, you’ll likely be sitting next to any number experts in those fields at any given meal, and so it’s fantastic to get their perspectives on things.
Describe a particularly inspiring moment or location you've experienced in Rome thus far.
Definitely the Villa of the Papyri (in Herculaneum). Dug up by the Bourbons in the eighteenth century and subsequently lost until the 1980s, this villa had a massive collection of statuary and over a thousand scrolls that were carbonized in the eruption of Vesuvius. New excavations in the 1990s revealed that the villa was far bigger than anyone had guessed, and new statues have already been found. Are there more scrolls in the myriad unexplored rooms? I got a permesso to visit the villa (it’s closed to the public), and it was truly inspiring to be in a place that’s given us so much of what we know about the ancient world—and exciting to think about what else might be down there.
To what extent, if any, has your proposed project changed since your arrival?
My project uses ancient libraries to look at how material structures and social structures interacted in the Roman world. One thing that’s changed is that I’ve decided to look not just at libraries, but to look more broadly at the various physical media through which literature was experienced (e.g., books, statuary). Also, I’ve decided to argue specifically that that the physical media though which literature was experienced actually undermined the prestigious place of literature in Roman elite ideology, because so much of that media had connotations of self-indulgence and purchased pleasure.
Have you had any "eureka!" moments or unanticipated breakthroughs in the course of your work here?
Just this morning I had a permesso to visit the crypt of the church of Ss. Cosmas and Damian. The original structure was most likely the library of the Temple of Peace built by Vespasian in AD 75 (rebuilt in the early third century), and it opens into the “Temple of Romulus” that was built in the early fourth century. The relationship between the original Temple of Peace, the “Temple of Romulus,” and the church of Ss. Cosmas and Damian (dedicated AD 526, but with substantial alterations in the twelfth and seventeenth centuries) has been impossible for me to get my head around. Once I was there though, everything clicked.
What aspect of your project are you most looking forward to?
The public libraries at Rome were staffed by slaves, and we have information about some of them surviving on their gravestones. Except that some of the gravestones are Renaissance forgeries. Probably. The story of the library-slaves and their epitaphs (real and fake) is a compelling one—and one I’m really looking forward to digging into it in the coming months.
What part of your project has been or do you anticipate will be the most challenging?
The most challenging thing is to not let myself go chasing too many things down rabbit holes. The detective work of scholarship can be really engrossing, but if you’re not careful you can wind up pretty far outside of anything relevant to your actual project.
What's surprised you most about living in Rome?
The coffee—it’s much cheaper than I expected. I’m used to (grudgingly) paying $2–4 for a coffee drink, so it’s a pleasure and a relief that so many coffee drinks here cost around $1.
How have you managed the balance between your work (time in the studio/study) and engagement with Rome and Italy (travel, sightseeing, interactions with locals)?
This has been difficult. The Rome Prize is such a great opportunity to have the time to do your work—but it would be a huge waste to spend all your time in your office. This is especially true for a classicist, since time spent out engaging with the people and the places here really is an investment that will benefit your future teaching and research … at least that’s what I tell myself when I’m spending a sunny day at the Baths of Caracalla instead of in my office.
How do you anticipate your Rome Prize Fellowship will influence future work?
Just about everything I do here in Rome seems to be laying the foundation for future teaching and research. I love to incorporate material and visual culture into my teaching (like inscriptions for a Latin class, or monuments for a class on Roman civilization), so it’s been a great opportunity to have so much of the Roman world right in front of my eyes.
What is your favorite spot at the Academy? Or in Rome?
This is going to sound crazy, but my favorite place in the Academy is my office. It has a window that opens onto a courtyard with a fountain, and in the morning I like to open the window to let in the sunlight and cold air while I have my morning coffee.