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Beyond the Romans: Posthuman Perspectives in Roman Archaeology
This latest volume in the TRAC Themes in Theoretical Roman Archaeology series takes up posthuman theoretical perspectives to interpret Roman material culture. These perspectives provide novel and compelling ways of grappling with theoretical problems in Roman archaeology producing new knowledge and questions about the complex relationships and interactions between humans and non-humans in Roman culture and society.
Posthumanism constitutes a multitude of theoretical positions characterized by common critiques of anthropocentrism and human exceptionalism. In part, they react to the dominance of the linguistic turn in humanistic sciences. These positions do not exclude “the human”, but instead stress the mutual relationship between matter and discourse. Moreover, they consider the agency of “non-humans”, e.g., animals, material culture, landscapes, climate, and ideas, their entanglement with humans, and the situated nature of research. Posthumanism has had substantial impacts in several fields (including critical studies, archaeology, feminist studies, even politics) but have not yet emerged in any fulsome way in Classical Studies and Classical Archaeology.
This is the first volume on these themes in Roman Archaeology, aimed at providing valuable perspectives into Roman myth, art and material culture, displacing and complicating notions of human exceptionalism and individualist subjectivity. Contributions consider non-human agencies, particularly animal, material, environmental, and divine agencies, critiques of binary oppositions and gender roles, and the Anthropocene. Ultimately, the papers stress that humans and non-humans are entangled and imbricated in larger we are all post-human.
Table of Contents
I. Irene Selsvold and Lewis Webb (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Introduction
II. Linnea Åshede (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Priapus can be Bodies without borders in Roman art.
III. Filippo Carlà-Uhink (PH Heidelberg, Germany): Posthuman ambitions and forms of self-representation in the Roman The cases of Caligula and Nero.
IV. Vladimir Mihajlovic (University of Novi Sad, Serbia): The agency of Roman funerary from human to incarnated (biographical) entity?
V. Ariana Zapelloni Pavia (University of Michigan, USA): The materiality of the use of votive offerings to unravel ancient ritual practices.
VI. Lewis Webb (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Semiviri Posthuman visions of early Roman encounters with the Galli.
VII. Naomi Sykes and Holly Miller (University of Nottingham, UK): Animals of Empire – the trade, management and cultural meaning of fallow deer.
VIII. Lisa Lodwick (University of Reading/University of Oxford, UK): Exploring plant agency in the Roman Plants and people in Roman Britain.
IX. Jay Ingate (University of Kent, UK): Two parts Hydrogen, Oxygen one? Re-evaluating the nature of water in the Roman city.
X. Irene Selsvold (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Roman archaeology and the Anthropocene.
XI. Oliver Harris (University of Leicester, UK): Closing discussion.
Posthumanism constitutes a multitude of theoretical positions characterized by common critiques of anthropocentrism and human exceptionalism. In part, they react to the dominance of the linguistic turn in humanistic sciences. These positions do not exclude “the human”, but instead stress the mutual relationship between matter and discourse. Moreover, they consider the agency of “non-humans”, e.g., animals, material culture, landscapes, climate, and ideas, their entanglement with humans, and the situated nature of research. Posthumanism has had substantial impacts in several fields (including critical studies, archaeology, feminist studies, even politics) but have not yet emerged in any fulsome way in Classical Studies and Classical Archaeology.
This is the first volume on these themes in Roman Archaeology, aimed at providing valuable perspectives into Roman myth, art and material culture, displacing and complicating notions of human exceptionalism and individualist subjectivity. Contributions consider non-human agencies, particularly animal, material, environmental, and divine agencies, critiques of binary oppositions and gender roles, and the Anthropocene. Ultimately, the papers stress that humans and non-humans are entangled and imbricated in larger we are all post-human.
Table of Contents
I. Irene Selsvold and Lewis Webb (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Introduction
II. Linnea Åshede (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Priapus can be Bodies without borders in Roman art.
III. Filippo Carlà-Uhink (PH Heidelberg, Germany): Posthuman ambitions and forms of self-representation in the Roman The cases of Caligula and Nero.
IV. Vladimir Mihajlovic (University of Novi Sad, Serbia): The agency of Roman funerary from human to incarnated (biographical) entity?
V. Ariana Zapelloni Pavia (University of Michigan, USA): The materiality of the use of votive offerings to unravel ancient ritual practices.
VI. Lewis Webb (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Semiviri Posthuman visions of early Roman encounters with the Galli.
VII. Naomi Sykes and Holly Miller (University of Nottingham, UK): Animals of Empire – the trade, management and cultural meaning of fallow deer.
VIII. Lisa Lodwick (University of Reading/University of Oxford, UK): Exploring plant agency in the Roman Plants and people in Roman Britain.
IX. Jay Ingate (University of Kent, UK): Two parts Hydrogen, Oxygen one? Re-evaluating the nature of water in the Roman city.
X. Irene Selsvold (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Roman archaeology and the Anthropocene.
XI. Oliver Harris (University of Leicester, UK): Closing discussion.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published May 5, 2020
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October 16, 2025
__Chapter 2: Posthuman Ambitions in the Roman Principate: The Cases of Caligula and Nero
The author argues that the actions of Nero and Caligula, rather than evidence of madness, can be understood through a post-human lens and reflect their desires to transcend human cultural norms and reflect themselves as divine.
The historiography of Nero and Caligula is often not favorable, as they are often portrayed as madmen or as sexual deviants. Understanding cultural norms around behaviors, and how crossing these boundaries leads to othering as inhuman, the typical stereotypes of madness are an obvious leap. Their actions, including their associative performances of the divine, intentionally crossing gender boundaries, and stunts to defy nature, all made them appear inhuman. However, these actions can also be understood as deliberate attempts to separate themselves from human cultural norms, thus elevating their status to divinity. These actions were not accepted by historians and the senatorial elite, and thus accusations of madness proliferated across time.
Furthermore, the author argues that these actions need not have been real, because their proliferation still reflects the anxiety people had of their inhuman nature.
__Chapter 7: Weeds in the Field, Weeds in the City: Posthuman Approaches to Plants in the Roman World
The author, in the tradition of post-humanist materialism, aims to focus on plant agencies, which have been neglected in other object studies. Using Roman weed cultivation and spread, it offers an interesting case study of how plants, weeds in particular, have a cause and effect on human societies.
The spread of weeds in the Roman Empire, unintentionally enabled by humans, gives them a unique agency that we haven't seen in other object-oriented studies. Weeds, through their adaptive capabilities, took advantage of human agricultural practices and urban sprawl to spread and colonize new areas that were previously devoid of their species. However, the author makes a particular note of how what is a weed is often culturally influenced.
The author uses mainly archeological studies of seed distribution in soils to determine the presence of plant species among various locations, and to determine that the Roman Empire enabled the distribution of particular species. The test case of the Atropa, a poisonous species, gives it a unique agency among objects to cause harm to humans who ingest it, thus giving it a particular reaction from humans in the form of eradication--a hostile enemy.
The author argues that the actions of Nero and Caligula, rather than evidence of madness, can be understood through a post-human lens and reflect their desires to transcend human cultural norms and reflect themselves as divine.
The historiography of Nero and Caligula is often not favorable, as they are often portrayed as madmen or as sexual deviants. Understanding cultural norms around behaviors, and how crossing these boundaries leads to othering as inhuman, the typical stereotypes of madness are an obvious leap. Their actions, including their associative performances of the divine, intentionally crossing gender boundaries, and stunts to defy nature, all made them appear inhuman. However, these actions can also be understood as deliberate attempts to separate themselves from human cultural norms, thus elevating their status to divinity. These actions were not accepted by historians and the senatorial elite, and thus accusations of madness proliferated across time.
Furthermore, the author argues that these actions need not have been real, because their proliferation still reflects the anxiety people had of their inhuman nature.
__Chapter 7: Weeds in the Field, Weeds in the City: Posthuman Approaches to Plants in the Roman World
The author, in the tradition of post-humanist materialism, aims to focus on plant agencies, which have been neglected in other object studies. Using Roman weed cultivation and spread, it offers an interesting case study of how plants, weeds in particular, have a cause and effect on human societies.
The spread of weeds in the Roman Empire, unintentionally enabled by humans, gives them a unique agency that we haven't seen in other object-oriented studies. Weeds, through their adaptive capabilities, took advantage of human agricultural practices and urban sprawl to spread and colonize new areas that were previously devoid of their species. However, the author makes a particular note of how what is a weed is often culturally influenced.
The author uses mainly archeological studies of seed distribution in soils to determine the presence of plant species among various locations, and to determine that the Roman Empire enabled the distribution of particular species. The test case of the Atropa, a poisonous species, gives it a unique agency among objects to cause harm to humans who ingest it, thus giving it a particular reaction from humans in the form of eradication--a hostile enemy.
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