Professor of Classical Studies and History
435 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI
48109
phone: 734.647.2313
About
My principal interests lie in the social, political and legal history of Archaic and Classical Greece (750-323 BCE). My early work focused on the Athenian democracy with a special emphasis on the institutions and ideologies that shaped the first historical example of this regime-type. My first book (Exile, Ostracism and Democracy, Princeton 2005) examined the peculiar institution of ostracism and the ways that this democratic form of political expulsion both stabilized and helped to define Athenian democracy. A second book, Slaves Tell Tales, Princeton, 2012) explored the role of informal social practices in the regulation of the social order. Moving beyond the formal institutions of the Greek city-state, I demonstrate how popular culture (e.g., festival revelry, popular forms of justice and oral storytelling) served as a medium for political expression that helped regulate relations between the mass of ordinary citizens and the political elites.
My work on the early Greek historians – particularly Herodotus and Thucydides – attempts to elucidate their approaches to understanding the past as well as the ways that their histories are conditioned by the ideological conditions of their own times. Representative publications include “Herodotus, political history and political thought” in C.Dewald and J.Marincola eds. The Cambridge Companion to Herodotus. Cambridge, 2006) and “Thucydides’ Historical Method” in R.K. Balot, S.Forsdyke and E. Foster eds. The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides. Oxford, 2017).
Recent interests include work on Greek law and a forthcoming book, titled Slavery and Society in Ancient Greece. This book, and several recent articles, attempt to uncover the experience of slavery by slaves (as opposed to slave-owners) in ancient Greece, as well as the ways that slaves strategized to create a “living space” for themselves in a system that strove to deny even their humanity. Excavation of the experience of slaves from ancient sources that largely represent the perspectives and experiences of slave-owners is a tricky task (but also great fun!) requiring methodological sophistication and careful use of comparative evidence from other slave-owning societies. My interest in Greek law has resulted in a recent essay (“Ancient and Modern Conceptions of the Rule of Law” in M.Canevaro, A.Erskine and J.Ober eds. Ancient Greek History and Contemporary Social Science. Edinburgh, 2018). This essay, as well as my next book project on the jury, explore what ancient legal theory and practice can offer to modern debates.
Representative & Recent Publications:
Books & Co-Edited Volume:
Exile, Ostracism and Democracy: The Politics of Expulsion in Ancient Greece. Princeton University Press, 2005.
Slaves Tell Tales and Other Episodes in the Politics of Popular Culture in Ancient Greece. Princeton University Press, 2012.
R. Balot, S. Forsdyke and E. Foster eds. The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides. Oxford, 2017.
Articles & Book Chapters
"Athenian Democratic Ideology and Herodotus' Histories" American Journal of Philology 122.3 (2001) 333-362.
"Revelry and Riot in Archaic Megara: Democratic Disorder or Ritual Reversal?" Journal of Hellenic Studies 125 (2005) 73-92.
"Land, Labor and Economy in Solonian Athens: Breaking the Impasse between History and Archaeology" J.H. Blok and A.P.M.H. Lardinois eds., Solon of Athens: New Historical and Philological Approaches, Leiden: Brill, 2006. 334-350.
"Street Theater and Popular Justice in Ancient Greece: Shaming, Stoning and Starving Offenders Inside and Outside the Courts" Past and Present 201(2008) 3-50.
"The Uses and Abuses of Tyranny" for R. Balot ed. The Blackwell Companion to Ancient Political Thought. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 231-246.
“Thucydides’ Historical Method” in R. Balot, S.Forsdyke and E. Foster eds. The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides (2017) 19-38.
“Ancient and Modern Conceptions of the Rule of Law” in M.Canevaro, A.Erskine and J.Ober eds. Ancient Greek History and Contemporary Social Science. (forthcoming 2018)
“Slave Agency and Citizenship in Classical Athens” in Symposion: Gesellschaft für griechische und hellenistische Rechtsgeschichte. (forthcoming 2018)
“Slave Agency and the Law in Classical Athens” in S. Gartland and D.Tandy eds. Voiceless, Invisible and Countless: Subordinate Experience in Ancient Greece, 800-300 BCE. (forthcoming)
Affiliation(s)
Fields of Study
- Greek historiography
- Athenian democracy
- Greek law
- Social and cultural history
- Ancient slavery
