Emily Vermeule facts for kids

Emily Dickinson Townsend Vermeule (born August 11, 1928 – died February 6, 2001) was an American expert in ancient Greece and ancient Rome. She was also an archaeologist, someone who studies human history by digging up old sites and artifacts. She taught about ancient languages and history at Harvard University.

Early Life and Learning Journey

Emily Dickinson Townsend was born on August 11, 1928, in New York City. Her parents were Clinton Blake Townsend and Eleanor Mary Meneely. She was named after her grandmother, who was a relative of the famous poet Emily Dickinson.

Emily went to the Brearley School in New York City from 1934 to 1946. She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.), with the highest honors in Greek and philosophy from Bryn Mawr College in 1950. Later, she got a Master of Arts (A.M.) degree in classical archaeology from Radcliffe College in 1954. She then completed her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Greek from Bryn Mawr in 1956. Her main research paper for her Ph.D. was about "Bacchylides and Lyric Style."

Her Amazing Career

Emily Vermeule received a special scholarship called a Fulbright Scholarship in 1950–1951. This allowed her to study at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. While there, she helped dig up an ancient Mycenaean tomb. A few years later, in 1953–1954, she studied at St Anne's College, Oxford, which is part of Oxford University. She also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964–1965, which is a special grant for important research.

She taught at Bryn Mawr College and Wellesley College from 1956 to 1958. In 1961, she became a professor at Boston University. In 1965, she returned to Wellesley, where she taught art and Greek until 1970. In 1970, she became a special professor at Harvard University. She taught in two departments there: the Department of Classics and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. She stopped teaching in 1994.

In 1995, Vermeule became the president of the American Philological Association, which is now called the Society for Classical Studies. She gave a speech called "Archaeology and Philology: The Dirt and the Word." This talk was about how digging up old sites and studying ancient texts work together.

Vermeule worked on many archaeological digs in different countries. These included Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and Libya. In the early 1950s, she worked at Gordium. In the 1960s, she dug at places like Kephallenia, Messenia, Coastal East Libya, Halicarnassus, and Thera-Santorini. From 1971 to 1974, she led the excavations at Toumba tou Skourou in Cyprus.

Digging at Toumba tou Skourou

Her most important excavation was at Toumba tou Skourou, near Morphou, Cyprus. This project was a team effort between the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, Harvard University, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Vermeule uncovered a Late Bronze Age town there. This town showed how three different cultures — Palestinian, Egyptian, and Minoan — came together.

Sadly, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 forced Vermeule to stop her excavation suddenly and leave the island. Even though the dig ended early, she wrote two books about her findings: Toumba tou Skourou: The Mound of Darkness (1974) and Toumba tou Skourou: A Bronze Age Potter's Quarter on Morphou Bay in Cyprus (1990).

Awards and Special Recognitions

Emily Vermeule received many awards for her work. In 1968, she was given the Radcliffe Graduate Society Gold Medal. In 1980, she won the American Philological Association's Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit for her book Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry.

In 1982, the National Endowment for the Humanities chose Vermeule for the Jefferson Lecture. This is the highest honor the U.S. government gives for achievements in the humanities, which are subjects like history, literature, and philosophy. Her lecture was called "Greeks and Barbarians: The Classical Experience in the Larger World." It explored how the ancient Greeks related to their neighbors, whom they sometimes called "barbarians."

She also received several honorary degrees from different colleges and universities across the United States.

Personal Life and Lasting Impact

Emily Vermeule married Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III, who was also an archaeologist, in 1957. They had two children: Blakey Vermeule, who is a professor of English literature at Stanford University, and Adrian Vermeule, a professor at Harvard Law School.

Emily Vermeule was a big fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. She often compared the Red Sox players to the mythical Greek heroes she studied. She even wrote three newspaper articles about it, including "Odysseus at Fenway" in The New York Times.

She passed away from heart disease in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on February 6, 2001, at the age of 72. Emily Vermeule was one of the first female professors at Harvard University and helped shape the university's academic programs. She was also a published poet, and her poems appeared in famous magazines like The New Yorker and Poetry Magazine.

See also

In Spanish: Emily Vermeule para niños