CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Studies in Greek and Roman Cultures

Prof. Knapp's research activity includes work on two major projects.   First, he continue to work on the Atlas of the Greek and Roman World to be published by the American Philological Association and Princeton University Press.   This is a four million dollar project funded by the NEH and private donations; it has over 70 contributors world-wide and represents the first atlas of the ancient world using modern cartographic methods and resources.  His responsibility is for the Iberian Peninsula maps; he supervised the work of four other contributors and is doing the southwestern portion of Spain.  The anticipated publication date for the Atlas is 1999.

From the Atlas work came the volume "Mapping Ancient Iberia: Progress and Perspectives", which he edited and introduced, with contributions by A. Cepas (CSIC Madrid), M. Downs (UNC Chapel Hill), E. Haley (McMaster), S. Keay (Southhampton), and J. Sánchez-Palencia (CSIC Madrid).  It appeared as a special Issue of Classical Bulletin (1996); his own contribution, besides the editing and introduction, was "Ptolemy Mapping Baetica."  From his work on the Atlas also came a talk which he gave for the noon lecture series of the ARF: "Where in the World: Maps, Geography and Ideology."

Prof. Knapp continues to work on the publication of the classical coins from the University of California at Berkeley excavations at Nemea (Greece).   The final draft of this publication was readied for submission to the University of California Press, which is managing the publication series for the excavations.  He lectured on material deriving from his work at Nemea in a research-sharing trip sponsored by the Gaspar de Portolá Center for Catalan Studies (Berkeley) and by the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, where he gave lectures, as well as at the Universidad de Barcelona and the Universidad de Tarragona.  The lectures were: "La Arqueo-numismática: Circulación y tipos de monedas" and "Arqueo-numismática y el santuario de Zeus en Nemea."  Also deriving from his numismatic research was a lecture delivered at San Francisco State University, "Render unto Caesar: Coin Types, Ideology, Identity, and Power" and another for a group of the California Alumni Association, "Nemea: Ruins, Coins, and New Discoveries."

In teaching he continued to offer a freshman seminar in order to expose new students to the ancient world, and make freshmen feel more a part of our research university.  These seminars have included "On the Margins: Bandits, Pirates & Misfits in the Ancient World" and "Julius Caesar: In His Own Words."  He has recently supervised two graduate student dissertations:   Pamela Vaughn (Classics), "Hostes Rei Publicae," and Alison Futrell (AHMA), "Circles across the Land".  He also served as second reader for three dissertations completed: Steven Ross (AHMA), Toward Roman Edessa, 114-242 C.E. ; Leah R. Johnson (AHMA), Roma et Italia: From the Gracchi to Cicero, 133-64 BC. ; and Miriam Pelikan (Classics), Home of the Brave: Aristocratic Self-Fashioning in Triumph Debates from Livy 31-45 (201-167 B.C.).

Last modified 7 December 1999.