Kathryn Topper (she/her/hers)

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. 

I have recently become very interested in animal studies and would love to hear from others working in that area, whether or not they are in ancient Greek and Roman studies.

Because the Classics department does not have a graduate program in Classical art or archaeology, I am unfortunately unable to accept PhD students. However, I regularly sit on dissertation committees, and I have advised a number of MA papers.

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."