Department
Department of Classical Studies

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Colin Michael Wells came to Trinity University in 1987 from the University of Ottawa, where he already had a long and distinguished career as chairman of the Department of Classical Studies and Vice-Dean. Colin moved to San Antonio to take up the first T. Frank Murchison Distinguished Professorship of Classical Studies. He formed the department, served as chair, and developed a curriculum with an emphasis on history and archaeology. Colin taught a wide range of courses, including introductory surveys in Greek and Roman history and advanced courses on the Roman Empire and army, the archaeology of North Africa, and Greek and Latin literature. He retired in 2004.

For almost two decades (1976-1992) Colin participated in (and from 1978, directed) excavations at Carthage, first under the auspices of the UNESCO/Canadian team and the last three years funded by Trinity University. 

Over a career of some 45 years he authored or edited four books and more than 120 articles and reviews on the Roman frontier and army, the social and economic history of the empire, ancient Carthage and the African provinces. 

Colin had a deep love for Francophone culture, cricket, music, and poetry, especially of Horace, Vergil, A.E. Housman, and Rudyard Kipling. 

Among other honors, he was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Corresponding Fellow of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institute, Visiting Lecturer and Fellow at Oxford and Brasenose College (1973-74), and held Visiting Professorships at Berkeley (1978) and Strasbourg (1990).

AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- The leading English-language scholar on the Roman army and the frontier in Germany
- The Roman army
- The red sigillatas of Italy and southern France
- Carthage and Rome’s African provinces
- Golden-age Latin literature

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
- Combining literary and archaeological evidence in study of the Roman empire
- Excavations at Carthage (Theodosian wall & Odeon Hill)

EDUCATION
- University of Oxford, B.A. 1958, M.A. 1959, D. Phil. 1965

PUBLICATIONS
- The German Policy of Augustus: An Examination of the Archaeological Evidence (Oxford 1972) 
- Roman Africa: The Vanier Lectures 1980 (Ottawa 1982)
- The Roman Empire (Fontana/Collins 1984, Harvard 1995)
- More than 120 articles and reviews on the Roman frontier and army, the social and economic history of the empire, ancient Carthage and the African provinces