I am an economic and social historian with an interest in money, disease and ecology in the ancient Roman world. My first book, Economic Theory and the Roman Monetary Economy (2020, Cambridge University Press), investigates a fundamental methodological question: how does economic theory apply to societies in which there is little institutional and cultural resemblance to modern capitalism? My second book, Pox Romana: The Plague that Shook the Roman World (2024, Princeton), is an integrated environmental, economic and social history of the Antonine plague (A.D. 165-190).
I teach courses on all aspects of Roman History, but I tend to focus on economic, social and environmental history, as well as historical methodology. I am honored to have recieved the David and Cheryl Morley Early Career Award for Outstanding Teaching (2021) and a Trustees Teching Award (2016). I especially enjoy sharing my research with the wider public (see below for latest media appearances and public talks).
Before coming to Indiana University in 2015, I was Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Classics and Ancient History at Washington and Lee University.