Ph.D. candidate Colin Whiting at the Ara Pacis in Rome.

After a year in Greece as a Regular Member of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Ph.D. candidate Colin Whiting spent the last month in Rome as a teaching assistant for two classes taught in tandem (History 110/190) by Professor Michele Salzman.  Over the four weeks there, they visited a number of sites in Rome chronologically, starting with the victory temples dedicated by generals in the Roman Republic and ending with a tour of the excavations beneath St. Peter’s basilica.  They also had a chance to take day trips out to Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli and the town of Ostia, as well as a weekend trip to the bay of Naples to visit Pompeii.  Colin was responsible for preparing site plans and handouts for the various visits, delivering a number of site reports and reports on museum items, organizing public transportation options, and the usual grading, grading, grading. He says that it was a lot of fun (of course, he was in Rome!) and a lot of work with a great group of students. He’ll be back in California in August working on his dissertation (and undoubtedly missing the gelato).

Prof. Salzman and Colin atop Trajan’s markets

UCR students handling antiquities at the American Academy of Rome’s study collection