Steven J. R. Ellis is the winner of the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Post-Doctoral Rome Prize in Ancient Studies and an assistant professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati.
What part of the United States did you come from?
Cincinnati, but I’m originally from Sydney, Australia. I’ve been in the United States since 2005.
Why did you apply for the Rome Prize?
The Rome Prize has long been a dream of mine, as it is for anyone in my field of Roman or Mediterranean archaeology. The award is the most prestigious of its kind, but it offers still so much more. The community, the location, the facilities and resources, the food (!), and not least the gift of time away from the daily ‘obstacles’ of an academic position at a university, are just some of the reasons I’ll forever be glad I applied. The immeasurable generosity of the Academy in allowing Fellows to bring their families was an especially appealing reason to apply.
Describe a particularly inspiring moment or location you've experienced in Rome thus far.
Well it’s not quite Rome, but in the Fall Kim Bowes and I led a tour to Pompeii for the Academy community; there were about forty of us. I’ve been directing the University of Cincinnati’s archaeological excavations at Pompeii (the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia) since 2005, and so we decided to take a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at the art and archaeology of the city. The most valuable aspect was not the insights that Kim or I could give, but the conversations and questions (even answers!) that came from having an incomparable group of artists, writers, composers, art historians, conservators, architects and landscape architects, and other archaeologists and historians approach the city from such different perspectives. This is what the Academy does so well, and I learnt much more from the community that day than they did from me.
To what extent, if any, has your proposed project changed since your arrival?
I’m here to write a book on the history of the Roman retail industry, and I came knowing that I wanted to expand my focus beyond Pompeii, where I have been excavating a large neighborhood of houses and shops, to other sites throughout Italy and the Roman world. I hadn’t anticipated just how much of a contribution those other sites were going to make. I have been able to incorporate a great amount of information from Roman cities up and down the Italian peninsula, but also further afield from trips I’ve taken to Algeria, Morocco, and Spain. So the book is more expansive, but probably—or hopefully—better.
Have you had any "eureka!" moments or unanticipated breakthroughs in the course of your work here?
I’ve had several, some of which are so simple on reflection that I’m cautious to admit them publicly! For example, having the opportunity to visit so many Roman urban sites over the past year has given me a new appreciation for the scale of abundance of Roman cities; there were just so many, and all of them really rather close to each other. This caused me to think about their urban amenities and what the various kinds of Roman cities offered their inhabitants in terms of living conditions. The influence that the Academy environment lends to one’s research thus ultimately brings much clarity to the little complexities as well as to the bigger picture of a research project. Much of my research on Roman retail environments is about understanding the social ties that bind and build urban communities, and so observing Italian life has also been greatly influential.
What aspect of your project are you most looking forward to?
Finishing! Well the book, not the Fellowship. Alas, the Fellowship is closer to completion than the book, so I’m just now trying to focus on what can be done in the final months and to find peace with those expectations.
What part of your project has been or do you anticipate will be the most challenging?
Same answer: finishing!
What's surprised you most about living in Rome?
We had hoped that our three young boys—Hugo and Oliver, twins aged 5, and Henry, aged 4—would learn some Italian, but we hadn’t anticipated the joy we would get from hearing them sing Italian folk songs, or chattering away with their Italian friends, detecting their Roman accents, or having to parent them on some newly acquired ‘school-yard’ language!
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)?
There’s just too much of all of it to balance effectively. As good as these circumstances may be—to have ample time, and countless influences, for research (trips) and writing, to be a part of a community that is humming with great people and is energized by a constant line-up of events, and for all of it to be set within the wonderful city of Rome and with the company of my family—to juggle all of them requires a certain skill that I’ve not yet mastered. Wanting to do so has caused some anxiety, but these are good problems to have.
What is your favorite spot at the Academy? Or in Rome?
Of the many, the first place that comes to mind is the Academy bar. The morning café macchiato with my wife, Stephanie, after having walked our kids to school, makes for the perfect start to the day. It’s also been the scene of some fun evenings, too…. But there are so many other places at the Academy and across Rome that fill me with joy: the rooftops of the MMW building and 5B, at sunset; the Bass Garden for the almost-weekly Sunday afternoon grillfests; the Triangle Garden as it fills with delirious kids and relaxed parents; the Stadio Olimpico on Roma’s game-day; the Fontanone, especially when lit up; the Tiber when it floods; and the view over Rome from the Gianicolo, which seems to make an otherwise sprawling, complex, and higgedy-piggledy city suddenly understandable and attainable.