In this unusual and ambitious book, R. assumes curatorial responsibility for a daunting collection: the complete inventory of objects and buildings in Rome, throughout antiquity. R.'s statement that ‘part of the task of this study will be to put the numerous incoherent cultural “fragments” into a cohesive order’ (p. 7) calls to mind a unique challenge of curatorial practice – that of selecting and arranging disparate objects from a museum's necessarily limited collection, so as to create meaningful installations within its walls. R.'s exposition of ancient Rome offers a startlingly decisive interpretation of the city. Amidst the chaos of centuries of acquisition, display, construction, reconfiguration, repair, demolition and countless other activities, R. discerns the presence of a ‘master narrative … that enshrined a coherent national identity and was expressive of Roman power’ (p. 29). Artefacts and architecture formed part of a ‘hegemonic visual discourse throughout the city’ (p. 33), in which triumphators, emperors and members of the ruling elite, at least, were conversant.
The book's title and its recurrent use of the phrase ‘museum city’ belie a more nuanced purpose. R.'s principal aim is not to liken ancient Rome to a museum or Museion in any literal sense, but rather to examine ancient Rome through a museological lens. This distinction matters. The theories and methods of museum studies have more to offer Classics than the strained analogy suggests. (Other imaginative comparisons, e.g. Rome as ‘a vast political pamphlet’ [p. 124], likewise could provide useful provocation for classroom discussion, but are too loose to support a scholarly argument.) This richly annotated, neatly structured interpretation of ancient Roman attitudes and practices also serves as an introduction to the fertile ground on which two disciplines – Classics and museum studies – converge. R. synthesises a wealth of scholarship from both disciplines, and in so doing reveals how much Classics and museum studies have in common.
The National Mall in Washington, D.C., a ‘repository of historical “clutter”’ (p. 5), is R.'s favoured approximation of ancient Rome. Scanning its vista of monuments and museums, R. marvels at the diversity. He finds it discordant and strange that buildings of variant architectural styles and purposes stand side-by-side, ‘none of which has anything in particular to do with the other’ (p. 1). R.'s wonderment begs the question of what he considers the norm for an urban environment. In other words, what does the logically coherent city look like? R. concludes that, for both these museum cities, the ‘incoherent’ assortment of objects and architecture offers a microcosm of empire and expression of national identity. In the case of Rome, this is a reasonable claim – and studies of encyclopedic museums and encyclopedic Roman literature enhance R.'s argument. Substantive engagement with scholarship on eclecticism in Roman art display, however, could further enrich this study. What should be an analysis of process reads like a justification after the fact.
The introduction outlines the parameters of the volume and defends its focus on literary evidence. The sizeable discussion of museum theory leads one to expect more frequent indications in the pages that follow of how this critical apparatus informs R.'s understanding of Rome. After this introduction, rarely does museology rise above the footnotes. R. also addresses the vexed question of how the Muses and the ancient concept of the Museion relate to contemporary museums and museum theory, wisely emphasising ways in which they diverge. A second chapter, on collecting and acquisition, considers the movement of art and artefacts into the city. Here emerge the challenges of corralling centuries of literary evidence on broad topics. The chapter moves chronologically through the famed careers of generals and rulers at a pace that curtails detailed textual analysis or reflection. Armed with J.J. Pollitt's The Art of Rome. c. 753 b.c. – a.d. 337: Sources and Documents (1966), scholars do not want for a compendium. Rumorous remarks on the deeds and reputations of men like Marcellus and Verres may be the most substantial source material, but a novel, museological approach to Roman collecting would train our gaze on the objects of conquest. R.'s remarks on the Republic retrace the old ground on which E. Gruen's research has been most influential – and to which, in recent decades, many scholars have returned. Likewise, though Cicero's chameleon-like persona as a collector is a natural focus of any comprehensive study on this topic (his comments on art are relatively ample and varied), R. misses an opportunity to enliven a by-now stale topic through recourse to cross-cultural comparisons or insights from the history of collecting.
The impressive reach of the subsequent chapters extends from wider cultural mores, including ‘Viewing, Appreciating and Understanding’ (Chapter 3) and ‘Constructing Social Identity: Pietas, Women and the Roman House’ (Chapter 5), to the self-fashioning of strong-men and emperors, such as ‘Displaying Domination: Spoils, War Commemoratives, and Competition’ (Chapter 4) and ‘Imperial Collections and the Narrative of the Princeps’ (Chapter 7). A balanced treatment of Roman displays of auctoritas should highlight ambiguities, inconsistencies and flaws. R.'s well-researched and thorough monograph too swiftly acknowledges the scholarship that offers that balance: studies that identify fissures within elite Roman masculine identity and investigate viewers and agents beyond the ruling few. Most of R.'s classicist readers will be wholly familiar with the landmark analyses of S.E. Alcock, M. Beard, C. Edwards, J. Elsner and others, but students and scholars outside the field may be left with a one-sided impression. In order to respond to the full spectrum of museum studies, the author should illustrate how misrepresentations, defects and unintended humour – magnified by the viewer's jaundiced eye – undercut confident displays of domination and progress conceived by collectors, curators, rulers and architects. (Best in this regard is R.'s discussion of Julius Caesar [pp. 226–35].) Missing here are voices from Roman comedy and satire: brief citations of Horace's and Juvenal's satires convey little of their authors' distinctive personae; Plautus, Terence, Lucilius and Persius are absent. Input on the so-called ‘master narrative’ from the seruus callidus of Roman comedy, describing his hare-brained schemes in architectural terms or poking fun at a miles gloriosus, would be particularly welcome. R. often cites Petronius' Satyricon, but never affords its buffoon Trimalchio his critical attention.
The emphasis on power dynamics throughout the volume evokes the neo-Marxist and Foucauldian roots of museum studies. In light of the diversity of theoretical approaches now current among Roman cultural historians, whose contributions he describes but rarely confronts, R.'s conclusions can at times seem essentialising. R. errs in his credulity towards both his fellow scholars and Roman sources. On multiple occasions, R. defines his subject as ‘what the Romans tell us openly and explicitly about their own reactions to viewing material of historical or artistic significance’ (p. 11), as if Roman authors offer such a thing as unmediated reportage. As a result, it is often difficult to discern R.'s authorial voice. However, the strength of this book lies in consolidation rather than argument. Clear and descriptive headings throughout the text, an index locorum, a generous general index and ample bibliography facilitate its use as a reference. Graduate and undergraduate programmes in museum studies have been increasing in number in the United Kingdom and North America. Chapters will find a home on reading lists for advanced courses on the history of collecting and display – whether in museum studies, classics, archaeology or art history.
