ITALIAN ARTIST SPEAKS ON RUINS

A meeting of the Circulo Italiano, open to the public, will be held tonight at 8.15 o'clock in the New Lecture Hall. Dr. Lauro de Bosis, who has already given a number of lectures at the University, will speak at this meeting and illustrate his remarks with moving pictures. Dr. de Bosis, a member of the faculty of the University of Rome and Royal Commissioner of the Modern Italian Art Exhibit at present being shown in America, has been closely associated with artistic activities in Italy, and his lecture tonight will deal largely with recent excavations of ancient Roman ruins, and with the revival of old forms of art, a work which has been progressing rapidly in Italy during the past few years.

To Show Film of Leptis Magna

The first film which Dr. de Bos's will use as an illustration of his speech will deal with the excavation of ruins and monuments of Leptis Magna which have been going on for two or three years under the direction of the Italian government. Leptis Magna is an ancient city of Africa situated a few miles inland on the coast of Tripoli. The city as it was in its glory, was largely the creation of the Emperor Septimius Magnus, who was born there and flourished about the year 200 A. D. It was the desire of the Emperor to create this African city a second Rome, and therefore laid it out and built it up with all the magnificence characteristic of the late Empire. In the sixth century when the splendor and power of Rome had largely disappeared, Leptis Magna was deserted by its inhabitants and for a number of centuries stood exposed to the desert sands which finally covered it almost entirely. As Pompeil had been covered and preserved by the ashes of Mt. Vesuvius, so Leptis Magna was kept unimpaired by the sands of the Sahara.

Since 1911, when Italy took over the

country, the ruins which up to that time had been practically untouched, were investigated and, at the instigation of Count Voipi, digging was begun. At present a fairly large amount of Leptis Magna has been recovered from the sands and fine examples of Roman architecture, many of them rivaling the temples and baths of ancient Rome itself, have been found in a remarkable state of Preservation.

Ostia Still Being Examined

Another film which Dr. de Bosis will show, will deal with excavations at Ostia, the port of Rome situated at the mouth of the Tiber, and although work has been progressing on these ruins for some time, things of great interest to archaeologists are still being discovered.

Dr. de Bosis has also been closely associated with the performances of classical Greek tragedies, which of late years have been performed in the ancient Roman amphitheater on the Palatine. These performances, which have been open to the public, have been attended by large audiences, often numbering as many as 60,000, and have attracted much attention in professional as well as amateur circles.

In addition to the two subjects which have already been mentioned. Dr. de Bosis will illustrate the account of a trip through Sicily and the Gulf of Naples as well as certain aspects of modern industry in Italy