Review the news archive:

Festival of Ideas

In October 2011, I spoke as part of Cambridge University's hugely successful public Festival of Ideas on 'Where Eagles Meet and Demi-Gods Shine'.

Anglo-Hellenic League

In October 2011, I spoke to a meeting of the Anglo-Hellenic League in London on the topic of the 'Road to Macedon: the changing nature of Greece in the fourth century BC'

Cambridge University Careers Service

I was an invited speaker at a Cambridge University Careers Service event for early career researchers. My talk was on effective use of the internet in establishing an academic presence. Listen to my talk here

Risk

In January-March 2010, I co-organised the annual Darwin College Lecture Series on the theme of ‘Risk’ held in Cambridge. Specialists from fields as diverse as astro-physics, neuro-science, criminology, ancient history and maths spoke on how the concept of risk operates within their field. The lecture series was also complemented by a series of workshops on the theme of Risk organized by Kettle’s Yard and Cambridge Film Consortium in which artists, poets and members of the public responded to how they envisage risk. Each lecture was preceded by a presentation of art, poetry and film created to reflect the theme of Risk. Children, students and adults from across Cambridge were involved in making the exhibits. My thanks go to Kettles Yard, Cambridge Film Consortium, Anglia Ruskin University, Long Road Sixth Form College and the British Film Institute for their support.

The lectures, as well as pre-lecture presentation, are available to view on line as videos and podcasts. Please click here.

I will also subsequently be co-editing these lectures into a book published by Cambridge University Press in 2011.

Ancient Greece Column

On 1st February 2010, Neos Kosmos newspaper in Australia published the first installment of my regular column 'Ancient Greece: the reality'. Look out for new installments every fortnight during 2010-11, in which I will be investigating everything from Greek democracy to graves, punishments for adultery to prizes in athletic games and from Greece's great battles to its favourite tipple.

The column is also published online by BBC History Magazine in the UK.

Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies

I have been elected to the council of the SPHS for 3 years from September 2011. (http://www.hellenicsociety.org.uk/)

Talks on Classics

On 24th May 2011, I gave a lecture to the Friends of the British School at Athens in London and on 25th May, I participated in an event to celebrate 100 years of publication of the Loeb Classical series at Heffers Bookshop, Cambridge, with Tom Holland, Mary Beard and Paul Cartledge in which we each talked about some of our favourite Classics books.

Classical Question Time, UCL and The Latin Programme

On 3rd March 2011, I participated on a panel with Tom Holland, Ruth Padel and Frederic Raphael in a Classical Question Time. Raising money for the Latin Programme initiative, teaching Latin in State Primary Schools, we debated the relevance of the ancient world for the modern answered audience questions about priorities for classics in the future.

Foundation Myths conference

On 15th January, I acted as co-chair and respondent for a conference on Foundation Myths organized by Dr Naoise MacSweeney. The conference examined the dialogue between the competing foundation myths surrounding many of the Greek colonies across the Mediterranean.

British Epigraphic Society 2010

I am organizing the British Epigraphic Society 2010 autumn conference and AGM. It will be held on Saturday 20th November at Darwin College, Cambridge.

BBC History Magazine

In the May 2010 edition of BBC History Magazine, I write about the 2500th anniversary of the battle of Marathon and its significance for today. Read my article in the magazine and listen to my podcast through the BBC History Magazine website.

Blackwell's Encyclopedia of Ancient History

I am contributing to the new forthcoming Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Ancient History, which will be available in both print and electronic formats.
Find out more here.

New Appointment

I have been appointed an Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge.

Speaking at the 2010 Conference

I will be speaking at the Classical Association 2010 Annual Conference in Cardiff (7th to 10th April). I will be speaking as part of a panel on Greek Epigraphy organized by Stephen Lambert.

Omnibus magazine article

I have written an article for schools’ Classics magazine Omnibus, published in October 2009, looking at the development of the sanctuary of Nemea under the auspices of Macedonian supremacy in Greece in the second half of the 4th century BC

The Real and the Imaginary

In July 2009, I organised with Prof Robin Osborne and Dr Julia Kindt a conference on Greek religion held in honour of Richard Gordon and his celebrated article on the real and the imaginary in ancient Greece. The two day conference brought together specialists in Greek religion from across the world.

The Venice Vogalonga Race

In May 2009, I took part in the Venice Vogalonga Race – a 35 km race around the Venetian Lagoon in a dragon boat to raise awareness of the damage done to Venice by motor boats and to raise money for Pants to Poverty. Click the images below to see the crew and I, the race down the grand canal, and our appearance in the local Italian newspapers.

Running the Paris Half-Marathon

In March 2009, I ran the Paris Half-Marathon. Click the images below to see me racing and recovering.

The Fourth Century BC

In Jan- March 2009, I gave a course of 8 lectures in the Cambridge Classics Faculty for Part Ib 2nd year ancient historians on the fourth century BC. The course focused on a re-assessment of the fourth century as a period of innovation rather than imitation, as it is currently often perceived.

HEAT Magazine - 'Buff or Boffin'

In early 2009, I appeared in HEAT magazine in an article entitled ‘Buff of Boffin’.

Resistance

In October and November 2008, I organised the Cambridge Classics’ Faculty Ancient History Research Seminars on the theme of ‘Resistance.’ Six scholars of the Greek and Roman world discuss what resistance means to them in their field of research.

Who were the Greeks?

In summer 2008, I offered a month-long lecture course as part of the Pembroke/Kings summer programme for US university students at Cambridge University. Throughout August, I gave a series of 12 lectures and 8 seminars exploring the development and importance of different cultural identities in ancient Greece and, in turn, how Greek identity has come to play a crucial role in our own world today. The teaching took place in Cambridge at the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Classics Faculty Cast Gallery, Kings College and at the British Museum in London. The course was attended by US students from Ivy League universities as a credit-approved part of their studies. For more information on this course, click here.

Panhellenism

In May 2008, I organised the Laurence Seminar at Cambridge University on the subject of “The discourses of political and cultural panhellenism in the Greek and Roman worlds”. In a world where notions of unity and common ground are at a premium, the two day conference was a great success with papers and round table discussion from scholars on the existence and nature of such notions of unity in the ancient world.

Running the Athens Marathon

In November 2007, I ran the Athens Marathon to raise money for the Stroke Association. In total I raised £1500.
Click photo of me running the marathon.

Crossing Costa Rica Coast to Coast

In March 2007, I took part in an expedition to bike, hike, raft and kayak across Costa Rica in 10 days to raise money for the Prince’s Trust, a charity working with disadvantage young people aged 14-30 in the UK. Our team raised nearly £17000 for the Charity. To read more about the expedition, click on the links to the PDFs explaining more about the challenge and read my training blog with photos from the expedition itself.
Expedition BLOG + Team Pythians relish the Challenge