Lyric Penny is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Classical Studies program. She holds an MSt in Classical Archaeology from the University of Oxford and a B.A. with Honours in Classical Studies from the University of Alberta. Her research explores the archaeology of Greek religion from a regional perspective, with particular attention to regions that have been historically under-investigated. She is primarily interested in how visual and material culture is shaped by environment, and in the interrelationship between topography, spatiality, and ritual.
Her M.A. thesis reconsidered the topography of the sanctuary of Poseidon and Amphitrite on Tenos through a diachronic analysis of its architectural and spatial development, examining the evolving topographical relationships between its architectural elements over six centuries of activity. Her undergraduate honours thesis investigated regional variation in nymph-cult votive practices through a case study analysis of three particular cave sites, as well as worked to position nymph cult in varying sociopolitical dimensions: local, interregional, and international.