Graham Shipley

Professor of Ancient History

MA, D.Phil. (Oxon.), FHEA, FRAS, FRGS, FRHistS, FSA

Tel. (0116) 252 2775

E-mail: gjs@le.ac.uk

I was born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, and educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne. From there I went to Wadham College, Oxford, to read ‘Literae Humaniores’ (as Classics was then known), specializing in Ancient History and Philosophy. Among my tutors were George Forrest, Nan Dunbar, Simon Hornblower, Oswyn Murray, and Peter Derow.

Under George Forrest’s supervision, with Peter Derow and Robin Lane Fox as advisers, I wrote my doctoral thesis (1983) on the late classical–early hellenistic history of the Greek island of Samos, attempting to synthesize histoire totale from texts and geography under the influence of the Annales school of history. After holding research fellowships at Oxford (Wadham College, then Balliol College) and Cambridge (St Catharine’s College), I was appointed Lecturer in Ancient History at Leicester in 1987. After periods as Senior Lecturer (1998–9) and Reader (1999–2002), I became Professor of Ancient History.

In 2004–5 I held a one-year British Academy–Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship; in 2006–7 my research was supported by the Loeb Classical Library Foundation; and in 2009–10 I held an AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council) research leave grant for my work on Pseudo-Skylax.

I have been a member of the British School at Athens since 1974 and was Visiting Fellow there in 1999. In recent years I have chaired CUCD (the Council of University Classical Departments; 2003–6) and the BSA's Sparta & Laconia Committee (also 2003–6).

Since 2010 I have chaired the School of Archaeology & Ancient History's Academic Committee, which deals with all aspects of teaching policy; and am a member of the Academic Committee of the College of Arts, Humanities, & Law.

Since 2007 I have been a member of the UK Education Honours Committee, and since 2010 vice-chair of governors at a Leicestershire primary school.

I was the first convener of the annual Dorothy Buchan Memorial lectures (succeeded by Dr Dan Stewart).

Research

• Research interests
• Publications

Teaching

I teach Greek and hellenistic history at undergraduate levels, in both campus-based and distance learning modes, including: (level 1) Greek history, and classical languages for historians; (level 2) classical and hellenistic Greek states, historical theory, textual analysis; (level 3) Spartan history and hellenistic history. At level 3 I have also supervised a wide range of dissertations on topics both in the above areas and also in the areas of reception, gender studies, and the ancient economy.

I am one of only four School staff to have been nominated in all three rounds of the annual 'I Love My Academic' poll, run by the Students' Union since 2010.

I both coordinate, and contribute to, MA teaching (both campus-based and distance learning) in Greek history and ancient landscapes, particularly within MA Classical Mediterranean, and have contributed to the writing of distance learning modules.

Since 2000 I have supervised to successful completion Ph.D.s on the 'Celts' and the hellenistic world (Duncan Campbell), hellenistic–Roman landscape change in southern Greece (Dan Stewart), ancient Greek astronomy (Efrosyni Boutsikas, with Clive Ruggles), and classical Greek drinking-places (Clare Kelly-Blazeby, with Lin Foxhall).

Currently I am supervising Ph.D.s on the hellenistic gymnasion (Dorothea Stavrou), hellenistic material culture and assemblages (Mark van der Enden, with Dan Stewart), Greek and Egyptian astronomical alignments (Erin Nell, with Clive Ruggles), and hellenistic–Roman Thessaly (Crysta Kaczmarek, with David Mattingly).

Selected publications

Publications in preparation

Landscape, Power, and Resistance: The Macedonian Peloponnese, 338–197 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Forthcoming

‘Aineias Taktikos in his intellectual context’, in M. Pretzler (ed.), Aeneas Tacticus: War, Politics and Literature in Classical Greece. Leiden: Brill (paper from the Aeneas Tacticus conference).

‘2046 [Skylax]’, in H.-J. Gehrke (ed.), Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, volume 5, part 2. Leiden: Brill.

‘The Menelaion in Therapna’, in H. W. Catling and R. W. V. Catling (eds), The Historical Periods (Sparta: Menelaion, 2; BSA Supplementary Volumes; London: British School at Athens).

‘Afterword: hellenistic oratory in context’, in C. Kremmydas and K. Tempest (eds), Hellenistic Oratory: Change and Continuity (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

‘“Small things remembered”: the under-theorized domestic material culture of hellenistic Greece’. In N. Fenn and P. Kögler (eds), Proceedings of the Hellenistic Networks Conference, 23–6 Köln–Bonn 2011.

Publications since 2000 (selected)

(Those asterisked are perhaps the most representative.)

* ‘Pseudo-Skylax and the natural philosophers', Journal of Hellenic Studies vol. 132 (2012). Pre-published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0075426912000092 (6 Sept. 2012)

* 2011 - Pseudo-Skylax’s Periplous: The Circumnavigation of the Inhabited World. Exeter: Bristol Phoenix Press/The Exeter Press

2010 - ‘Pseudo-Skylax on Attica’, in N. V. Sekunda (ed.), Ergasteria: Works presented to John Ellis Jones (Gdańsk: Project/Institute of Archaeology, Gdańsk University), 100–14 http://hdl.handle.net/2381/7677

2009 - ‘Early hellenistic Sparta: changing modes of interaction with the wider world?’, in N. Kaltsas (ed.), Athens–Sparta: Contributions to the Research on the Archaeology and History of the Two City-states (New York/Athens: Alexander S. Onassis Foundation/National Museum of Greece), 55–60 http://hdl.handle.net/2381/9034

2008 - ‘Pseudo-Skylax on the Peloponnese’, in C. Gallou et al. (eds), Dioskouroi: Studies presented to W. G. Cavanagh and C. B. Mee (Oxford: Archaeopress), 281–91 http://hdl.handle.net/2381/7670

* 2008 - ‘Approaching the Macedonian Peloponnese’, in C. Grandjean (ed.), Le Péloponnèse d'Épaminondas à Hadrien (Bordeaux: Ausonius), 53–68 http://hdl.handle.net/2381/7696

* 2006 - The Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization (1st editor with J. Vanderspoel, D. Mattingly, L. Foxhall). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

2006 - ‘Landscapes of the ancient Peloponnese: a human-geographical approach’, Leidschrift 21 (1) 27–43 http://hdl.handle.net/2381/7720

2005 - ‘Between Macedonia and Rome: political landscapes and social change in southern Greece in the early hellenistic period’, Annual of the British School at Athens 100 315–30

2004 - Hellēnizein: A Flexible Structure for Teaching Greek to Archaeologists and Ancient Historians (2nd author with E. Parisinou). Milton Keynes: Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for History, Classics, and Archaeology

* 2002 - Continuity and Change in a Greek Rural Landscape: The Laconia Survey. Vol. i: Methodology and Interpretation (4th author with W. Cavanagh et al.). London: British School at Athens

* 2000 - The Greek World after Alexander: 323–30 BC. London–New York: Routledge, 2000. (Shortlisted for the Runciman Prize, and now in its 14th printing. Reprints since late 2004 incorporate corrections.)

2000 - 'The extent of Spartan territory in the late classical and hellenistic periods', Annual of the British School at Athens 95 367–90

Translated editions

2012 - Ο ελληνικός κόσμος μετά τον Αλέξανδρο: 323–30 π.Χ. Athens: National Bank Cultural Foundation (2-volume translation, by M. Zachariadou, of my Greek World after Alexander, with a lengthy bibliographical update and my further reflections on the period)

2001 - El mundo griego después de Alejandro 323–30 a.C. Barcelona: Crítica (translation, by M. Chocano, of my Greek World after Alexander)

Indexing and copy-editing

For many years I have completed indexes to my own and others' works and been a member of the Society of Indexers. I have written briefing notes for scholars on Typography and Text Layout and on Indexing.

For older publications, follow the 'Publications' link above.