Notre Dame professor and archaeologist to deliver Monmouth's Sienkewicz Lecture Oct. 28

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (10/22/2026) — Excavations in Albania have uncovered "remarkable evidence for the institution of ancient slavery in the Greek world."

So says University of Notre Dame professor David Hernandez, who is the principal investigator for that project. Hernandez will present Monmouth College's Tenth Annual Thomas and Anne Sienkewicz Lecture on Roman Archaeology at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 in Dahl Chapel and Auditorium. Titled "Slavery and Manumission in Greco-Roman Buthrotum (Butrint, Albania): Recent Archaeological Discoveries from the Sanctuary of Zeus Soter," the talk is free and open to the public.

Archaeological excavations at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Butrint (ancient Buthrotum) in Albania have brought to light the Roman forum (town square), built between 27-7 BC under the patronage of Rome's first emperor, Augustus. Situated on the northwestern shores of ancient Greece, Buthrotum was a seaport described by Rome's great poet Vergil as a "little Troy." It is located just north of Greece's northwest border and roughly 60 miles across the Adriatic Sea from the heel of Italy's "boot."

Hernandez's talk will examine the recent archaeological discovery of the sanctuary, which features a unique shrine with an internal natural spring and ritual basin. Three new Greek manumission inscriptions were found, dating between 163 and 130 BC, that were originally displayed in the sanctuary where the emancipation ceremonies took place. The discussion includes an analysis of the manumission texts, which furnish remarkable evidence for the institution of ancient slavery in the Greek world.

The excavations have also unearthed Latin inscriptions that show a different perspective of ancient slavery under the Roman Empire. Some of the greatest benefactors and most influential members of the Roman colony were freedmen (freed slaves) with ties to powerful Roman families. Two are identified as Augustales, priests of the emperor, linked to the emergence of the imperial cult in Roman Greece.

An archaeologist who specializes in the material culture of the ancient Mediterranean, Hernandez is the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Associate Professor of Classics at Notre Dame. For more than 20 years, he has been the principal Investigator of the Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project at Butrint, where his team examines an archaeological sequence spanning more than 3,000 years.

With the support of the National Endowment of the Humanities, Hernandez also directs archaeological research at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, examining the Mausoleum of Hadrian and its afterlife. His research explores topics of Greek and Roman urbanism, topography, colonization, imperialism, epigraphy and excavation methods, as well as the historical archaeology of the Late Mediaeval and Early Modern periods.

He received his doctorate and master's degree in classical archaeology from the University of Cincinnati and a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of California-Berkeley.

Monmouth's lecture series was anonymously endowed to honor one of the college's most broadly influential faculty members, Tom Sienkewicz, who retired as Minnie Billings Capron Chair of Classical Languages in 2017 after 33 years at the college. During his first year on the faculty, Sienkewicz founded the Western Illinois Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, which has hosted scores of archaeological lectures on campus. From 2012-17, he served the Classical Association of the Middle West and South as its chief executive and financial officer. His wife, Anne, has been a loyal supporter of archaeology and over the years has hosted countless speakers.

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DAVID HERNANDEZ: The Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Associate Professor of Classics at Notre Dame has been the principal Investigator of the Roman Forum Excavations Project at Butrint for more than 20 years.

Monmouth College

Notre Dame professor and archaeologist to deliver Monmouth's Sienkewicz Lecture Oct. 28

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