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Faculty of Classics

 

Research

Culture and society of Hellenistic Egypt, the early Hellenistic world, documentary papyrology.

Publications

Key publications: 

Memphis under the Ptolemies, 2nd ed. (Princeton 2012) 

Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt, 2 vols. (Cambridge 2009), paperback of 2006 edition, joint with Willy Clarysse

Kerkeosiris: an Egyptian village in the Ptolemaic period (Cambridge 2007), paperback of 1971 edition

Some recent articles:

'Slavery in the Hellenistic world', in Cambridge History of Slavery I, ed. Paul Cartledge and Keith Bradley, 194-213 (Cambridge 2011).

'Education and culture in Hellenistic Egypt and beyond', in Escuela y Literatura en Grecia Antigua, ed. J. Fernández Delgado et al., 121-137 (Cassino 2007)

'Two Greek texts on skin from Hellenistic Bactria', ZPE 159 (2007) 273-279, joint with Willy Clarysse

'The Hellenistic family', in The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic world, ed. G. R. Bugh, 93-112 (Cambridge 2006)

Teaching and Supervisions

Research supervision: 

Recent topics include: Hellenistic intellectual history, Hellenistic Bactria, ethnicity in Ptolemaic Egypt, Ptolemaic city foundations.

Retired Newton Trust Lecturer in Ancient History
Fellow of Girton College
Dr Dorothy J. Thompson

Contact Details

Girton College
Cambridge
CB3 0JG
01223 354588
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Classifications: 

Latest news

Joyce Reynolds Memoir

26 June 2025

"Joyce Reynolds, who spent most of her life as fellow of Newnham College Cambridge, was without doubt the leading British epigrapher of the 20th century, both as the publisher of new texts discovered in the course of modern archaeological exploration, and as the interpreter of such epigraphic texts to enhance and enrich...

The Kennedy Professorship of Latin

13 June 2025

The Board of Electors to the Kennedy Professorship of Latin invite applications for this Professorship from persons whose work falls within the general field of the Professorship to take up appointment on 1 September 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter. For more information see details here . Closing date: 8 September...

Masters Student wins Roman Society MA dissertation prize

28 May 2025

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Naomi Norden (King’s College) has won joint first place in the Roman Society MA dissertation prize for her 2024 MPhil thesis 'Creating complexity: Paratextuality and Intertextuality in the Works of Ausonius'. Congratulations Naomi!

St John's College Newell Lecture

27 May 2025

This year the St John's College Newell Lecture was delivered by Jackie Murray on the topic of Race and Injustice in Plato's Republic. You can watch a recording of the event here: