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Eugenie Sellers Strong


Eugenie Sellers Strong (1860 - 1943) was an English archaeologist and historian. The daughter of a wine merchant and a French aristocrat, Sellers grew up between Spain and France and took frequent trips to Italy and Greece. She studied classical literature at Cambridge but was not granted permission to complete the course and graduate because she was a woman. After leaving Cambridge, she obtained a professorship at the University of St. Andrews, which awarded her an honorary degree for publishing her first book.


She was the first woman to be admitted to the archaeological research institute in Athens, "The British School at Athens." Over the years, Sellers held various positions and wrote several books on classical art and sculpture. She promoted an exhibition of Greek art at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1905 and published its catalog. In 1907, she published one of her most important works, "Roman Sculpture (Roman Sculpture from Augustus to Constantine)" and two chapters of Cambridge Ancient History.


From 1909 to 1925, she was Assistant Director for the British School in Rome, where she lived until her death in 1943. Among many career honors, Sellers was appointed a member of the Accademia dei Lincei of the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology. During the time of fascism, she supported the regime's intensive excavation campaigns and was awarded a gold medal from the city of Rome in 1938.

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