Greg Woolf

Woolf was born on 3 December 1961 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England.[2] He was educated at Bexhill Grammar School, a grammar school in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex.[2] From 1981 to 1985, he studied ancient and modern history at Christ Church, Oxford.[3] He graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1985; as per tradition, this was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA (Oxon)) degree.[4] From 1985 to 1990, he undertook postgraduate research in classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1990.[3] His doctoral supervisors were Peter Garnsey, Keith Hopkins, Ian Hodder, and Sander van der Leeuw.[5] His doctoral thesis was titled "Cultural change in central France under Roman rule".[6]

Woolf began his academic career while still studying for his doctorate; he was a part-time lecturer at the University of Leicester and a research fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1990, after completing his doctorate, he moved to the University of Oxford to teach ancient history and archaeology.[5] From 1990 to 1993, he was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Then, from 1993 to 1998, he was a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford and a lecturer in the Faculty of Classics.[4][5]

In 1998, Woolf moved to the University of St Andrews to become Professor of Ancient History.[7] He was Head of the School of Classics between 2004 and 2009.[8] During the 2009 to 2010 academic year, he was visiting fellow at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt.[5][7] On 1 January 2015, he joined the University of London as Professor of Classics and Director of the Institute of Classical Studies.[7]

In July 2021, Woolf moved to the United States where he joined University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as Ronald J. Mellor Chair of Ancient History.[9][10] In 2022, he became editor of the Journal of Roman Archaeology.[11][12]

Woolf gave the Rhind Lectures for 2004/2005; the series was titled Men who turned towards the light: Cult and creativity in the Romans' world. The Rhind Lectures are a series of lectures on archaeology and they are hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In July 2012, he appeared on BBC Radio 4 as a guest on In Our Time to discuss Hadrian's Wall.[13] In December 2012, he appeared again on In Our Time, this time to discuss the Cult of Mithras.[14]

In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA),[15] and a Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE).[16] In July 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.[17] In 2021 he was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.[18]

• Woolf, Greg (January 1994). "Becoming Roman, staying Greek: Culture, identity and the civilizing process in the Roman East". Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society. 40: 116–143. doi:10.1017/S0068673500001875. S2CID 170935906.
• Bowman, Alan K.; Woolf, Greg, eds. (1994). Literacy and power in the ancient world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521433693.
• Woolf, Greg (1998). Becoming Roman: the origins of provincial civilization in Gaul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521414456.
• Woolf, Greg, ed. (2003). The Cambridge illustrated history of the Roman world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521827751.
• Edwards, Catharine; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2003). Rome the cosmopolis. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521800051.
• Woolf, Greg (2006). Et tu, Brute?: the murder of Caesar and political assassination. London: Profile Books. ISBN 978-1861977410.
• Woolf, Greg (2011). Tales of the barbarians: ethnography and empire in the Roman West. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405160735.
• Woolf, Greg (2012). Rome: an empire's story. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199603084.
• Hemelrijk, Emily; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2013). Women and the Roman City in the Latin West. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004255944.
• König, Jason; Oikonomopoulou, Katerina; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2013). Ancient libraries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107012561.
• König, Jason; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2013). Encyclopaedism from antiquity to the Renaissance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107038233.
• König, Jason; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2017). Authority and expertise in ancient scientific culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107060067.
• Woolf, Greg (2020). The life and death of ancient cities: a natural history. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199664733.
• Rüpke, Jörg; Woolf, Greg, eds. (2021). Religion in the Roman Empire. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag. ISBN 9783170292260.