Re-centering Ionia

The main focus of my research right now, “Re-centering Ionia” is dedicated to challenging the usual assumptions about Classical and early Hellenistic Ionia. Modern scholars tend to implicitly or explicitly interpret Ionia as subject to the imperial whims of more powerful actors in the Aegean. This project examines the history of Ionia at the confluence of domestic, regional, and imperial interaction, revealing that imperial actions were frequently dictated by these other relationships. A second feature of this project is reevaluating the cultural memory in and about Ionia, with a focus on how cultural memory shaped political activity.

I have produced four articles and chapters from this research with one more working its way through the publication pipeline, and my first book, Accustomed to Obedience?: Classical Ionia and the Aegean World 480–294 BCE, was published in March 2023 from University of Michigan Press. I have plans for a second book, a history of Ephesus from its foundations through its creation as a tourist destination, focusing on the continual and continually changing dual identities that make it an enigma among Greek cities.

Bakers, Baking, and Bread in the Ancient Aegean

My second research project is an investigation into bakers, baking, and bread in the ancient Aegean. This project is conceived around a book project called From Farm to Table: daily bread in the Ancient Greek World, which will be a commodity history of bread. I presented the first paper from this project at the 2019 CAMWS meeting in Lincoln, NE, which focused on the importance of bread baking in the public foodscape of the Greek city.

Miscellaneous other writing projects

In addition to my primary research topics, I am working on several other writing projects.

First, I am revising an article from research I have done on the histories of Alexander the Great and memory, focusing (again) on the issue of proskynesis.

Second, I am preparing a chapter for a volume on art in Attic oratory. My chapter will address this question through the lens of the funeral oration and memory.