Released: November 16, 2008

Contact: Prof. Michael Hoff, UNL Professor of Art History, (402) 472-5342 or mhoff1@unl.edu

What: Archaeological Institute of America Free Public Lecture

Presenter: Dr. Michael Hoff, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Professor of Art History

Lecture Title: "Nebraska Football and the Spectacle of Roman Religion"

Date: Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008

Where: Abbott Lecture Hall, Joslyn Art Museum, 2201 Dodge Street, Omaha

Time: 2:00 PM

The Lincoln - Omaha Society of the Archaeological Institute of America announces its third lecture of the 2008-09 season. Dr. Michael Hoff, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will present a lecture on the similarity between the pageantry of Nebraska football and ancient Roman religion.

As an archaeologist who is currently excavating an ancient Roman temple in Turkey and, perhaps more importantly, as an avid college athletics fan, Professor Hoff has long been struck by the parallels between two supposedly dissimilar institutions: college football and Roman religion. Putting aside aspects of divinity (although to some Bob Devaney is a good candidate for divine status), one is able to recognize within the entire panoply of big-time college football the basic elements common to religious zeal, such as ritual, community involvement, sharing of a common interest, and of course pageantry. And nowhere else is this best exemplified than with Nebraska Football. In this talk, delivered somewhat with tongue-in-cheek, Hoff demonstrates how on any given Autumn Saturday in Lincoln, football satisfies the basic elements of cult status within ancient Roman religion.

Professor Michael Hoff has been teaching art history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1989, specializing in Greek and Roman archaeology in which he has focused his research on the history of Roman Athens and more recently on archaeology of Asia Minor. He has excavated in North Wales, in Greece in the Athenian Agora, Corinth, Crete, and at the Sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea. Hoff now conducts research in Turkey where from 1997 to 2004 he co-directed the architectural survey team of the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project and currently serves as Project Director of the Antiocheia Ad Cragum Imperial Temple Excavations on the south coast of Turkey.

Hoff has authored many articles in international journals and was co-editor of a book, The Romanization of Athens, published in 1998. He also is one of the leading lecturers with the Archaeological Institute of America and has delivered lectures on his research at over 30 colleges and universities throughout the country.

Future Lectures:

Feb. 15 - Thomas Hikade, University of British Columbia
Sun., 2:00 PM There is Nothing more Permanent than a Post-Hole: Recent Excavations at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt
Room 15, Richards Hall, Stadium Drive, UNL

March 23 Steven Ellis, University of Cincinnati
Mon., 7:30 PM New Excavations at Pompeii: The Discovery of a 'Lost' Pompeian Neighborhood
Room 15, Richards Hall, Stadium Drive, UNL

April 19 Nicholas Cahill, University of Wisconsin
Sun., 2:00 PM Sardis in the Lydian Period: Between East and West
Abbott Lecture Hall, Joslyn Art Museum, 2201 Dodge Street, Omaha