Professor Eric De Sena to Visit Archaeological Site in Serbia

Professor Eric De Sena (upper left) with students on the Porolissum Project

Professor Eric De Sena (Chairman, Dept. Art History and Studio Art) has been invited to Serbia in November to meet the scientific director of the Roman site, Viminacium. Viminacium was a major military center and city that helped control the Danube river valley and served as a trade hub between the Adriatic and the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire. Among the city’s most famous visitors were the emperors Septimius Severus, Diocletian, Theodosius I and Justinian.

De Sena’s specialty is archaeology of the Roman Empire. In addition to working at sites in Italy, including Pompeii, Ostia and Rome, he serves as director of the Porolissum Forum Project, an excavation in Transylvania where more than 70 western students have worked, including several JCU students. De Sena will meet Prof. Miomir Korac of the Archaeological Institute of Belgrade in order to discuss a possible collaboration at Viminacium. De Sena reflects, “The Roman Empire was not just Rome and Italy, but embraced an enormous region in which 40 modern nations lie. It is just as important to study the life of Romans in the frontier zones as it is to understand Roman culture in Italy.”