Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Dr. Ismini Miliaresis is a classical archaeologist with a PhD from the University of Virginia and a BE from the Cooper Union in New York City. Her research focuses on heating systems and fuel consumption in ancient Roman baths. Using her background as a civil engineer, Dr. Miliaresis applies modern engineering principles to understand how bathing facilities operated daily and to explore how baths impacted the environment. Her work primarily centers on the site of Ostia, where she has also explored the role of heating systems in Late Antique elite houses. Dr. Miliaresis is an active field archaeologist, and she is currently the Assistant Director of the Palazzo Imperiale Project at Ostia. She has also excavated at various other sites in Italy, Greece, and California. She has taught a range of classes on art (ancient and modern), archaeology, and architecture, as well as on ancient technology, daily life, and gender. She worked as a docent while she was conducting research in Rome, leading small groups of interested travelers through the Colosseum, the Roman fora, and some of the earliest churches in the city. Miliaresis has taught at the University of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech, the University of Missouri, and the American University of Rome. She grew up in Naples, Italy and spent many of her summers on the island of Kefalonia in Greece, where her family is from.