Gail Hoffman is a classical archaeologist whose primary focus is the cultural interactions between the Near East and Greece during the Early Iron Age (ca. 1050-700 BCE). Her first book examined the archaeological evidence for Near Eastern immigrants living in the Greek world, and she is now studying iconographic and cultural borrowings by Greek elite as they sought to define their own distinctive identities. She has excavated at Paestum, Italy and Corinth, Greece.
Professor Hoffman teaches ancient civilization, fine arts, and history courses such as Art and Myth in Ancient Greece, the Culture of Athenian Democracy, and Greek Civilization. She also teaches elementary ancient Greek (and sometimes Latin) and has co-curated two exhibits of ancient art at BC’s McMullen Museum. In her teaching she seeks to show students how artistic and archaeological evidence can be used in conjunction with written material to provide a more vivid understanding of past cultures.
