Agnes Kirsopp Lake Michels Explained

Agnes Freda Isabel Kirsopp Lake Michels (July 31, 1909 – November 30, 1993, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina)^[1] known as "Nan" to her friends, was a leading twentieth century scholar of Roman religion and daily life and a daughter of the Biblical scholar Kirsopp Lake (1872–1946).

Michels earned her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in Latin from Bryn Mawr College, where she was also a member of the faculty from 1934 until 1975.^[2] After her retirement she frequently taught courses at Duke University as well as at the University of North Carolina.

She spent time in Rome as a Fellow of the American Academy in the company of Lily Ross Taylor in 1933. Michels was president of the American Philological Association for 1971–72.^[3] During her career, Roman religion was the focus of her research. It led to her landmark book, still consulted by scholars as a work of authority, The Calendar of the Roman Republic (Princeton, 1967).^[4]

A series of lectures offered at Bryn Mawr College celebrates Michels and her work.^[5]

Michels was married to physicist Walter Christian Michels (1906-1975).^[6] She is buried in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Publications

• 1935. Campana Supellex, the pottery deposit at Minturnae. Ph.D. thesis, Bryn Mawr College.^[7]
• 1935. "The archaeological evidence for the 'Tuscan temple'". Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 12:89-149.
• 1937. "The supplicatio and Graecus Ritus." In Quantulacumque; studies presented to Kirsopp Lake by pupils, colleagues and friends, 243–251.
• 1949. "The 'Calendar of Numa' and the Pre-Julian Calendar." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 80:320–346. doi:10.2307/283524.
• 1953. "The Topography and Interpretation of the Lupercalia." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 84:35–59. doi:10.2307/283397.
• 1955. "Death and Two Poets." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 86:160-179.
• 1967. The Calendar of the Roman Republic. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
• 1997. "The Many Faces of Aeneas." Classical Journal 92.4:399-416.

Necrology

• Obituary by Russell T. Scott in Bryn Mawr Classical Reviewhttp://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1993/04.05.43.html

Sources

• Biography and bibliography written by Jerzy Linderski, "Agnes Kirsopp Michels and the Religio." Classical Journal 92.4 (1997) 323-345.

Notes and References

1. Book: Harvard University. Class of 1894. Secretary. Harvard College (1780-). Class of 1894. Twenty-fifth anniversary report, 1894-1919. 1919. Plimpton Press. 584–.
2. Book: Bryn Mawr College. Bryn Mawr College Calendar: Graduate Courses. 1964. The College.
3. Book: American Philological Association. Directory of Members - American Philological Association. 1972. Scholars Press.
4. Book: Agnes Kirsopp Michels. The Calendar of the Roman Republic. 1 January 1978. Greenwood Press. 978-0-313-20226-1.
5. Book: Faris, Suzanne B.. Lundeen, Lesley E.. Ten Years of the Agnes Kirsopp Lake Michels Lectures at Bryn Mawr College. 2006. Bryn Mawr Commentaries. 978-1-931019-03-3.
6. Web site: Annual Reports of the President of Bryn Mawr College, 1951-1963. 1963.
7. Book: Agnes Kirsopp Lake. Campana Supellex, the Pottery Deposit at Minturnae .... 1935. Bryn Mawr.