Joan Breton Connelly facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joan Breton Connelly
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Connelly in 2007
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| Alma mater | |
| Title | Professor of Classics |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | New York University |
Joan Breton Connelly is an American archaeologist who studies ancient Greece and Rome. She is a professor of Classics and Art History at New York University. She leads important digs (excavations) on Yeronisos Island in Cyprus.
In 1996, Joan Connelly won a special award called a MacArthur Fellowship. This award is sometimes called a "genius grant" because it goes to very talented people. She also received an award for excellent teaching from the Archaeological Institute of America in 2007.
Contents
Discovering Ancient Worlds
Joan Connelly's work helps us understand Greek art, myths, and religion. She is famous for her new ideas about the Parthenon, a very old and famous building in Greece.
The Parthenon Enigma
In her book, The Parthenon Enigma: A New Understanding of the West's Most Iconic Building and the People who Made It, Connelly shares her ideas. She explains the sculptures on the Parthenon by looking at their history, myths, and religious meanings.
This book was named a "Notable Book of the Year" by The New York Times Book Review in 2014. It was also called one of the top non-fiction books of 2014 by The Daily Beast. In 2015, the Phi Beta Kappa society gave The Parthenon Enigma the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award. This award honors books that make a big difference in understanding human culture.
Women in Ancient Greece
Connelly is also a cultural historian. This means she studies how people lived in the past. She has explored many topics, like the roles of women, ancient rituals, and how people saw themselves.
In her book, Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece, Connelly changed how people thought about women in ancient Greece. Many believed women were not important in public life. However, Connelly found archaeological proof that women held important leadership roles in religious life.
Portrait of a Priestess was named one of the "100 Notable Books of the Year" by The New York Times Book Review in 2007. It also won the James R. Wiseman Book Award from the Archaeological Institute of America in 2009.
Archaeological Digs
As a field archaeologist, Joan Connelly has worked at many ancient sites. She has dug in Corinth, Athens, and Nemea in Greece. She has also worked in Paphos, Kourion, and Ancient Marion in Cyprus. She even worked on the island of Failaka off the coast of Kuwait.
Since 1990, Connelly has led the NYU Yeronisos Island Excavations. This is a special field school where students learn how to dig. On Yeronisos Island, she started a new way of doing archaeology called eco-archaeology. This means she makes sure that digging does not harm the natural environment. She studies plants and animals and counts birds to protect the island.
Her work on Yeronisos Island has helped us learn about how different cultures shared ideas. This happened in the eastern Mediterranean after Alexander the Great died.
Education and Career Journey
Joan Connelly finished high school at St. Ursula Academy in 1972. She later received an award from the school in 2006.
She earned her first degree in Classics from Princeton University. She then got her master's and PhD degrees in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology from Bryn Mawr College. She also taught and helped lead Bryn Mawr College for a time.
Connelly has been a visiting scholar at many famous universities, including Oxford University and Harvard University. She has also worked at important museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
She is a member of several important groups, including the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Explorers Club. She also helps lead organizations that protect Greek heritage and support archaeological research in Cyprus.
From 2003 to 2011, Connelly served on a committee for the U.S. Department of State. This committee advises on cultural property, which means protecting ancient artifacts. For over twenty years, she has taught a popular course at NYU about protecting ancient art and cultural heritage.
Media and Public Appearances
Joan Connelly has shared her knowledge with many people through interviews and TV shows. She has talked about the Parthenon on the PBS NewsHour. She also discussed Greek Priestesses on BBC Radio 4.
In 2007, Connelly appeared in "Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed" on The History Channel. She talked about how ancient stories influenced the Star Wars movies. In 2008, she was on "Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Quest" where she discussed new ways of digging and the problem of illegal ancient artifacts.
Her excavations on Yeronisos Island were shown on ABC's "Born to Explore with Richard Wiese" in 2012. She has also written articles for The Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily News.
In April 2015, a famous physicist named Freeman Dyson said in The New York Times Sunday Book Review that he would invite Joan Breton Connelly to a dinner party. He also mentioned that her book, Parthenon Enigma, was on his nightstand.
