Quebec City itself was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain and the old city has been declared part of the world heritage by the UNESCO a few years ago. The most famous view of the town is of course the Château Frontenac over the St. Lawrence River. I work myself in the harbor, at the bottom of the hill, and the view of the castle is always impressive.
I
have completed in 1996 a degree in electrical engineering at Laval
University. Here is a photo of me and my friend Johanne. It was taken
the day we have received our engineer's ring and pronounced our oath of
ethics.
However, I don't feel ready to work as an engineer and I decided in 1996 to begin a master degree in Roman History. I decided two years ago to take a leave from the university and it looks now to be definitive. I wanted to study the provincial administration and the hierarchy of powers between the Emperor, the Governor, and the Cities. My subject is the Province of Bithynia-Pontus at the time of Trajan. The correspondence between Trajan and Pliny the younger was to be at the center of my work. It is an interesting piece of literature because it is the only surviving example of letters between a governor and a Roman Emperor - we have both the letters of Pliny and tthe answers of Trajan.
If you read French, here is the brief introduction I presented to the university. As my interests in Roman history were not limited to administration and politics, I have been asked in one of my course to work on a subject retaled to women. Using Pliny's letters again - those issued prior to his governorship in Bithynia-Pontus - I have written a paper on the Roman Wives at the time of Trajan. Along with a friend, I have also made a presentation during an ancient studies congress, held in Trois-Rivières in May 1997. Our presentation was on the legal basis of the Christian persecutions and has been published by La Société des Études Anciennes du Québec in is bulletin, La Corne d'Abondance, No. 4, Automne 1997.