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| Barry Strauss | |
|---|---|
| Name | Barry Strauss |
| Birth date | 1953 |
| Occupation | Historian, author, professor |
| Employer | Cornell University |
| Notable works | The Death of Caesar; The Spartacus War; The Trojan War |
Barry Strauss is an American historian, author, and professor specializing in ancient history, particularly Classical Greece and Republican Rome. He has written widely on political, military, and social aspects of antiquity and has appeared frequently in media and public forums to discuss ancient history and its modern resonances. Strauss teaches at an Ivy League university and directs programs that bridge academic research with public education.
Strauss was born in 1953 and raised in the United States, where he developed an early interest in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the literature of the classical world. He earned his undergraduate degree at Binghamton University and pursued graduate studies at Oxford University and Columbia University, completing a doctorate that focused on Republican Rome and Hellenistic politics. His doctoral advisors and early mentors included prominent classicists associated with institutions such as Institute for Advanced Study and the American Academy in Rome.
Strauss is the Donald and Marianne Newman Professor of History at Cornell University, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on topics ranging from the Peloponnesian War to the Roman Republic. He has supervised dissertations that engage with sources such as Thucydides, Polybius, and Livy, and has served on committees of organizations including the American Philological Association and the Society for Classical Studies. Strauss has held visiting fellowships at research centers like the Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies and delivered lectures at universities such as Yale University, Princeton University, and the University of Cambridge.
Strauss has authored several monographs and popular histories that reconstruct ancient conflicts and political crises using classical sources and modern historiography. His book The Trojan War reexamines Homeric narratives in light of archaeological work at Hisarlik, debates involving Heinrich Schliemann, and comparative studies with Near Eastern texts from Hittite Empire archives. In The Spartacus War he analyzes the slave uprising led by Spartacus, engaging sources like Plutarch, Appian, and Florence (Plutarch)-era traditions while situating the revolt within the context of the late Roman Republic. His account The Death of Caesar synthesizes evidence from Suetonius, Dio Cassius, and Cicero to trace the assassination of Julius Caesar and its aftermath, interacting with scholarship by historians associated with Oxford University Press and Harvard University Press. Strauss has also published articles on naval warfare in the Hellenistic period drawing on battles such as Actium and using source criticism of Polybius and Diodorus Siculus. His work often engages archaeological reports, numismatic studies tied to museums like the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and interdisciplinary approaches promoted by centers such as the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Strauss has appeared on television networks including PBS, BBC, and History Channel to discuss ancient history, and has contributed opinion pieces to newspapers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He has participated in radio programs on NPR and lectured for public audiences at venues like the New York Public Library and the National Gallery of Art. Strauss has also consulted on documentary projects about Homer, the Trojan War, and Caesar and has engaged with digital initiatives affiliated with platforms such as the Great Courses and museum online exhibits produced by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution.
Over his career Strauss has been recognized with fellowships and awards from bodies such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His books have received attention from literary and academic prize committees associated with publishers like Basic Books and Simon & Schuster, and he has been elected to scholarly organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and invited to give named lectures such as those hosted by the Loeb Classical Library and the Sather Classical Lectures.
Strauss lives in Ithaca, New York and continues to contribute to scholarship on antiquity through teaching at Cornell University and publishing for both academic and general audiences. His work has influenced contemporary readings of sources such as Thucydides and Livy and has been cited in studies of Roman political culture, Hellenistic diplomacy, and the historiography of classical antiquity. Strauss's efforts to popularize ancient history have linked scholarly research with public history initiatives at institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History; his students and readers include scholars who have gone on to positions at places such as University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Stanford University.
Category:American historians Category:Classical scholars