Elizabeth Lyding Will (born 1924, died August 19, 2009, in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

) was an American Classical archaeologist and a leading expert on Roman

amphorae An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...

. She spent her long career teaching at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, i ...

, and

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

. Will earned her bachelor's degree at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

in Oxford, Ohio, and undertook graduate study at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

, earning an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

Her doctoral dissertation on "Homeric enjambment" was completed in 1949. Will is especially well known for her work on the typology of Roman amphorae. Her work on amphorae at the Latin colony of

Cosa Cosa was a Latin colony founded in southwestern Tuscany in 273 BC, on land confiscated from the Etruscans, to solidify the control of the Romans and offer the Republic a protected port. The Etruscan site (called ''Cusi'' or ''Cosia'') may have b ...

, completed jointly with Kathleen Warner Slane, appeared posthumously. She carried out analysis of amphorae from a number of archaeological contexts in the Mediterranean, including the

Athenian Agora The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill ...

Delos The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...

and

. In addition, she studied finds from the Roman shipwreck site at Grand Congloué.

References

Sources

Elizabeth Lyding Will, Information about the life, works and legacy of EL Will
* ecrologyNicholas K. Rauh. 2010. "Elizabeth Lyding Will, 1924–2009." ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 114.3: 547–8. DOI: 10.3764/aja.114.3.547 * bituary"Obituary: Elizabeth L. Will, professor emeritus of classics and authority on amphoras"
August 25, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Will, Elizabeth Lyding 1924 births 2009 deaths American classical scholars 20th-century American archaeologists Women classical scholars Miami University alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty Amherst College faculty American women archaeologists 20th-century American women American women academics 21st-century American women