Classics - Faculty & Staff

Bronwen Wickkiser is a specialist in ancient Greek history and culture, especially in the areas of medicine and religion. Her first book explores the appeal of healing deities in relation to the rise of Hippocratic medicine (Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth-Century Greece), while her second book examines the interrelation of sound, architecture, and music therapy in the sanctuary of a prominent healing god (The Thymele at Epidauros: Healing, Space, and Musical Performance in Late Classical Greece). She has also co-edited a book about Greek religion (Aspects of Ancient Greek Cult: Context – Ritual – Iconography).

At Wabash, Professor Wickkiser teaches courses related to these topics, such as Uncovering Greek Religion, and Medicine, Magic & Miracle: Healthcare in the Greco-Roman World (in conjunction with the College's Global Health minor). Recently, she has been delving into ways that modern culture receives the ancient past, a field known as Classical Reception. 

In 2019-20, she was a Mellon Pedagogy Leadership Fellow at Wabash, collaborating with colleagues here and at other institutions to think about how we attract and retain first-year students in the Beginning Greek sequence. In 2021-22, she was a Lilly Equity & Inclusion Pedagogy Fellow, working to diversify and enrich her course called Ancient Greece.

A passionate proponent of study abroad, Professor Wickkiser enjoys taking students to Greece and also exploring with Wabash students some of the classical traditions here in Crawfordsville (the "Athens of Indiana"), from the Lew Wallace Study to war memorials and burial monuments.  In 2020, she joined the Board of Trustees of the Lew Wallace Study Preservation Society.

Professor Wickkiser also serves on the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (Greece), and has received research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and the Loeb Classical Library Foundation.

She is an avid fan of kayaking, paddleboarding, and rowing, and has trained and competed in national regattas. If you take her Freshman Tutorial on the Odyssey, chances are that you'll visit the Indianapolis Rowing Center on beautiful Eagle Creek and learn how to row like the ancients did.