Site Overview

What scares, shocks, and repulses us can say a lot about who we are as individuals and as a society. So what scared, shocked, and repulsed the ancient Romans?

In Winter 2021, 16 students at the University of Toronto Mississauga enrolled in Dr Rebecca Moorman's seminar, Horror and the Grotesque in Ancient Rome. The projects presented at our end-of-term Horror Symposium and showcased on this site are the culmination of a semester of study and individual research. 

Throughout the semester, students explored a wide range of themes in Roman literature and culture, including cannibalism and gore, the supernatural, the monstrous feminine, beauty and ugliness, and more. Students also conducted group research on modern horror films, asking probing questions about horror's cultural appeal in antiquity and today. 

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Meme created by Nadia Ivanova, third year student at UTM. Cover image created by Arnoldus Van Roessel, PhD student at UTSG.