For the Romans, getting together to eat and drink, in a pub or at a banquet was a central part of life and this lecture celebrates the Roman love affair with food and drink. 

From his research for the forthcoming exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, due to open in July 2019, we embark on a fascinating journey from wheat fields and vineyards to markets and temples, fine dining in beautiful surroundings with mosaics and frescoes. Everywhere art and archaeology combine to bring us closer to the Romans.  New research means that even in death they tell us of the feasts in their life.

Dr Roberts is the newly appointed Sackler Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University. From 1994 to 2014 he was the Senior Roman Curator in the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum and the driving force behind many major exhibitions. He studied at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield and Oxford and has excavated in Britain, Greece, Libya, Turkey and in particular Italy where he directs excavations in the Sabine hills near Rome.