Professor Lusnia

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:

Susann Lusnia identified a 1,900-year-old gravestone discovered in a backyard.

11/29/2025

Classical place names in Louisiana

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...

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

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

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.