Brenda Longfellow

Brenda Longfellow is an Affiliate Faculty member and Roger A. Hornsby Associate Professor in the Classics Department at the University of Iowa, concurrently holding an Associate Professor position in the Art, Art History, and Design Department. She specializes in Roman art, architecture, and hydraulic systems, with a focus on Pompeii and Rome. Her research bridges archaeology and art history, emphasizing the socio-political dimensions of monumental structures.

• Education: Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan

Her research interests include ancient monumental fountains, Graeco-Roman statues, and the intersection of gender studies with material culture. Key works include Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage (2011) and The Lives and Deaths of Women in Ancient Pompeii (2025). She has been awarded prestigious grants such as the Andrew Heiskell Rome Prize and the NEH Summer Stipend.

• Awards: Barbara McManus Award (2014), Kress Fellowships, and multiple interdisciplinary grants

Longfellow’s publications analyze art as a reflection of power dynamics, urban development, and gender roles. She co-edits volumes on Roman artists and female agency, contributing to debates on material culture’s role in reconstructing antiquity’s social fabric. Her work on Pompeii’s women redefines their agency through funerary art and public monuments.