Alexis Castor

Alexis Castor is the Shirley Watkins Steinman Professor of Classics and Department Chair of Classics. Her research focuses on the social history of jewelry and adornment in the ancient Mediterranean, particularly among Greeks and Etruscans. She explores how everyday dress items like jewelry shaped social identities across genders and classes. Castor teaches ancient history courses on Greece/Rome, race/ethnicity, the ancient family, and legal systems, emphasizing comparative analysis of textual and archaeological evidence. She has created a public course on Mesopotamian history for The Great Courses.

Her major project, Jewelry in Greece and Etruria: A Social History, examines cultural distinctions through cross-cultural comparisons. Notable presentations include national lectures for the Archaeological Institute of America (2016–2022) and talks at the Bard Graduate Center and University of Akron. Her work highlights understudied aspects of adornment’s role in defining cultural values and social hierarchies.