Susan Wise, Ph.D.

About me

Although I consider myself a generalist (and happily teach almost any course that focuses on Greece, Rome, or the ancient Mediterranean), I am trained as a classical archaeologist. My experience in the field has primarily revolved around the processing and study of “small finds”: essentially all the artifacts that are stored in the museum or in storage areas off-site.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Cincinnati
• M.A., University of Cincinnati
• B.A., University of Maryland

Scholarly interest

I am intrigued by the way that physical objects serve as vehicles for communication. My research has particularly focused on the way that objects served this function in ancient Greece. I’ve explored topics such as the way that votives (objects dedicated in a sanctuary) served to communicate the hopes and wishes of worshippers to both gods and other visitors to the sanctuary, the various meanings that particular votive offerings held, and the way that tombstone depictions served to express cultural and personal ideas. More recently, I’ve become interested in exploring the way that ancient objects in American museums are used to convey our own stories about the past.