Antiquarianism in Ancient Rome

In the late Middle Ages, people became interested in the Greco-Roman civilizations and in classical cultures. At least one individual, Flavio Biondo, was able to categorize and organize the ruins of ancient Rome during the 15th century, leading to him being called one of the early founders of archaeology in Europe. There was also a scholar, Ciriaco de Pizzicolli, who traveled throughout Greece looking for ancient ruins and recording what he found. He wrote six volumes of his findings that extended to his travels all around the Eastern Mediterranean areas.

Other antiquarians in England, such as William Camden and John Leland, were able to describe local artifacts and monuments, commonly looking to prominent religious men to help them understand the monuments. Again, the significance of their findings were not appreciated by anyone at the time.

Another antiquarian was William Stukeley, who actually aided real archaeologists in understanding some of the monuments in England such as the monuments of Avebury and Stonehenge. He went as far as attempting to date these large monuments. He felt that these were monuments of the druidic religion in the pre-Roman era.

Things got interesting in the 1700s and 1800s, when countries and nations began collecting their own curiosities, turning the collections into large national museums. Many people were hired to collect these artifacts in order to make large displays in areas such as Great Britain and Mexico. This was considered a time of nationalism when countries were interested in their own history.

ANTIQUARIANISM IN ANCIENT ROME

The Romans have always been interested in studying their many monuments. There are many books on antiquarian issues related to Roman customs, rituals, genealogy, etymology, and even their political institutions. Researchers like Livy and Tacitus wrote a great deal of Roman history using their interpretation of chronology and their own interpretation of events that happened.

Many antiquarian topics were written in Latin, some of which survive to this day. You can read about the works of Pliny the Eder, Macrobius, and Varro in their translated form. Some that did not survive include the works of Cicero and the Roman Emperor