Walter Dennison

Walter Dennison (''A''ugust 9, 1869 - March 18, 1917) was an American archaeologist and epigraphist.

Dennison was born in Saline, Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1893 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, in 1894 with a Master of Arts degree, and in 1897 with a PhD.

While working as a professor of Latin at ASCR, he made an important archaeological discovery: a cache of late Roman era gold relics. That discovery became the focus of his final publication. The esteemed collector Charles L. Free of Detroit later acquired that collection.

During his time as president of the (CAAS), Dennison supervised the creation of a pamphlet called The Practical Value of Latin.

His first area of interest was epigraphy, and he created a considerable amount of articles for the American Journal of Archaeology (AJA). Notable among these was his explanation of the Pozzuoli inscriptions, which he sourced from a local parish priest and later obtained for the University of Michigan. Another significant article was “Some New Inscriptions from Puteoli, Baiae, Misenum, Cumae.”

After Dennison's second stay in Rome, he also did noteworthy work in archaeology, including the topographical features of Julius Caesar's battlefields and Roman busts of the “Scipio” kind.

Additionally, he authored various educational texts, including a modified version of Kelsey’s popular outline of Latin Literature, Frieze’s Aeneid, and a version of Livy 1. He passed away from pneumonia before reaching his 48th birthday.

He received a prize in Classical Studies and Archaeology from the American Academy in Rome in 1897. Provided by Wikipedia