Summer research unlocks the world of Ancient Greece for virtual explorers

A Cornell College student and her professor are working together to create an interactive textbook.

Caitlin Conlon ’17 and Professor John Gruber-Miller are researching content for the creation of a free, online textbook for second-year Greek students.

“This is really intended to be their first experience looking at an authentic text,” Professor John Gruber-Miller said. “Pausanias is a Roman travel writer, and we think that’s the ideal text because–what student doesn’t love to travel? At the same time, why not explore the world that you want to go visit sometime? This gives you are great opportunity to learn about mythology, archaeology, history, religion, and everything in between.”

Conlon’s main contribution to this overall project  is map creation.

“I’ve made a topographical map on Mapbox showing Ancient Corinth and Acrocorinth, which is right above Ancient Corinth.” Conlon said. “I recently started working on georeferencing maps onto modern-day images of Ancient Corinth and the Roman Forum.”

Professor Gruber-Miller said this new text expands the body of work already available for students and virtual explorers interested in Ancient Greece.

While many texts focus on Athens, this one will feature information on Olympia, Sparta, and Corinth.

Watch their video story here: