Education
Ph.D. – Oxford University, 1968
M.A. – Oxford University, 1964
B.A. – Oxford University, 1961

Current Departmental Service
ON LEAVE

Interests and Research
William Vernon Harris, William R. Shepherd Professor of History, specializes in the history of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. He received his B.A., M.A. and D.Phil. degrees from Oxford University. His books include Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity (2009), Restraining Rage: the Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity (2002), Ancient Literacy (1989), and War and Imperialism in Republican Rome (corrected edition, 1985).  His edited books include Rethinking the Mediterranean (2005) and The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans (2008). He has written a number of articles about the economic history of the Roman Empire, and is seeing through the press a collection of them that is provisionally entitled Rome's Imperial Economy.  W.V. Harris is the Director of Columbia's Center for the Ancient Mediterranean. Read Harris's articles "The Mediterranean and Ancient History", published in *Rethinking the Mediterranean* (Oxford University Press, 2005), "Quando E Come L’Italia Divenne Per La Prima Volta Italia?Un Saggio Sulla Politica Dell’Identità", and "The Late Republic", from the Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. 

Books

Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity

Aelius Aristides between Greece, Rome and the Gods(Edited with Brooke Holmes)

Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans

The Spread of Christianity in the First Four Centuries: Essays in Explanation

Noctes Campanae: studi di storia ed  archeologia dell’Italia preromana e romana in memoria di Martin Frederiksen (Edited with Elio Lo Cascio)

Rethinking the Mediterranean

Ancient Alexandria between Egypt and Greece

Selected Articles

"Roman Governments and Commerce, 300 BC -- AD 300", in C. Zaccagnini (ed.), Mercanti e politica nel mondo antico (Bari & Rome, 2003), 279-309 (2003)

"The Rage of Women", in S. Braund & G.W. Most (eds.), Anger in ClassicalAntiquity (Cambridge, 2003), 121-143

“Roman Opinions about the Truthfulness of Dreams’, Journal of Roman Studies 93 (2003), 18-34

rev. of M. Steinby, Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae vols. V and VI, Journal of Roman Archaeology 16 (2003), 540-544

rev. of C. Barton, Roman Honor, American Historical Review 108 (2003), 561-562

rev. of S. Settis, Patrimonio S.p.A., Times Literary Supplement,  27 June 2003, 10

rev. of M. Barbanera, Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli,  Times Literary Supplement  23 January 2004, 10

rev. of Benjamin Isaac, The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity, Times Literary Supplement  10 September 2004, 9

 “The Mediterranean and Ancient History”, in W.V. Harris (ed.), Rethinking the Mediterranean (Oxford, 2005) , 1-42

“Can Enemies too Be Brave? A Question about Roman Representation of the Other”, in M.F. Petraccia (ed.), Il cittadino, lo straniero, il barbaro, fra integrazione ed emarginazione nell’antichità (Rome, 2005), 000-00

"Éducation (Grèce et Rome)", in J. Leclant (ed.), Dictionnaire de l’Antiquité (Paris, 2005), 751-755

“Some Reflections about Martin Frederiksen and his Work”, in W.V. Harris & E. Lo Cascio (eds.), Noctes Campanae: studi di storia ed  archeologia dell’Italia preromana e romana in memoria di Martin Frederiksen (Naples, 2005), vii-xii

“Insomnia: The Content of Roman Dreams”, in W.V. Harris & E. Lo Cascio (eds.), Noctes Campanae: studi di storia ed  archeologia dell’Italia preromana e romana in memoria di Martin Frederiksen (Naples, 2005), 245-261

“Niente confronti tra Atene e l’Iraq”, Corriere della Sera, 5 November 2005, 8.

“Morris Keith Hopkins (1934-2004)”, Proceedings of the British Academy 130 (2005), 3-27

“Constantine’s Dream”,  Klio 87 (2005), 488-494

rev. of M. Bonamici (ed.), Volterra: l’acropoli e il suo santuario, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005.5.11

2006: “Readings in the Narrative Literature of Roman Courage”, in S. Dillon & K. Welch (eds.), Representations of War in Ancient Rome (Cambridge, 2006), 300-320

"A Revisionist View of Roman Money", Journal of Roman Studies 96 (2006), 1-24

“Una prospettiva revisionista sulla moneta romana", Rivista di Storia Economica 22 (2006), 287-306

rev. of E. Dench, Romulus’ Asylum: Roman Identities from the Age of Alexander to the Age of Hadrian, Times Literary Supplement 

 “The Roman Economy in the Late Republic, 133 to 31 B.C.”, in Cambridge Economic History of the Greek and Roman World (Cambridge, 2007), 511-540 (2007)

"Quando e come l’Italia divenne per la prima volta Italia? Un saggio sulla politica dell’identità”, Studi Storici 48 (2007), 301-322

"Miten kreikkalaiset ja roomalaiset ymmärsivät unensa" [“How the Greeks and Romans Understood their Dreams”], Roma [Helsinki] 6  (2007), 75-91

rev. of  W. Clarysse and D. Thompson, Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt, Times Literary Supplement May 18, 2007

rev. of P. Jeffery, The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled, Times Literary Supplement October 19, 2007

"Introduction" and "The Nature of Roman Money", in Harris (ed.), Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans [see above], 1-11, 174-207

rev. of  P. Sommella, Tabula Imperii Romani, Foglio K-32, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2008.02.49

"Introduction", in Harris and Holmes (eds.) [see above], 1-5

rev. of E. Özveren et al., The Mediterranean World, Mediterranean Historical Review

rev. of The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, TLS December 12, 2008

rev. of M. Beard, Pompeii, TLS December 19, 2008

(forthcoming) "History, Empathy and Emotions" (the Syme Lecture, Oxford 2008)

(forthcoming) "Power", in A. Barchiesi and W. Scheidel (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies (Oxford, 2008)