Dr Edward Bispham

Academic Background

I did a BA in Literae Humaniores and a D.Phil. in Ancient History at Jesus College, Oxford.  I then took up a a Rome Scholarship at the British School at Rome, whence I moved to teach Ancient History at Edinburgh, before returning to Oxford in 1998.

I am interested in all areas of antiquity, the classical world and its interlocutors; I teach most ancient history undergraduate papers. For the past decade and a half I have been thinking about how historians should and can use archaeological data, and vice versa. I have been very lucky to be able to go to the mountains in central Italy and think about this while other people shovel large amounts of soil around; I still dabble from time to time in fieldwork projects. After a year on secondment to the University as an administrator I am looking forward to getting back into full-time research and teaching.  My most recent work has brought me back to writing about the Social War, where it all began.

Research Interests

My research interests fall broadly into three categories at the moment: the history, archaeology and epigraphy of Italy, especially the impact of the Roman conquest; the political and cultural history of the Roman Republic; Roman historiography. I was Co-Director of the Sangro Valley Project (Phase II), with Prof. Susan Kane, of Oberlin College, Ohio.

Research Keywords

Pre-Roman and Roman Italy (history, epigraphy, archaeology); Roman historiography; Roman Republic.

Publications

Full publications: ed_bispham_full_list_of_publications.pdf

Selected publications:

1. ‘Small Towns, Big Futures: between Italy and Iberia’ in J. Andreu Pintado (ed.), Parva Oppida. Imagen, patrones e ideología del despuege monumental de las ciudades en la Tarraconense hispana (siglos I a.C. – I d.C.) (Fundación Uncastillo: Cinco Villas, 2020), 25-37

2. ‘Boundaries in Strabo’s Italy: Space, Time and Difference’, in F. Luciani & E. Migliario (eds), Boundaries of Territories and Peoples in Roman Italy and Beyond (Bari: Edipuglia), 1-23

3. ‘The Regiones’ of Italy between Republic and Principate’, in M. Aberson, M.C. Biella, M. di Fazio, M. Wullschleger (eds), Nos sumus Romani qui fuimus ante … Memory of Ancient Italy.  EGeA 6 (Geneva: Peter Lang, 2020), 23-51