Brenda Longfellow

Roger A. Hornsby Associate Professor in the Classics
Division Head, Art History
Biography

Brenda Longfellow received her Ph.D. in classical art and archaeology from the University of Michigan. She teaches classes on ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art, and she also offers a class on fakes, looted art, and the global art market. Her research, which is focused on the art, architecture, and hydraulics of the ancient Roman Empire, has been published in the American Journal of Archaeology and the Art Bulletin, and her article in the Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome received the Barbara McManus Award from the Women’s Classical Caucus. She is the author of two books: Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and The Lives and Deaths of Women in Ancient Pompeii (University of Texas Press, 2025). She also co-edited the books Roman Artists, Patrons, and Public Consumption: Familiar Works Reconsidered (University of Michigan, 2018) and Women's Lives, Women's Voices: Roman Material Culture and Female Agency in the Bay of Naples (University of Texas Press, 2021).  

Awards

  • Summer Stipend, National Endowment for the Humanities 
  • College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank Faculty Scholar, University of Iowa 
  • Andrew Heiskell Post-Doctoral Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome 
  • Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellowship
  • Arts & Humanities Initiative Standard Grant, University of Iowa
  • Samuel H. Kress Fellow, American School of Classical Studies at Athens   
  • Oscar Broneer Travel Award, American School of Classical Studies at Athens
  • Samuel H. Kress Travel Fellowship, Kress Foundation

Publications 

View CV

Research areas
  • Roman art and architecture; ancient monumental fountains; Greco-Roman statues; the cities of Pompeii and Rome
Portrait of Brenda Longfellow
Phone
Education
PhD, University of Michigan
Contact Information
Address

218 Art Building West (ABW)
141 N Riverside Dr
Iowa City, IA 52242
United States