Projects
My current research focuses on the systematic analysis of structures of power and domination in ancient societies, pursuing both historical and methodological innovations. The projects are linked by three central research questions: How do complex systems of domination arise and disappear? What role do elites play in social change? And what can ancient economies teach us about the emergence and perpetuation of inequality?
The history of the Roman imperial elite
I have recently completed a history of the ruling class of the Roman Empire (From Empire to Universal State: Emperors, Senators and Local Élites in Early Imperial and Late-Antique Rome, University of Michigan Press, 2026). This book examines the role of senators in the power structure of the Roman Empire and highlights the differences that distinguish the Roman office-holding elite from the hereditary aristocracies of other pre-modern societies. I was particularly interested in tracing how the emergence of a strong tax state in Late Antiquity fundamentally changed the distribution of power in the empire.
Gender inequality and economic development
Together with Emily Mackil (Berkeley), I am pursuing a project on gender relations and economics across the advanced civilisations of Antiquity. We seek to improve our understanding of whether and how economic development and the well-being of women were linked in the societies of ancient Rome and Greece.
Quantifying inequality in ancient societies
Together with Myles Lavan (St Andrews) and Bart Danon (Groningen), I am embarking on a methodological experiment: we are developing computer simulations to model the distribution of wealth in the Roman Empire. What influence did factors such as euergetism (private charity), different inheritance systems or demographic crises have? Our aim is to understand how ancient property systems differed fundamentally from capitalist modernity – and what that might mean for discussions of inequality today.
Law, debt and elites in comparative perspective
Finally, in various book projects, I am using contemporary social science theories to identify similarities and differences between today's globalised world and the world-spanning empires of antiquity.
Together with Lisa Eberle (Tübingen), Nicole Giannella (Cornell) and Damián Fernández (NIU), we are investigating the extent to which law shaped inequality in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East.
Building on David Graeber's revolutionary anthropology of debt, I have edited an anthology that analyses credit systems from Mesopotamia to Byzantium: Debt in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East: Credit, Money and Social Obligation (Oxford University Press, 2022).
Together with Myles Lavan and Richard Payne (Chicago), I also co-authored Cosmopolitanism and Empire: Universal Rulers, Local Élites and Cultural Integration in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East (Oxford University Press, 2016) – a study of how ancient empires integrated local elites and how, in turn, these elites contributed to securing the rule of imperial systems.