Alex Tarbet

Alex studies folk humor as it appears in Greek and Latin prose. His dissertation, Worlds Upside Down: Egyptian Folk Humor and Herodotus, explores jokes and comic anecdotes about the pharaohs performed for and (mis)received by Herodotus when he visited and traveled along the Nile in the 5th century. 

Alex grew up in a small town in rural Idaho ruled by an iron-hoofed oligarchy of prominent cows. The son of a plumber, he believes that all things eternally roll downhill.