What is a city? And how does it work? Modern European cities are often the result of subsequent transformations of Greek and Roman settlements and their original layout has shaped the way we still live in and use them today. For example, the nature of central urban areas as specialized spaces dedicated to political, religious or sometimes commercial activities developed in the Classical world and remain almost unchanged in many European modern cities.

How far then can our understanding of how cities developed and worked in the Classical work help our understanding of cities in a contemporary context?

Interested in Cities as an EPQ research project? Please click here.

How far is Roman wall painting still relevant today? Pompeii and Herculaneum offer an exceptional and unique source of information on roman visual arts as many frescoes and mosaics that originally decorated the houses of the inhabitants of the cities were marvellously preserved by the tragic eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. The walls of houses are still covered by colourful images of gods and goddesses, heroes, men and women but also by images of objects and scenes derived by the daily life of a Roman city that allow us to get a better understanding of the moral values, the religious beliefs and the notions about status and identity that underpinned the making of these amazing images.

Beyond the understanding of the past, after almost 2000 years Roman wall paintings can still inspire us with the freshness of their design, the strength of their colours and the quality of their craftmanship. This EPQ project stems from Expanded Interiors, a Fine Art project developed by visual artists Catrin Huber at Newcastle University and offers you two possible EPQ research questions: one is to look at the past use of Roman wall painting to get a better understanding of Roman culture and society, the other is to look at them in their original context and then to get inspired to create something new and relevant to contemporary life.

Interested in Housing and Roman wall painting as an EPQ research project? Please click here. 

Is connectivity relevant to the economy of our contemporary world? And how far does connectivity help the spreading of ideas across the world? Roads, bridges, aqueducts and harbours are at the bottom of the incredible economic, social and cultural growth that occurred in the Mediterranean in Antiquity. Despite the fact that they never theorized the importance of roads as means to facilitate the movement of people and goods, the Romans established the most complex and articulated system of connecting infrastructures (roads, bridges and aqueducts) that is still often at the base of the main road systems in Europe today. How far then can the understanding of the economic and cultural implications of connectivity in the ancient world help our understanding of contemporary society?

Interested in Networks as an EPQ project? Please click here.