Gerhard Koeppel

Who is Gerhard Koeppel?

Gerhard M. Koeppel was a German-born historian of Roman art and a specialist in the study of Roman historical relief sculpture. Koeppel studied at the University of Cologne and under the ancient art historian Heinz Kähler. Gerhard Koeppel was a member of the Archaeological Institute of America, the Classical Society of the American Academy in Rome, the Deutscher Archäologenverband, and Corresponding Member of the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut. He was Resident Scholar at the American Academy in Rome, Professor-in-Charge of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, and Director of the American Academy Summer School. He joined the faculty of Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1969 and was professor emeritus at the time of his death.

Koeppel's scholarly work focused on the development of the iconography of Roman historical relief sculpture, with particular interest in state panel reliefs and monuments such as the Column of Trajan. A series of studies of Roman state art appeared in the pages of the Bonner Jahrbücher beginning in 1969.

A photograph of him dressed as the Flamen Dialis was published in The World of Roman Costume.