Dr. Taco Terpstra

Biography

Taco Terpstra is an associate professor in the Department of Classics at Northwestern University, specializing in socioeconomic history, particularly in ancient Rome. His core research focuses on Roman mercantile networks, economic growth, and imperial state formation. He has an active interest in Roman material culture and has worked as an archaeologist, serving as field director in Pompeii and Stabiae. His research further centers on archaeological and papyrological evidence from Roman Egypt. Terpstra is the author of 'Trading Communities in the Roman World: A Micro-Economic Institutional Perspective' (Brill, 2013) and 'Trade in the Ancient Mediterranean: Private Order and Public Institutions' (Princeton, 2019). In the 2017-18 academic year, he was involved in a combined research exhibition project at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, which resulted in the edited volume 'Portrait of a Child: Historical and Scientific Studies of a Roman Egyptian Mummy' (Block Museum, 2019), which he co-edited with E. Rönkkö and M. Walton. He teaches courses on Roman sociopolitical and economic history, as well as methodologies in historical research and archaeology, particularly focused on Roman Campania.

Research Interests