Fall 2026 – Spring 2027 lecture season
Stay informed about local events by becoming a member of the Archaeological Institute of America and selecting Western Massachusetts as your local society. For a complete list of Classics and Archaeology lectures in the Five Colleges, see the Amherst College Classics Lecture Schedule. All lectures are free and open to the public.
Kathleen Lynch
Save the Date: Thursday, October 1, 2026
UMass Amherst
Annual David F. Grose Lecture, UMass Amherst Department of Classics
IAD Archaeology Fair
Save the Date: Saturday, October 3, 2026
UMass Amherst
International Archaeology Day (IAD) is a celebration of archaeology and its contributions to society. Every October the AIA and archaeological organizations around the world present archaeological programs and activities for people of all ages and interests. Whether it is a family-friendly archaeology fair, a guided tour of a local archaeological site, a simulated dig, or a presentation from a visiting archaeologist, the interactive, hands-on IAD programs provide a chance to uncover the past and experience the thrill of discovery.
Jane Sancinito, “Evidence of Mobile Religious Practice from Roman Coins”
Save the Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2027
AIA National Lecture – William E. Metcalf Lecture in Numismatics
Abstract: Ancient temples appear regularly on Roman coins, celebrating the piety of the Roman populace and the generosity of republican and imperial builders. They offer invaluable evidence for structures that have been lost to time, but they tell us relatively little about ancient religion that we would not know from texts and surviving structures. A handful of coins, however, show a different, now-lost kind of worship-space: mobile temples and shrines that could be carried or lifted in processions or on pilgrimages. Ancient polytheistic religion was flexible and worshippers had access to multiple ways of honoring their gods. Still, it was usually expected that humans would travel to the gods, not the other way around. These coins suggest that that was not always the case, and that sometimes the gods would hit the road and see a bit of the world. This paper looks at these portable shrines and attempts to reconstruct both the practicalities of their physical forms and the purposes they might have served for religious Romans.
About the speaker: Jane Sancinito is Associate Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She is a specialist in the social and economic history of the ancient Mediterranean world and author of the book, The Reputation of the Roman Merchant (University of Michigan Press, 2024). Her current research focuses on ancient stereotypes and the concept of greed in antiquity. She is also a numismatist, specializing in the coinage of Roman and Byzantine Syria, the iconography of money, and numismatic education.
Western Massachusetts Society of the AIA 