Getting lost in Rome is one of the quintessential first encounters one can have with the city, but how do we find our way back to the ancient modes of navigation, to a world without GPS, and even largely without maps or street signs? Evan Jewell (2023 Fellow) explored these questions as a Rome Prize Fellow and more recently tested them as director of the Classical Summer School at the American Academy in Rome this past summer. His talk will explore the intersection of ancient conceptions of space and navigation with the urban theory of wayfinding and wayshowing, showcasing the variety of evidence for these navigational practices—from enslaving collars to graffiti—and how they open a window onto alternative, subaltern topographies of the city.

Jewell is an assistant professor of history at Rutgers University–Camden and director of the Academy's Classical Summer School (2024–26). His research focuses primarily on the history and material culture of ancient Rome, ranging from the history of youth to Roman experiences of displacement, mobility, and urban space. He is the author of several articles and book chapters on the history of the Roman Republic, Roman colonization, Latin oratory, Roman urban space, and imperial portraiture. He is coeditor of a volume on displacement in the ancient and contemporary worlds and is currently finishing up a book on youth and power in the Roman empire, as well as a coedited volume on migration and mobility in the ancient Mediterranean.