The Smart Museum's Classical collection began developing in the 1890s and now consists of approximately eight hundred pieces, including large-scale statuary and floor mosaics, vases, figurines, coins, lamps, and other utensils. The first extensive study of the Smart's collection, this catalogue presents a selection of the museum's antiquities and provides a historiographical introduction that traces the formation of the collection in relationship to the pedagogical ideas of the University of Chicago. Serving as a factual and functional guide, this catalogue serves classicists and art historians, as well as the museum's many visitors.

The Smart Museum's Classical collection began developing in the 1890s and now consists of approximately eight hundred pieces, including large-scale statuary and floor mosaics, vases, figurines, coins, lamps, and other utensils. The first extensive study of the Smart's collection, this catalogue presents a selection of the museum's antiquities and provides a historiographical introduction that traces the formation of the collection in relationship to the pedagogical ideas of the University of Chicago. Serving as a factual and functional guide, this catalogue serves classicists and art historians, as well as the museum's many visitors.