04/18/2026
“When I was first trying to figure out what I was going to do after baseball, I had a strong inclination toward religious archaeology.” —Brad Lidge, former Major League Baseball (MLB) player and Penn Museum Board of Advisors member
The beloved MLB player who threw the final pitch to win the Philadelphia Phillies the 2008 World Series, is now an archaeologist researching Etruscan civilization.
Lidge points to Penn Museum Egyptian curators Jennifer and Josef Wegner, whom he met in 2010, as the inspiration behind turning his personal passion for archaeology into a profession.
Today, he is focused on unearthing more clues about the language of ancient Etruscans, an Italian culture that persisted from 900 to 27 BC. Lidge is also a leading donor to the Penn Museum's excavation project in Abydos, Egypt as well as the Museum's Annual Fund.
Read more in Forbes: https://bit.ly/4tA3AlD
03/10/2026
In the spring issue of the Tulanian magazine:
Tulane Scholar Solves Roman Artifact Mystery | Tulanian
Susann Lusnia identified a 1,900-year-old gravestone discovered in a backyard.
11/29/2025
Classical place names in Louisiana
Richard Campanella's Streetscapes: Classical Antiquity in Northwestern Louisiana | Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
Athens. Homer. Sparta. Arcadia. Corinth. Antioch. Mt. Lebanon. Lisbon. Vienna. You can visit all nine of these references to Classical …
11/29/2025
Why you should study classics...
Why Should You Study Classics? An Interview with Nathalie Roy
From producing leather shoes in the Roman style to constructing model ships inspired by Odysseus' epic journey, Nathalie Roy is bringing the ancient world to...
10/10/2025
Part 2 of the story
Mystery solved: How an ancient Roman tombstone ended up behind a shotgun house in New Orleans
Meg Farris uncovers how the 2,000-year-old relic, linked to a Loyola voice coach, ended up in a New Orleans garden.
10/10/2025
Part 1 of the story
Ancient Roman tombstone unearthed in New Orleans backyard sparks global mystery
A 2nd-century marble marker missing since WWII resurfaces in the Riverbend area, launching an international investigation and a journey back to Italy.
11/03/2024
The Department of Classical Studies at Tulane University presents “Slathered in Spectacle: Polybius on Tragedy, History, and the Difference” by Scott Farrington (Dickinson College).
Date ~ Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Time ~ 5:00PM
Location ~ Jones 204
Outside of his polemic against 'tragic' historians, Polybius describes the Roman triumph, Roman religion, and various political displays as 'decked in tragic pomp.' Additionally, he describes events in his own narrative as tragic. Taken together, his comments on tragic performance and tragic events create a substantive understanding of his conception of tragedy. Equipped with an understanding of that conception, we can approach his polemic against 'tragic' historians from a more informed and more fruitful perspective.
Tulane University is committed to providing universal access to all our events. Please contact Elizabeth M Reyna ([email protected], 504-865-5719) the event organizer for accessibility accommodations. Please note that advance notice is necessary to arrange some accessibility needs.