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

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...

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

amphorae An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

. She spent her long career teaching at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

, and

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

. Will earned her bachelor's degree at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

in Oxford, Ohio, and undertook graduate study at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

, earning an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) 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. Those admitted to the degree have ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

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 an ancient Roman city near the present Ansedonia in southwestern Tuscany, Italy. It is sited on a hill 113 m above sea level and 140 km northwest of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast. It has assumed a position of prominence in Ro ...

, 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 an ancient Greek agora. It is located to the northwest of the Acropolis of Athens, Acropolis, and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill k ...

Delos Delos (; ; ''Dêlos'', ''Dâlos''), is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Though only in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. ...

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 American 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 21st-century American women