Timothy N. Gantz *70

Timothy N. Gantz *70, eminent scholar of the early Greeks and Romans, died of heart failure Jan. 20, 2004, in Athens, Ga. He was 58.

Best known for his book Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Timothy began his love affair with classics in 1966 when, as an undergraduate at Haverford, he participated in the Bryn Mawr College Excavations at Murlo, an important archaeological site in Tuscany. Smitten, he earned a Ph.D. in classics at Princeton and joined the faculty at the University of Georgia, where he pursued wide-ranging interests from early Greek poetry and mythology to the archaeology of early Rome.

An inspiring classics teacher, for many years Timothy directed a study-abroad program in Rome, infusing students with his passion for all things Italian, including cuisine, opera, and art. In addition to his lifelong work on Aeschylus, Timothy was, at the time of his death, engaged in study of the constellations of Ovid's Metamorphoses. No mere armchair scholar, he charted the same stars from his own backyard, linking present experience to the past.

Timothy leaves behind his wife, Elena Bianchelli, and his son, Tavish.