Paul Christesen
William R. Kenan Professor of Ancient Greek History
Life Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
Paul Christesen, William R. Kenan Professor of Ancient Greek History in the Department of Classics at Dartmouth College, is the author of Olympic Victor Lists and Ancient Greek History (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Sport and Democracy in the Ancient and Modern Worlds (Cambridge University Press, 2012), and A New Reading of the Damonon Stele (Histos Supplement 8, 2019). He is also co-editor, with Donald Kyle, of A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity (2014); co-editor, with Danielle Allen and Paul Millett, of How to Do Things with History (Oxford University Press, 2018); and author of more than 30 articles. He is currently working with Paul Cartledge of Cambridge University on the Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World. His areas of expertise include ancient Greek history (with a particular focus on Sparta), sport history (including the ancient Olympics), the relationship between sport and political systems, and the use of Geographic Information Systems to compile legacy archaeological data and study settlement organization. He holds a B.A. from Dartmouth, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Contact
Department(s)
Classical Studies
Education
- A.B. Dartmouth College
- Lehman College, City University of New York
- M.A. Columbia University
- M. Phil. Columbia University
- Ph.D. Columbia University
Selected Publications
The Bloomsbury Cultural History of Sport in Antiquity, co-edited with Charles Stocking, London: Bloomsbury, 2021.
A New Reading of the Damonon Stele, Histos Supplement 10, 2019
(available online at: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/histos/documents/SV10.ChristesenDamononStele.pdf)
How to Do Things with History, co-edited with Danielle Allen and Paul Millett, Oxford University Press, 2018.
A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity, co-edited with Donald Kyle, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
Works In Progress
The Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World, co-edited with Paul Cartledge.
- a multi-volume series that will provide detailed studies of 22 sites in the Archaic period (c. 750-c. 480 BCE), all intended for a scholarly audience
- total expected length c. 1.5 million words
Spartan Origins, co-authored with Paul Cartledge.
- a detailed study of the history and archaeology of Sparta in the Archaic period
- will form one entire volume of the Oxford History of the Archaic Greek World
- completed manuscript will be delivered in December, 2024