Dr Samuel Gartland
- Position: Associate Professor in Ancient Greek History and Culture
- Areas of expertise: Ancient Greek history; Classical Archaeology; Boiotia; Thebes; The Peloponnesian War; Aristophanes; Alexander the Great; Ancient Persia; Pausanias; Enslaved peoples; Hellenistic World
- Email: S.D.Gartland@leeds.ac.uk
- Location: 1.51 Michael Sadler Building
Profile
I studied at Oxford and then Leeds, where I received my PhD in 2013. I then taught Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford between 2013–2019, when I returned to Leeds as Lecturer in Ancient Greek History and Culture. I have won awards at Oxford and Leeds for teaching, and always enjoy seeing how students find new ways of responding to the ancient world.
Research interests
My work explores ancient history and archaeology through the experiences of people whose lives are only faintly visible in the surviving record: those who lived with marginalisation, subordination, or the everyday pressures of violence and conflict. I am interested in how space, sensory experience, and social power shaped human behaviour, and in developing approaches that allow us to understand the lives of individuals and communities often left at the edges of traditional narratives. This research ranges from comedy to community life, from the effects of warfare on ordinary people to the many forms of vulnerability that shaped existence in the ancient world. Working across the first millennium BCE and throughout the eastern Mediterranean and its neighbouring regions, I aim to bring new perspectives to bear on the lived experiences of those whose stories are only partially preserved.
Books:
• Boiotia in the Fourth Century B.C. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016)
• Voiceless, Invisible and Countless in Ancient Greece (Oxford University Press, 2024)
• Reassessing the Peloponnesian War (Cambridge University Press, 2025)
• Aristophanes and the Current Moment (Bloomsbury, 2025)
Current Research
• The Worlds of Alexander the Great (with Dr Simon Glenn): examines the impact and legacy of Alexander III of Macedon through archaeology and material culture.
• Subordinates and Subordination in Ancient Greece (with Professor David Tandy): investigating the lived experience and social mechanisms of subordination across Greek communities.
• The Peloponnesian War (with Professor Robin Osborne): re-evaluating the conflict through new methods and sensory/spatial perspectives.
• Aristophanes and the Current Moment (with Professor Constanze Guthenke): exploring the contemporary resonance of classical comedy and political satire.
• Epichorios (with Professor Hans Beck and the team at the University of Münster): examining regional identities, localism and the interplay between local culture and wider Greek polities.
Professional memberships
- Classical Association
- Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
- British Epigraphy Society
Student education
I teach modules in classics, ancient history, and archaeology. I also supervise Undergraduate and Postgraduate research on a wide range of topics.
Research groups and institutes
- Classics