{"id":3717,"date":"2026-07-09T07:30:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/?p=3717"},"modified":"2026-07-09T07:30:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:30:02","slug":"oh-the-stories-youll-tell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/2026\/07\/09\/oh-the-stories-youll-tell\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh, The Stories You’ll Tell!"},"content":{"rendered":"

When studying the abdication of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, I was very pleasantly surprised by the story-telling prowess of the coin. As cocky and all powerful men often do, Sulla revealed his lack of humility and overwhelming love for himself quite willingly, leaving an array of evidence for lucky scholars such as myself. Most notably, he minted coins with his face on them, an act that living rulers never did, denoting one of the many ways in which Sulla pushed the limits of his tyrannical powers, leading to the plausible argument that Sulla was indeed politely, or possibly not politely, asked to resign. I am therefore happy to discover that there is a story to be told through the coins in Antiochia as well (I probably shouldn\u2019t be surprised by this). Whether that be the story of the gradual promotion of Antiochia to the status of a minting city, and the implications that it carries, showing their commitment to the imperial system, or evidence of the alluded visit of Emperor Hadrian. Nonetheless, I am enthralled by the possibility of holding a small piece of metal, that to its original owners was commonplace, but to us carries this anthropological fascination with its implications of norms, practices, and the evolution of political and social contexts.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, I am most excited to engage in this process of story-telling and unearth the process of which the variability of Roman houses\/cities came to be. While completing the readings in preparation for our trip to Antiochia ad Cragum, I am most struck by Louise Revell\u2019s argument that urbanism is a process of constant reproduction by its inhabitants, and therefore, we get to see these non-static cities that were adapting to changes in the political, social, and territorial environments. I want to see examples of this process of transforming houses that occurred in late antique times discussed by Ine Jacobs and Hugh Elton, evidenced by the covering up of ornate details and constructions of walls and separators as privacy became more functional and sought after. Throughout my research projects during my time at St. Olaf, I have always been drawn to the importance of conveying change over time and variability within history. I get angry with narratives that promote a microscopic telling of history where they isolate their findings from a larger time-line of causes and effects or promote a rhetoric of inevitability and continuity. For me, at Antiochia ad Cragum, this translates to the point that Millet makes about emphasizing the stories and agency of specific individuals, while also recognizing the life-altering power of Roman imperialism. In analyzing the transformation of houses, I aim to also tell the story of imperialist involvement and impacts.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think, therefore, that my role as an archaeologist, much as my role as a historian, is to tell a story, and tell it well. To do so, one must lead with curiosity and the understanding that we carry not only a responsibility but a privilege to do this kind of work. Reading not only about the context of Antiochia but the field of Archaeology, I am struck by the simplicity and yet heavy significance of the work we are doing: telling the everyday stories of those whose voices, as M. Millet puts it, \u201chave left no literature and who are represented now only by the anonymous evidence\u201d (2012).\u00a0 While I consider myself a novice in the realm of Classics, and most certainly a beginner in archaeology, I feel blessed to say that I have had the privilege and responsibility of researching and interpreting many unrepresented stories and voices. This is what has continuously drawn me to the History major, and what excites me about our work at Antiochia ad Cragum. In summary, my mission as an archaeologist and a historian is to thoroughly research, boldly interpret, and accurately convey stories to anyone who will listen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When studying the abdication of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, I was very pleasantly surprised by the story-telling prowess of the coin. As cocky and all powerful men often do, Sulla revealed his lack of humility and overwhelming love for himself quite willingly, leaving an array of evidence for lucky scholars such as myself. Most notably, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5729,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Iz8A-XX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5729"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3730,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717\/revisions\/3730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}