Greg Woolf

Greg Woolf, FSA, FSA Scot is a British ancient historian, archaeologist, and academic. He specialises in the late Iron Age and the Roman Empire. Since January 2015, he has been the Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, and Professor of Classics at the University of London. He has previously taught at the University of Leicester and the University of Oxford. From 1998 to 2014, he was Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews.

Early life and education

From 1981 to 1985, Woolf studied ancient and modern history at Christ Church, Oxford.^[1] He graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1985; as per tradition, this was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA (Oxon)) degree.^[2] From 1985 to 1990, he undertook postgraduate research in classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1990.^[1] His doctoral supervisors were Peter Garnsey, Keith Hopkins, Ian Hodder, and Sander van der Leeuw.^[3] His doctoral thesis was titled "Cultural change in central France under Roman rule".^[4]

Academic career

Woolf began his academic career while still studying for his doctorate; he was a part-time lecturer at the University of Leicester and a research fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1990, he moved to the University of Oxford to teach ancient history and archaeology.^[3] From 1990 to 1993, he was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Then, from 1993 to 1998, he was a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford and a lecturer in the Faculty of Classics.^[2][3]

In 1998, Woolf moved to the University of St Andrews to become Professor of Ancient History.^[5] He was Head of the School of Classics between 2004 and 2009.^[6] During the 2009 to 2010 academic year, he was visiting fellow at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt.^[3][5] On 1 January 2015, he joined the University of London as Professor of Classics and Director of the Institute of Classical Studies.^[5]

Woolf gave the Rhind Lectures for 2004/2005; the series was titled Men who turned towards the light: Cult and creativity in the Romans' world. The Rhind Lectures are a series of lectures on archaeology and they are hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In July 2012, he appeared on BBC Radio 4 as a guest on In Our Time to discuss Hadrian's Wall.^[7] In December 2012, he appeared again on In Our Time, this time to discuss the Cult of Mithras.^[8]

Honours

On 25 February 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).^[9]

Selected works

• Woolf, Greg (January 1994). "Becoming Roman, staying Greek: Culture, identity and the civilizing process in the Roman East". Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society. 40: 116–143. doi:10.1017/S0068673500001875. 
• Bowman, Alan K.; Woolf, Greg, eds. (1994). Literacy and power in the ancient world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521433693. 
• Woolf, Greg (1998). Becoming Roman: the origins of provincial civilization in Gaul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521414456. 
• Woolf, Greg, ed. (2003). The Cambridge illustrated history of the Roman world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521827751. 
• Edwards, Catharine; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2003). Rome the cosmopolis. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521800051. 
• Woolf, Greg (2006). Et tu, Brute?: the murder of Caesar and political assassination. London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1861977410. 
• Woolf, Greg (2011). Tales of the barbarians: ethnography and empire in the Roman West. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405160735. 
• Woolf, Greg (2012). Rome: an empire's story. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199603084. 
• Hemelrijk, Emily; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2013). Women and the Roman City in the Latin West. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004255944. 
• König, Jason; Oikonomopoulou, Katerina; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2013). Ancient libraries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107012561. 
• König, Jason; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2013). Encyclopaedism from antiquity to the Renaissance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107038233. 

References