Jacqueline DiBiasie-Sammons
Assistant Professor of Classics
Jacqueline DiBiasie-Sammons is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Mississippi.
Why you should listen
Jacqueline DiBiasie-Sammons has been interested in Pompeii since childhood when she found out that she shares her birthdate with the traditional date of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, an event which helped preserve the artifacts on which she has focused her scholarly career: ancient Roman graffiti. Now she gets to spend nearly every summer walking the streets of this ancient Roman city looking for scribblings of Pompeians who lived nearly 2,000 years ago.DiBiasie-Sammons is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Mississippi and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend Award. Her work can be found in journals such as the American Journal of Archaeology and Journal of Epigraphic Studies.
Her current research investigates the aesthetics of ancient graffiti and graffiti made using materials like charcoal, chalk and pigment. She has also pioneered the application of several digital technologies to record and visualize ancient Roman graffiti.
One of her greatest joys is sharing this work with students and bringing them to Pompeii to find their own messages from the past.
