Carter (1872-1917) was a prominent American classicist whose life was cut short when he died of heatstroke while on an Italian aid mission during WWI. He studied at Princeton and at the University of Halle-Wittenburg, Germany, where he took his Ph.D in 1898. He was Professor of Latin at Princeton from 1902 and in 1904 moved to Rome to join the faculty of the American School of Classical Studies, becoming director in 1907. When the School merged with the American Academy in Rome in 1911, Carter continued as a faculty member and became AAR director in 1912. His scholarship focused on Roman religion and topography, producing his own works on the former, and working in collaboration with Christian Hulsen on studies of the Forum Romanum. The Religion of Numa, and Other Essays on the Religion of Ancient Rome was first published in 1906, and was followed by The Religious Life of Ancient Rome in 1911.