Gregory Aldrete
Position title: Solmsen Fellow (2010-2011)
Address:
History and Humanistic Studies, UW-Green Bay

Riots in Ancient Rome
The inhabitants of ancient Rome appear to have been a riotous lot with at least 154 known episodes of unruly collective behavior between 200 BC and AD 375. As a result, Rome has often been characterized as a lawless, violent place, and its inhabitants, especially the poor, portrayed as disorderly and fickle. The reality, however, is considerably more complex with many riots being planned and instigated by elites, and with mobs often exhibiting considerable restraint and performing symbolic rather than actual acts of violence. My book will be a comprehensive study of these riots and will offer a more nuanced investigation of their causes, characteristics, organization, and effects.
Gregory S. Aldrete (Princeton B.A, 1988.; Univ. of Michigan M.A. and Ph.D. 1995) is Professor of History and Humanistic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Some of his main areas of research have included daily life in ancient cities, floods in Rome, gestures and non-verbal communication in Roman oratory, logistics of the food supply system for Rome, and most recently, the use of linen body armor in the ancient world. His books include: Gestures and Acclamation in Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins 1999), Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins 2007), Daily Life in the Roman City: Rome, Pompeii, and Ostia (Oklahoma 2009), and Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life I: The Ancient World (Greenwood 2002, editor). Aldrete was selected as an NEH Humanities Fellow for 2004/5, was a member of two NEH seminars held at the American Academy in Rome, was a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome, received the Award for Excellence in Teaching at the College Level from the American Philological Association, is a National Lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America, was a Wisconsin System Teaching Fellow and a UWGB Teaching Scholar, and was chosen as a recipient of both the Founders Association Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Founders Association Award for Excellence in Scholarship, the highest awards given by his university.