Current Graduate Students |
Ancient Greece, History of Warfare
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Cornell University, 1999
Office: HSSB 4210 Hours:
Phone: (805) 893-4505 Fax: (805) 893-7671
I study ancient Greece and West Asia, especially the Archaic-Classical Greek world and its relations with the Achaemenid Persian Empire. I'm interested in the social and cultural aspects of ancient warfare as well as in the equipment, tactics, and logistics of ancient armies. My current research focuses on war and culture in the eastern Greek world from ca. 650-330 BCE. (more...)
My first book examined Greek mercenary soldiers in Xenophon's Anabasis, and my 24-lecture DVD series on Achaemenid Persia appeared in March 2012. I'm finishing an article on Achaemenid Persian equipment and battle tactics in the fifth century BCE. Other projects include an article on humor in Xenophon's Anabasis, and a study of how classical Greek literature influenced Mexican and U.S. culture during the mid-nineteenth century.
I teach graduate and undergraduate Greek history courses, as well as survey courses in ancient world history. I also teach classes in the history of warfare beyond antiquity, including a seminar on insurgencies, rebellions, and guerrilla warfare. I have run archaeological field schools and travel-study programs in Greece and Turkey. In 2009 I directed a Summer Session for the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and in 2011 led a faculty-graduate student seminar in Turkey.
I currently chair the UCSB Ancient Mediterranean Studies Ph.D. Emphasis, and am co-organizer of the Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group. Visit the AMS web site to learn more.
Information for Prospective Graduate Students
I will be accepting graduate program applicants for 2013-2014. Applicants should be interested in Archaic-Classical Greek history and have strong undergraduate History training along with solid preparation in ancient and modern research languages. I especially welcome applications from students who want to focus on the history of Greek warfare or on Greek-Persian relations. If your main interest is Roman history, please contact my colleague Prof. Elizabeth DePalma Digeser.
UCSB has a vibrant, cohesive ancient studies community that emphasizes both research and teaching. We provide supportive, rigorous graduate mentoring and treat our graduate students as colleagues in training. Through our seminars and lecture series, our graduate students have the opportunity to meet distinguished visiting scholars from around the world. Our PhDs regularly secure tenure-track positions at both research universities and colleges.
In addition to campus-wide and departmental funding, graduate support for ancient history students is available through the Drake and Sizgorich Funds and through UCSB History Associates.
For more information about the UCSB graduate program in Ancient History, read our departmental field description. You may also email me at the address above.
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Photograph: Re-constructing hoplite warfare in Classical Greece with my History 111B class (Winter 2011).
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This page was last updated on: 26.ix.2012
Research and Teaching Interests- Ancient Greece
- History of Warfare
- Greek Archaeology and Epigraphy
- World History
Current Projects- War and Society in the Western Anatolian Borderlands, ca. 650-330 BCE
- How The East Was Lost: The Ionian Revolt and World History
- Achaemenid Persian Military Equipment & Tactics
- Humor in Xenophon's Anabasis
Selected Publications- The Persian Empire
DVD/audio series, 24 thirty-minute lectures. The Great Courses/The Teaching Company, 2012. Click the link above for a video preview and a complete list of lectures.
- "The Fight for Ancient Sicily"
Archaeology 64.1 (2011), 38-41.
download PDF - "Urban Warfare in the Classical Greek World"
in Victor Hanson (ed.), Makers of Ancient Strategy. Princeton University Press, March 2010. Read a review here.
- "Land Warfare in Xenophon's Hellenika"
in Robert Strassler (ed.), The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika, 391-394. Pantheon Books, 2009.
- A Greek Army on the March: Soldiers and Survival in Xenophon's Anabasis
Cambridge University Press, 2007. Nominated for the 2008 Runciman Award. Reviews here and here.
- "Warfare in the Classical Age"
in Konrad Kinzl (ed.), A Companion to the Classical Greek World, 481-508. Blackwell Publishers, 2006.
- "Xenophon's Anabasis and the Origins of Military Autobiography"
in Alex Vernon (ed.), Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Discourse, 141-160. Kent State University Press, 2005.
download PDF - "For there were many hetairai in the army: Women in Xenophon's Anabasis."
The Ancient World 35.2 (2004), 145-165.
download PDF - "Urban Combat at Olynthos, 348 B.C."
British Archaeological Reports S958 (2001), 11-22.
download PDF
Professional Activities- Director, Summer Session II, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2009
- Director, Travel-Study Program on Crete, UCSB Summer Sessions, 2007
- Vice-President, Santa Barbara Society, Archaeological Institute of America
Archaeological Fieldwork- Mitrou Archaeological Project
Co-Director of Basic Field School, 2005.
- Cornell Halai and East Lokris Project
excavation staff member, 1999-2003.
Undergraduate and Graduate Courses- History 2A: World Civilizations to 1000 CE
An introduction to the early civilizations of Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Mediterranean, and Oceania. Next offered: 2013-2014.
- History 111A: Early Greece, 3000-750 BCE
Topics include Neolithic culture in the Aegean, Bronze Age Minoan & Mycenaean civilization, the Late Bronze Age international system, the historicity of the Trojan War, and early Iron Age Greece.
- History 111B: The Archaic and Classical Greek World, 750-323 BCE
Topics include the polis ("city-state"), Achaemenid Persia and Greco-Persian interactions, the society and culture of classical Greece, the Peloponnesian War, and the rise of Macedon. Next offered: Fall 2012.
- History 111C: The Hellenistic World, 323-30 BCE
Topics include the campaigns of Alexander, the formation of the Hellenistic kingdoms, Greek federal states, Hellenistic science and technology, and ethnicity and culture in the Hellenistic world.
- History 111DR: Directed Readings in Greek History
Most recent topic: Classical Greek Warfare.
- History 111E: The Eastern Greek World, ca. 750-330 BCE
Topics include the development of the eastern Greek poleis, Anatolian state formation, interactions between Greeks and non-Greeks in western Anatolia, and the effects of empire.
- History 111P: Proseminar in Greek History
Research seminar for history majors. Participants write a 15-20 page paper.
- History 197JL: Topics in the History of Warfare
Recent topics: Greek and Persian Warfare, Insurgencies and Guerrilla Warfare in Historical Perspective.
- History 201E: Reading Seminar in Greek History
Recent topics: Historiography of Classical Greece; Houses and Households in Classical Greece.
- History 211A & 211B: Research Seminar in Greek History (two-quarter sequence)
Next Offered: Spring 2013 (211A) - Fall 2013 (211B)
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