Academic Background

Al studied Classics as an undergraduate at Harvard University, where as a pupil of Ernst Badian he wrote a final-year thesis on the Athenian grain supply. He then trained as a lawyer for three years at Georgetown University and eventually became a member of the Bar of New York. Going to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1998, he wrote his DPhil thesis (now a book, Feeding the Democracy, Oxford 2007) supervised by Oswyn Murray. As part of his doctorate Al travelled extensively through the Aegean and Black Sea regions, studied the archaeology of Athens and Attica at the British School at Athens, and excavated in Kerch (the capital of the ancient Bosporan Kingdrom in Crimea) with a team from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow). Before becoming the Ancient History Tutor at Magdalen (in 2003), he taught at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Balliol and St. John's Colleges, Oxford, and Royal Holloway College, University of London.

Undergraduate Teaching

Although a specialist in Greek history, Al has taught virtually all papers in Greek and Roman history offered at Oxford for Classical Archaeology and Ancient History (CAAH); Ancient and Modern History (AMH); and Classics (Literae Humaniores). He is the senior (organizing) tutor for CAAH and (jointly) for AMH. You are warmly encouraged to e-mail him, as he is keen to answer any questions on these courses in particular and on the study of ancient history at Magdalen generally. He can also be contacted to give talks at schools (see http://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/outreach/).

Research Interests

Al's publications include work on children in ancient biography, Greek gems and numismatics, epigraphy, and Black Sea archaeology. However, his main research interest continues to be in the interplay of the Athenian economy and democracy. He is currenly working on a book that will be the first comprehensive investigation since the nineteenth century of the public economy of Athens.

Selected Publications

Feeding the Democracy: the Athenian Grain Supply in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC, Oxford (2007). See: http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199228409

edited jointly with Oswyn Murray: D. Asheri, A. Lloyd, A. Corcella, A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV, Oxford (2007). See: http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198149569

“’The Attic Neighbour’: The Cleruchy in the Athenian Empire,” in J. Ma, N. Papazarkadas, R. Parker (eds.), Interpreting the Athenian Empire, London (2009), pp. 211-221. Downloadable .pdf at: http://ora.ouls.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid%3Aad3bd11b-c418-4452-827d-eed9867b9603

“Hieron: The Ancient Sanctuary at the Mouth of the Black Sea,” Hesperia 77 (2008), pp. 655-709. Downloadable .pdf at: http://www.atypon-link.com/ASCS/doi/abs/10.2972/hesp.77.4.655

“The Greek Gem: A Token of Recognition,” in M. Revermann & P. Wilson (eds.), Performance, Reception, Iconography: Studies in Honour of Oliver Taplin, Oxford (2008), pp. 419-438. See: http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199232215

“Athenian Wheat-Tsars: Black Sea Grain and Elite Culture”, in V. Gabrielsen & J. Lund (eds.), The Black Sea in Antiquity: Regional and Interregional Economic Exchanges, Black Sea Studies 6, Aarhus (2007), pp. 69-84. Downloadable .pdf at: http://www.pontos.dk/publications/books/black-sea-studies-6

“Abusing Alcibiades,” in G. Rousseau (ed.), Children and Sexuality: the Greeks to the Great War, London (2007), pp. 75-84. See: http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=279567

authored jointly with Caspar Meyer: "A Greek Metrological Koine: A Lead Weight from the Western Black Sea Region in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford,” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 23.2 (2004), pp. 209-216. Downloadable .pdf at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118772745/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

“Athenian Bread-Baskets: The Grain-Tax Law of 374/3 BC Reinterpreted,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 145 (2003), pp. 97-106. Downloadable .pdf at: http://212.202.124.254/site.php?show=41