Claire Taylor

Biography

I am an historian of the ancient Greek world, specializing in the social, political and economic history of fifth- and fourth-century BCE Athens. My research focuses on the lived experience of marginalized peoples and the evidence they left behind. My main project examines poverty in fourth-century Athens, but I have also published work on ancient graffiti, political participation and female friendship.

Education

Ph.D., University of Cambridge
M.A., King’s College London
B.A., University of Nottingham

Books

Poverty, Wealth, and Well-Being: Experiencing Penia in Democratic Athens

Claire Taylor. Poverty, Wealth, and Well-Being: Experiencing Penia in Democratic Athens. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Examines not only the discourses surrounding poverty, but also the well-being of those categorized as poor and their experiences of poverty Provides a critical reassessment of poverty in the ancient world which is in line with contemporary research within the social sciences Develops a methodology which includes women, slaves, and foreigners as well as male citizens in discussion of poverty and well-being Brings together literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence to examine alternate modes of expression among non-elites in Athens

Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World

Claire Taylor (Co-editor), and Kostas Vlassopoulos (Co-editor). Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

This volume examines the diversity of networks and communities in the classical and early Hellenistic Greek world, with particular emphasis on those which took shape within and around Athens. In doing so it highlights not only the processes that created, modified, and dissolved these communities, but shines a light on the interactions through which individuals with different statuses, identities, levels of wealth, and connectivity participated in ancient society. By drawing on two distinct conceptual approaches, that of network studies and that of community formation, Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World showcases a variety of approaches which fall under the umbrella of ‘network thinking’ in order to move the study of ancient Greek history beyond structuralist polarities and functionalist explanations. The aim is to reconceptualize the polis not simply as a citizen club, but as one inter-linked community amongst many. This allows subaltern groups to be seen not just as passive objects of exclusion and exploitation but active historical agents, emphasizes the processes of interaction as well as the institutions created through them, and reveals the interpenetration between public institutions and private networks which integrated different communities within the borders of a polis and connected them with the wider world.

Ancient Graffiti in Context

Claire Taylor (Co-editor), and J.A. Baird (Co-editor). Ancient Graffiti in Context. London & New York: Routledge, 2012.

Graffiti are ubiquitous within the ancient world, but remain underexploited as a form of archaeological or historical evidence. They include a great variety of texts and images written or drawn inside and outside buildings, in public and private places, on monuments in the city, on objects used in daily life, and on mountains in the countryside. In each case they can be seen as actively engaging with their environment in a variety of ways. Ancient Graffiti in Context interrogates this cultural phenomenon and by doing so, brings it into the mainstream of ancient history and archaeology. Focusing on different approaches to and interpretations of graffiti from a variety of sites and chronological contexts, Baird and Taylor pose a series of questions not previously asked of this evidence, such as: What are graffiti, and how can we interpret them? In what ways, and with whom, do graffiti communicate? To what extent do graffiti represent or subvert the cultural values of the society in which they occur? By comparing themes across time and space, and viewing graffiti in context, this book provides a series of interpretative strategies for scholars and students of the ancient world. As such it will be essential reading for Classical archaeologists and historians alike.

Selected Publications

• ‘Women’s social networks and female friendship in the ancient Greek world’, Gender & History 23.3 (2011): 704-21.
• ‘Migration and the demes of Attica’, in Demography and Society in the Graeco-Roman World. New Approaches and Insights, edited by Claire Holleran & April Pudsey, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2011): 117-134.
• ‘Lead letter days: Writing, communication, and crisis in the ancient Greek world’, [co-authored with Esther Eidinow], Classical Quarterly, 60.1 (2010): 30-62.
• ‘From the whole citizen body? The sociology of election and lot in Athenian democracy’, Hesperia 76.2 (2007): 323-346.
• ‘A new political world’, in The Anatomy of Cultural Revolution. Athens 430-380 BC edited by R. Osborne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2007): 72-90.

History Courses

• History 110 – The Ancient Mediterranean
• History 200 – Historical Studies: Athens C. 550-450 BCE: The Making of a City – Syllabus 2022 (pdf)
• History 201 – The Historian’s Craft: Athenian Democracy – Syllabus 2022 (pdf)
• History 303 – A History of Greek Civilization – Syllabus 2021 (pdf)
• History 600 – Advanced Seminar in History: Citizens and Slaves in the Ancient Greek World – Syllabus 2020 (pdf)
• History 801 – Seminar in Ancient History: Manumission in the Ancient Greek and Roman World – Syllabus 2022 (pdf)