Welcome to DPU CLST!

This is the operational website for the Classical Studies department at DePauw University. It contains student- and public-facing resources for displays and reproduction artifacts, our library catalogue, a research hub, information about our alumni/ae, and opportunities for jobs and advanced study.

You may also visit our official DePauw department pages.

You can find our department faculty directory here.

Banner image: ancient theater at Termessos, Türkiye (photo: P. Foss)

Department displays

The Dept. of Classical Studies owns a number of reproductions of ancient artifacts, as well as a few actual artifacts donated to the university by soldiers returning from Italy after World War II, having found them while digging trenches.

Posts in this section discuss those professional reproductions (some purchased from Children’s Museum of Indianapolis shows), as well as models of buildings and objects made by students for CLST 264: Hellenistic Art and Archaeology over the years.

• Roman Army Reproductions: mostly acquired from Bernie Barcio, a legendary high-school Latin teacher (and Indiana high school teacher of the year in 1986), with other pieces obtained from craftspeople in Britain. Located in the first-floor display case in Asbury Hall.
• Replica Greek Vase Collection: a set of reproduction vases exemplifying styles and periods from Middle Bronze-Age Crete to Archaic Etruria and Classical Athens. Located in the west basement stairwell of Asbury Hall.
• Replicas of Roman Board Games: Four ancient Roman games; click on the link for background information and rules. Located on the game shelf in the SW corner of the Asbury 115 suite. Feel free to play the games, but please respect the collection and do not remove them from the suite. The link also lists modern games with an ancient theme that are on the game shelf.

Research Tools

A key part of carrying out good research is using reliable sources. AI may be able to scrape the internet and compose a summary of what it finds, but it can’t distinguish peer-reviewed scholarship from the claims of “some guy” who posted their opinions somewhere. Here we have collected the best starting places for your online research.

*DPU* marks a resource as accessible (i.e., subscribed) through the DPU library system.

PRIMARY SOURCES (ancient texts):

• Perseus Digital Library (digitized ancient texts, commentaries, and dictionaries; open-access)
• Loeb Classical Library (digitized ancient texts and translations; *DPU*)
• Dickinson College Commentaries (digitized ancient texts, with notes, vocabulary, etc.; open-access)
• Packard Humanities Institute Latin Texts (search full texts of Latin authors; open-access)
• Attalus (massive list of ancient sources and translations, esp. for the Hellenistic period; open-access)
• The Latin Library (digitized older editions of original texts; useful but not authoritative; open-access)
• Thesaurus Linguae Grecae (Greek dictionary and thesaurus; some content open-access)
• Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (Latin dictionary and thesaurus; open-access)
• Tesserae (at U. Buffalo: search for intertextuality: that is, phrases that appear across texts in space and time)

MATERIAL CULTURE SOURCES (art, artifacts, architecture, and inscriptions):

• Artstor (image database for art, artifacts, sites, etc.; *DPU*)
• Yorescape and Virtual Museum (app & website to visit reconstructed ancient cities and sites, and 3D digitizations of ancient sculpture; register with a DPU email address for free access; *DPU*)
• J.C. Golvin’s brilliant Reconstructions of the Ancient World (open-access)
• Classical Art Research Centre (Oxford; includes the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum & Gandhara Connections and he Beazley Archive Database of Painted Greek Pottery; open-access)
• American Academy in Rome Research Databases and Digital Collections (open-access)
• Arachne (millions of objects and images from antiquity, from the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut; open-access)
• Fasti Online (archaeological field reports on survey, excavation and conservation since 2000; open-access)
• Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum ([CIL]; some volumes available online; open-access)
• Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum ([CIG]; Packard Humanities Institute; open-access)
• Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (database of ancient inscriptions; open-access)
• Roman Inscriptions of Britain Online ([RIB]; illustrated database of Latin inscriptions from Britain; open-access)
• Roman Provincial Coinage Online (Oxford; open-access)
• Online Coins of the Roman Empire, American Numismatic Society [ANS] (open-access); Identify a coin here (also ANS)
• Portable Antiquities Scheme, United Kingdom (open-access)

Alumni/ae

DePauw Classical Studies alums have highly varied and accomplished careers. Here are a few profiles of recent graduates.

• Rebecca Lyn Kerns ’19, PhD candidate in Classical Archaeology, the University of Cincinnati.
• Jessica Tilley, ’17, PHD candidate in Classical Archaeology, Florida State University.
• Céline Wachsmuth, ’16, M.A., conservation assistant at the Denver Art Museum.
• Yukun Zhang, ’15, reporter for Caixin Global (financial news and investigative reporting, headquartered in China).
• Lindsay Llewellyn, ’11, J.D., civil litigator for Dentons, Indianapolis.
• James Duncan, ’10, surface warfare officer and U.S. Navy analyst.
• Emily McGill, ’08, Ph.D., asst. professor of philosophy at Coastal Carolina University.
• Uzodima Frank Aba-Onu,’07, J.D., Senior Associate General Counsel at Optum and Adjunct Prof. at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minnesota.
• Aaron Mull, ’06, M.D., reconstructive and plastic surgeon.
• John O’Neal, ’05, Ed.D, policy and research coordinator, Indiana State Teachers Association.

Trasimeno Regional Archaeological Project (TRAP)

Since 2015, Profs Rebecca Schindler and Pedar Foss have co-operated an archaeological field school in partnership with the Umbra Institute (Perugia, Italy) in the territory of Castiglione del Lago, Umbria (Italy).

The team is exploring the nature and organization of human settlement in the area, especially in the Etruscan and Roman periods. We are currently excavating a massive multi-level structure on the south hillside of the modern town, overlooking Lake Trasimene, hoping to understand the complex relationship amongst ancient peoples and between them and their natural environment.

In 2024, the program will run from 30 May to 13 July; it can be accessed via:

• The TRAP blog (click on the Research tab to access our project publications)
• The TRAP digital museum
• The Umbra Institute program page
• A handout (PDF) with key information

The purpose of this program is to instruct undergraduates in the practicalities and skills of field archaeology, while providing them with essential historical and cultural background knowledge. Several DePauw alums currently engaged in Advanced Study began their careers on this project.

DePauw students can transfer 2 courses worth (= 1.5 total credits) from the Umbra Institute towards their DPU degree. They also receive a $1500 discount on the program cost, and can apply for funding support from the DePauw Asher Funds. Accepted students will also automatically qualify for a small grant from the Department of Classical Studies Mercury Fund (subject to clearance from the University Financial Aid Office).

APPLY through the DePauw Off-Campus Study portal to join the team! The name of the program is: Umbra Institute – Trasimeno Archaeology Field School

Careers

DePauw Classical Studies majors have gone on to do amazing and varied things; see the alumni/ae tab above for examples. This is because Classics requires you to develop skills such as: critical thinking, appreciation of historical and cultural context, multi- and inter-disciplinary inquiry, reconstructing patterns from problematic and fragmentary evidence, clear, concise communication, and the capability to teach yourself. Continue below for links to particular opportunities.

• Careers for Classicists [Undergrad Edition] (Society for Classical Studies). A straightforward guide to help you begin to address this question, including profiles of classics grads successful in a wide range of fields. Think beyond a job, and think about your life.
• Teaching Latin in schools. There is, and has been for years, a great shortage of middle/high-school Latin teachers. Applying to be listed with the Southern Teachers agency gives you access to postings at private schools in the South, for which you do not need state licensure: just a degree in Latin or Classical Civilization and a passion for sharing the ancient Mediterranean world with students.

Advanced Study

There are two general tracks for post-graduate study in Classical Studies:

• Classical Studies (including language, literature, and ancient history): master list of Classical Studies graduate programs (from the SCS)
• Classical (Mediterranean) Art and Archaeology (including Near Eastern and Egyptian): master list of Classical Art and Archaeology graduate programs (from the AIA)

Either way, the most important thing to do is to gain proficiency and experience with the ancient languages of Latin and Greek. If you have had only a year or two in one of those languages, you will need to take a 1-2 year post-bac (post-baccalaureate) certificate program to improve your linguistic skills. If you have 2-3 years of linguistic training in one or both languages, you might enroll in a masters program. If you have 3-4 years of one language and 1-2 of the other, you will be eligible for most PhD programs. In addition, for archaeology, it is highly advisable to carry out at least 1-2 summers of archaeological fieldwork or museum internships (see the Research tab above).