Classical World

ABSTRACT:

Lillian B. Lawler (1898–1990), a professor of classics and art history at several institutions in the United States, is best known as a scholar of ancient Greek dance. This paper, which is heavily based on archival research, presents details of Lawler's life and career and reveals a more complex figure than has previously been attested. Her prolific contributions to ancient dance studies are well-known and much-cited, yet her passion for Latin pedagogy and plays has up to now been largely forgotten. It is suggested that her ongoing engagement with each of these subjects contributed to her unique multidisciplinary practice, deriving from a general passion for performing arts, dedication and creativity as a classroom instructor, and opportunities to travel abroad to study objects, sites, and dancing first hand.