Contact
Biography
I took my undergraduate degree from the University of Western Australia and my doctorate from St John's College in the University of Cambridge. Before joining the Department in Nottingham I held academic appointments in Dublin, Munich, and Cambridge. Since my appointment I have held a visiting appointment in Oxford (All Souls), have been elected a member of the Faculty of Archaeology, History, and Letters at the British School at Rome, and also serve on the steering committee of the new History of Law and Governance Centre (based in the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, UoN). I am a founding editor of the monograph series Trends in Classics: Key Perspectives on Classical Research published by De Gruyter. I am next on research leave in Spring 2024/25.
Expertise Summary
My research interests lie at the intersection between the literature and history of the late Roman Republic and early Principate, and they extend to constitutional history, the classical tradition, and the history of scholarship.
I am available to give school and public talks in these areas. My latest school talk asked 'How did the Romans respond to crisis?'. I discussed health and political crises of the Republic and Principate.
Teaching Summary
I teach a wide range of topics at all levels in the language, literature, and history of ancient Rome. These have included:
Latin texts of the late Roman Republic and Principate; Latin language for all levels, including beginners.
The history of the Roman Republic and Principate, such as the transition from Republic to Principate under Augustus, and the Roman empire in the East (from Pyrrhus to Julian).
Roman historiography, through the works of Tacitus and texts such as the Tabula Lugdunensis (Claudius' speech on the admission of the Gauls to the senate of Rome).
The history of classical scholarship and the classical tradition, such as Gibbon's Decline and Fall, commentary as a genre of scholarship, and classical education in Germany and Britain since the 19th century.
I am interested in supervising graduate students in these areas.