Jon Frey
Associate Professor of Classical Studies; Art History & Visual Culture | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Jon Frey teaches courses on the classical world, classical mythology, ancient art and archaeology.
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Biography
Jon Frey received his BA in Ancient History and Classics from the Ohio State University and his MA and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. He has been an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Art and Art History and the Department of French Classics and Italian since 2007 where he teaches courses on the Classical World, Classical Mythology, Ancient Art and Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology. He has participated in archaeological projects in Egypt, Crete and Greece and currently serves as field coordinator at the Ohio State University Excavations at Isthmia. His most recent publication, “Pausanias, William Martin Leake and the “Depopulation” of Ancient Greece,” in Archaeology and History of Medieval and Post Medieval Greece (Ashgate, 2008), explores the role early travelers have played in shaping the research goals of classical archaeologists today. His current research focuses on the phenomenon of spoliation as evidence for individual and local agency in late antiquity. Each summer, Prof. Frey leads a study abroad program in Greece.
Industry Expertise (1)
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (4)
Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology
Classical Mythology
Classical World
Ancient Art
Education (2)
University of California at Berkeley: Ph.D.
University of California at Berkeley: M.A.
Links (3)
News (3)
MSU Excavations at Isthmia to Use Radio Wave Tracking for Its Collection
MSU Today online
2023-10-11
The MSU Excavations at Isthmia, led by Jon Frey, Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design, will soon become one of the first archeological sites in Greece to use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to digitally track its collection.
‘The core of who we are’
City Pulse online
2023-06-22
Bridges and his staff are working with MSU experts like archaeologist Jon Frey, a specialist in digital archaeology, and media design specialist Daniel Trego, to use technology to create 3-D scans and models of artworks and even convert flat works, like drawings and paintings, to contoured objects that make them accessible to visually impaired people.
Exhibit Explores MSU’s Archaeological Excavations in Greece
MSU Today online
2022-01-20
Since fall 2020, Jon Frey, Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design, has directed the MSU Excavations at Isthmia. Under his guidance, the project has renewed decades-old discoveries and made them accessible to the public through extensive auditing and digitization. Throughout this digital dig, another angle of archaeology has come to light — the unique relationship between archaeology as science and archaeology as art.
Journal Articles (2)
Old Excavations, New Interpretations: The 2008–2013 Seasons of The Ohio State University Excavations at Isthmia
Hesperia2016 As the study of the Roman Bath nears completion, researchers at The Ohio State University Excavations at Isthmia have turned their attention to the larger context of this structure within the Sanctuary of Poseidon. A careful study of excavation records since the 1970s has uncovered evidence for buildings that predate the Roman Bath and prompts a reinterpretation of previous scholars' work. We argue that the construction of the bath was part of a more general renovation of the sanctuary, which likely involved the creation of a porticoed gymnasium. Most importantly, this report demonstrates that projects with long histories can make significant contributions to our understanding of sites through the study and publication of previously excavated evidence.
The Archaic Colonnade at Ancient Corinth: A Case of Early Roman Spolia
American Journal of Archaeology2015 Although it is rarely discussed, a row of badly worn Archaic-period columns that lines the western side of the Upper Forum of ancient Corinth holds the potential to speak volumes about several periods in the long architectural history of the site. First fully exposed in 1933, this colonnade stretches northward from the northwest corner of the South Stoa to a point just west of the Central Shops that divide the Upper and Lower Forums of the Roman colony. Archaeologists have consistently noted that the details of these columns indicate they had once served as the interior colonnade for the nearby sixth-century B.C.E. Temple of Apollo. Additional excavation in this area in the 1970s has shown that they were reerected in their present location sometime in the middle of the first century C.E.
