
Contact Information
Biography
I am trained as a Classical archaeologist with an emphasis in Greek art, and I am especially interested in the ways in which images intersect with other elements of culture, including literature, ritual, spectacle, and performance. My publications include The Imagery of the Athenian Symposium (Cambridge UP 2012) and articles on a variety of issues in Greek vase painting. My second book, currently in progress, is tentatively titled The Thalamegos of Ptolemy IV Philopator: Power, Spectacle, and the Royal Ship in Hellenistic Alexandria. Smaller projects include chapters about image and inscription on sympotic pottery, as well as an article on the metopes of Temple C at Thermon.
I do not respond to requests to authenticate privately owned antiquities. This practice is in line with the Archaeological Institute of America's Code of Ethics, which urges archaeologists to refrain from activities that support the trade in undocumented antiquities, including "the valuation of such artifacts through authentication, acquisition, publication, or exhibition."
Research
Selected Research
- Kathryn Topper. 2024. “ATLAS HODE and HERAKLES MELAPHERES at the Symposion,” in Inscriptions and Representations on Athenian Vases, ed. Dimitrios Yatromanolakis. Athens: Eurasia Publications. 145–181.
- Kathryn Topper. 2022. “Mythography and Greek Vase Painting,” in The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography, eds. Stephen Trzaskoma and R. Scott Smith. Oxford: Oxford UP. 477–489.
- Kathryn Topper. “Dionysos Comes to Thrace: The Metaphor of Corrupted Sacrifice and the Introduction of Dionysian Cult in Images of Lykourgos’s Madness,” Arethusa 48.2 (2015) 139-171 Download PDF
- Kathryn Topper. The Imagery of the Athenian Symposium. Cambridge University Press: 2012.
- Kathryn Topper. "Approaches to Reading Attic Vases," in A Companion to Women in the Ancient World, eds. Sheila Dillon and Sharon L. James (Wiley-Blackwell, Malden 2012) 141-152 Download PDF
- Kathryn Topper. "Maidens, Fillies, and the Death of Medusa on a Seventh-Century Pithos," JHS 130 (2010) 109-119 Download PDF
- Kathryn Topper. "Primitive Life and the Construction of the Sympotic Past in Athenian Vase Painting," AJA 113.1 (2009) 3-26 Download PDF
- Kathryn Topper. "Perseus, the Maiden Medusa, and the Imagery of Abduction," Hesperia 76.1 (2007) 73-105 Download PDF
Research Advised
- Stephanie Eerkes Keylock, "What Lies Beneath: The Mask as a Mediary in Greek Tragedy" (Art History Senior Thesis, 2024)
- H. James Chanfrau, "A Comparison of Gender Iconography of Abduction Scenes on Pottery from Early Iron Age and Classical Era Athens" (Senior Essay, 2024)
- Madolyn Hyytiainen-Jacobson, "Mycenaean Feasting and the Reimagining of Greek Temple and Religious Practice" (Senior Essay, 2019)
- Stephanie King. "The Author as Editor: Examining the Role of the Gladiator and the Amphitheater in Nineteenth-Century Historical Novels." Senior Essay, 2015.
- Sherry Zeng. Humorous Functions of Satyrs: An Overview (Senior Essay)
- Dillon Gisch. "Crouching Aidoia, Hidden Pudenda: A Comparative Study of Aidos, Kosmos, and the Crouching Aphrodite Type." Senior Essay, 2013.
- Katherine Caple. "Clytemnestra in the Oresteia and Greek Pottery: Gender, Textiles and Weaponry." Senior Essay, 2012.
- Sijia Yu. "Etruscan Aristocratic Women: the Ultimate Status Symbol." Senior Essay, 2012.
- Daryl Moore. "The Commingling of Greek and Egyptian Styles in Three Portraits of Ptolemaic Queens." Senior Essay.