Samuel Ball Platner was an American classicist and archaeologist.

Platner was born at Unionville

Farmington, Connecticut

Farmington is a town located in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census. It is home to the world headquarters of several large corporations including Carrier Corporation, Otis Elevator Company, and Carvel...

, Connecticut, and educated at Yale College

Yale College

Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...

. He taught at Western Reserve University and is best known as the author of various topographical works on ancient Rome

Topography of ancient Rome

The topography of ancient Rome is a multidisciplinary field of study that draws on archaeology, epigraphy, cartography and philology.The classic English-language work of scholarship is A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome , written by Samuel Ball Platner, completed and published after his...

, chief among them A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, completed after Platner's death by Thomas Ashby

Thomas Ashby

Thomas Ashby FBA was a British archaeologist.-Family:He was the only child of Thomas Ashby , and his wife, Rose Emma, daughter of Apsley Smith...

 and published in 1929; and as a contributor to the 1911 Britannica.