Allison Smith

Allison Smith

Visiting Assistant Professor, Classical Studies

Education

  • B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009
  • MPhil, University of Cambridge, 2011
  • M.A., Florida State University, 2013
  • Ph.D, Florida State University, 2022

Research Areas

  • Roman Art and Archaeology
  • Roman Architecture
  • Women in Ancient Industries
  • Digital Approaches and Applications in Archaeology

About Allison Smith

I am a classical archaeologist whose research explores the architecture of baths and the evolution of the bathing habit in antiquity. I am interested in the interconnectivity of bath architecture on the Italian peninsula and the Mediterranean at large. My dissertation focused on baths in Central Italy, and I aim to expand the geographic scope of my research in the future. I am also interested in the changing bathing habits of the ancient Roman world, particularly in late antiquity and its relationship to the early Christian and Jewish populations during the final centuries of the Roman Empire. An extension of my research also focuses on the roles of women in the Roman construction industries, primarily seen in the manufacture of building materials and acts of euergetism. Water management and the ancient environment, which are integral to the function and maintenance of baths, are burgeoning interests of mine. I am an Assistant Director of the Cosa Excavations project, which has been excavating a Roman bathhouse since 2013. I have been part of a core group working on the digitization of materials from our excavations, as well as the construction of the project’s database. I have written articles published in Orizzonti, Atti Notizie dei Cavi and degli Scavi sul Bulletino di Archeologia online, and in Cosa and the Colonial Landscape of Republican Italy (Michigan). Links to several of my presented and published materials can be found here.

Courses Taught

  • Classical Mythology (IU & FSU)
  • Greek and Roman Sanctuaries (IU)
  • Comparative World Mythology (FSU)
  • Art and Archaeology of Ancient Italy (FSU)
  • Beginning and Intermediate Latin (FSU)

Selected Publications

Book Chapters

“Colonial Waters: An Examination of Bathing Culture in Mid Republican Colonies.” In Cosa and the Colonial Landscape of Republican Italy (Third and Second Centuries BCE). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Articles

“Cosa Excavation: the 2013 Report.” Co-authored with Russell T. Scott, Andrea De Giorgi, Sophie Crawford-Brown (Crawford Waters), and Ann Glennie Orizzonti 16 (2015):11-22.

“Cosa: 70 Years of Excavations and New Directions.” Co-authored with Andrea De Giorgi and Ann Glennie. In Atti Notizie dei Cavi e degli Scavi sul Bollettino di Archeologia online (2019).