Lauren Hackworth Petersen spoke to an audience of students and faculty Friday about the romantic exoticism associated with ancient Egyptian society and culture.

Petersen was invited as the guest speaker for the continuing Romano Lecture Series. The series, which began in 1988, invites distinguished faculty from all over the country to speak about topics in history centered around the Roman Empire and its influence.

Petersen, an associate professor of Greek and Roman art at the University of Delaware, received her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000, specializing in ancient Roman art and architecture. She also authored a book on the topic, titled “The Freedman in Rome Art and Art History.”

Tom McDonough, director of the art and art history departments at Binghamton University, introduced Petersen at the event.

“We usually see art as an expression of the elite,” McDonough said. “[Petersen] aims to dismantle that vision, that fictional depiction, through alternative perspectives, specifically how freedmen represent themselves through art.”

Petersen first showed a picture of JoAnna Cameron, an actress who starred in the 1970’s television show “The Secrets of Isis.” Cameron’s character was Andrea Thomas, a high school science teacher with magic powers and a secret identity — the Egyptian Goddess/Queen Isis. In the picture, Cameron was fully dressed in Egyptian goddess attire.

“We have an American fascination with Egypt,” Petersen said. “And even today we still have a very healthy appetite for Egyptian culture.”

Petersen said she used this example of an Americanized piece of Egyptian culture to illustrate her point about the nature of history, how it gets interpreted and Rome’s relationship with Egypt.

“In essence, Isis became a metaphor for Egypt itself,” Petersen said. “Rome saw Isis as exotic and un-Roman, and that is precisely what made her so appealing to the Romans.”

Petersen told the audience that Isis, as an image and a deity, spread to Rome through Mediterranean trade and caught on, eventually permeating Roman culture, influencing their worship, art, architecture and city planning.

She showed an evolution of Isis’ image from various years and locations in Rome to demonstrate how the Romans adopted and changed her image from Egyptian to “Hellenistic” to be accepted by the Roman people. Petersen said the image of Isis and Egyptian culture was warped by religious and political manipulation.

“Religion re-shapes how we view relationships and, from our perspective, religion, politics and history can’t be separated,” Petersen said.

Diviani Chaudhuri, a graduate student studying comparative literature, said Petersen’s lecture was interesting.

“[Petersen] was very clear, not too specific and not too jargon-y, you didn’t have to be an Egyptologist in order to appreciate it,” Chaudhuri said. “Although, I have been fascinated with Egypt since I was a kid.”