Department of Religion and Classics

Elizabeth Colantoni

Elizabeth Colantoni
Assistant Professor of Classics
Department of Religion and Classics
University of Rochester
Box 270074
Rochester, NY 14627-0074

Office: 429 Rush Rhees Library
Telephone: 585-275-9360
Email: Elizabeth.Colantoni@Rochester.edu

My teaching is focused on Classical archaeology, ancient history, and Latin, and my research interests are in Etruscan and Roman archaeology, ancient Roman religion, and early Rome.  My appointment is in the Department of Religion and Classics, and I am on the steering committee for the Program in Archaeology, Technology, and Historical Structures.

Education

Ph.D., M.A. Classical Art and Archaeology, University of Michigan
M.A. Latin, University of Michigan
M.A. Anthropology, Florida State University
B.A. Classics and French, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Teaching

I teach a range of courses on the archaeology, history, and literature of the Classical world.

Recent and future course offerings:

  • The Ancient City (Fall 2008)
  • The Roman World (Fall 2008, Fall 2009)
  • Classical Archaeology: Roman Art and Archaeology (Spring 2009, Spring 2011)
  • Plautus and Roman Comedy (Spring 2009)
  • Engineering and Society in Classical Antiquity (Fall 2009)
  • Classical Archaeology: Greek Art and Archaeology (Spring 2010)
  • Cicero (Spring 2010)
  • Ethnic Identity in Ancient Greece and Rome (Fall 2010)
  • Ancient Roman Religion (Fall 2010)
  • Livy and Tacitus (Spring 2011)

Course descriptions are available on the University Registrar's web page.

Research

I am currently involved in four research projects, focused on: (1) the archaeology of early Roman religion; (2) excavation of the pre-Roman and Roman remains at the San Martino site in Torano di Borgorose, Rieti, Italy; (3) the use of augmented reality in the conservation of archaeological monuments; and (4) the ancient Roman aqueduct of Arezzo.

(1) At present, my main area of research is ancient Roman religion, and I am particularly interested in physical evidence for ancient religious practices.  Religion is well suited to study through both written and material evidence, but many modern narratives of ancient Roman religion rely heavily on written sources, with relatively superficial use of archaeological data.

Most of my work in this area focuses on the analysis and synthesis of archaeological evidence for religious practices in Rome, particularly during the centuries for which there are no surviving contemporary literary or historical texts.  My goal is to study and present the archaeological evidence in a way that is meaningful and useful to scholars of Roman religion who deal primarily with textual evidence.  In this way, I hope to encourage the integration of archaeological evidence into the broader scholarly dialogue about Roman religious practices, which will in turn lead to a better and fuller understanding of ancient Roman religion. To that end, I am currently at work on a book-length study of the archaeology of early Roman religion.

San Martino (2) I am director of the University of Rochester’s excavations at the San Martino site in Torano di Borgorose, Rieti, Italy.  Excavations here have revealed an intact, uninterrupted stratigraphic sequence from the middle Republican period through the present day, with evidence of a Roman-period villa alongside the still-standing medieval church of San Martino.  Future work at the site will focus on clarifying the earliest phases of occupation, including those that pertain to an area with evidence of a prehistoric settlement, a possible pre-Roman phase as suggested by the presence of an imposing stretch of polygonal wall in the church’s foundation, and the Roman villa, the full extent of which is presently unknown.

San Martino Archaeological Field School Webpage

(3) Together with colleagues Renato Perucchio and Jannick Rolland, I am part of a team that is working to create an augmented reality model of an ancient Roman monument to demonstrate how such models can be used for the monitoring and conservation of ancient structures. This project recently received the University of Rochester's Provost's Multidisciplinary Award.

(4) In collaboration with Cindy Ebinger, Renato Perucchio, and colleagues in Italy, I have been working to establish an agreement between the University of Rochester and the Accademia Petrarca of Arezzo, Italy, to carry out a joint study of the ancient Roman aqueduct of Arezzo. Little survives of the aqueduct above the ground surface today, and the goal of the study is to use geophysical, archaeological, and engineering research methodologies to establish the route of the aqueduct as well as to understand better the history and technical features of the aqueduct.

Publications

2009: “Indagini archeologiche presso la chiesa di San Martino a Torano (Borgorose)” in Lazio e Sabina 5, pp. 133-139. Co-authored with G. Colantoni and K.J. McDonnell.

2002: Two catalog entries contributed to The J. Paul Getty Museum: Handbook of the Antiquities Collection, edited by Tobi Levenberg Kaplan, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, pp. 3-4. Villa of the Mysteries

2001: “Maenads and Meaning: Antefixes from Tarquinia in American Collections” in Bulletin, Museums of Art and Archaeology, University of Michigan 13, pp. 7-30.

2001: “A Bacchic Sarcophagus in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology” in Bulletin, Museums of Art and Archaeology, University of Michigan 13, pp. 114-117.

2000: “Bacchic Imagery and Cult Practice in Roman Italy” in The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: Ancient Ritual, Modern Muse, edited by Elaine K. Gazda, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, pp. 74-82.

2000: “Maria Barosso, Francis Kelsey, and the Modern Representation of an Ancient Masterpiece” in The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: Ancient Ritual, Modern Muse, edited by Elaine K. Gazda, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, pp. 129-137.

2000: Nineteen catalog entries contributed to The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii: Ancient Ritual, Modern Muse, edited by Elaine K. Gazda, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor.

Conference Participation

2010: “Testimonianze di età preistorica, romana e medievale dall'area archeologica di San Martino a Torano (Borgorose): le campagne di scavo 2008-2009,” co-authored with Gabriele Colantoni and Maria Rosa Lucidi, paper presented by invitation at the Settimo Incontro di Studi sul Lazio e la Sabina, organized by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio and held at the French School, American Academy, and Dutch Insitute in Rome, Italy.

2009: “Straw to Stone, Huts to Houses: Transitions in Building Practices and Society in Protohistoric Latium,” paper presented, Archaeological Institute of America, 110th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. (abstract)

2007: “Indagini archeologiche presso la chiesa di San Martino a Torano,” co-authored with G. Colantoni and K.J. McDonnell, paper presented by invitation at the Quinto Incontro di Studi sul Lazio e la Sabina, organized by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del  Lazio and held at the British School and the Danish Academy in Rome, Italy.

2006: “Sacrificing on Time: The Early Years of the Roman Religious Calendar,” paper presented, Southern Section of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, 86th Anniversary Meeting, Memphis, TN. (abstract)

2006: “The Ancestors’ Ancestors: Religion and the Cult of the Dead in Archaic Rome,” paper presented, Classical Association of the Middle West and South, 102nd Annual Meeting, Gainesville, FL. (abstract)

2005: Co-organizer (with Meghan Howey), Finding the Overlooked: Exploring Smaller Social and Ethnic Groups in the Archaeological Record, paper symposium, Society for American Archaeology, 70th Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT.

2004: “Deos sine Simulacro: Animism, Anthropomorphism, and the Nature of Early Roman Religion,” paper presented, Archaeological Institute of America, 105th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA. (abstract)

2002: Invited panelist, Interdisciplinary Research and the Future of Graduate Education in Archaeology, forum organized by E. Christian Wells and Dawn Digrius Mooney, Society for American Archaeology, 67th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.

Book Reviews

2010: “Wiseman’s Essays” review of Unwritten Rome, by T.P. Wiseman, in Classical Review 60, pp. 112-114.

2008: Review of Styling Romanisation. Pottery and Society in Central Italy, by Roman Roth, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2008.05.15.

2006: Review of Women’s Religious Activity in the Roman Republic, by Celia E. Schultz, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006.10.40.

2006: Review of Archeologia al femminile. Il cammino delle donne nella disciplina archeologica attraverso le figure di otto archeologhe classiche vissute dalla metà dell’Ottocento ad oggi, by Laura Nicotra, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006.02.35.

Links

University of Rochester:

Professional Societies:

Updated 30 January 2011