Jodi Magness holds a senior endowed chair in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her B.A. in archaeology and history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her Ph.D. in Classical archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Magness has delivered a number of lectures on the archaeology of the Classical world for the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, D.C. and has served as Study Leader on many tours and cruises for Smithsonian Journeys.