I am a Roman political and cultural historian, with a particular interest in Roman law, Tacitus, and space. Raised in Alberta and Saskatchewan, I completed my B.A. (1993) and M.A. (1996) in Ancient History at the University of Saskatchewan. I then went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, funded by SSHRC, where I earned my PhD in Ancient History in 2003. Before completing my PhD, in 2001 I took up a position at UBC, and in 2003 I was appointed Assistant Professor of Roman History and Law. I was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008 and Full Professor in 2016. In 2015 I became Acting Head and this one-year appointment was followed by two terms as Head (2016-2019, 2019-2022).

I teach a range of courses at all levels on topics connected to the Roman world. I have also taken one group of students abroad for a 10-day ‘course wrap up’ tour of the Campanian region of Italy. Fun was had by all! The undergraduate courses I typically teach include introductory courses on Roman History, courses on the early empire, Roman law, and seminars on Pompeii, Tacitus, Roman death and dying, and Roman legislation. I developed our department’s course on the Roman Army in which we explore not only famous battles and generals but also such topics as military hygiene, diet, and the lives of veterans after their service.

Research Interests

• Social history
• Law (in practice)
• Law and government in Roman Italy
• The courtroom (across time)
• Space
• Intersection of law, lived experience, and physical environment

Research Areas

• Roman Studies
• Digital Humanities
• Law

Projects

The social history and the law of the ancient Romans are the primary areas of my research. I am particularly interested in topics that spring from the intersection of law, the lived experience of Romans (and non-Romans), and the physical environment.
I am currently at work on various research projects. The first is a monograph that explores how people living within Roman Italy interacted with the law. A second project connected to this monograph, and which I presented at the AIA in 2018, is a re-examination of the Portico Eumachiae in terms of legal activity. A third project that may result in a series of article-length studies, or turn into a monograph, explores the visuality of Roman law through display and publication. Tacitus’ account of trials in the Annals, which are fascinating and complicated, also catch my attention often.
I continue to be interested in the Roman courtroom. My book, Actors and Audience in the Roman Courtroom (Routledge, 2008), examined the courtroom in Rome in the first two centuries CE drawing from three fields of study: Roman topography, Roman law, and Roman social history. I am now working within a colleague on bringing the reconstructions of the courtroom which I produced in the book into 3D virtual forms. This work is leading to a re-evaluation of the evidence and exposing new exciting questions and avenues of research.

Monographs
•Actors and Audience in the Roman Courtroom (Routledge Press, 2008).
•Reviews: G&R 55 (2008) 296 Levick; CR 58.2 (2008) 452-454 Robinson; Latomus 68.1 (2009) 264-265 Du Plessis; Phoenix LXIV No. 3-4 (2010) 455-457 Humfress

Chapters and Articles
•“Gnaeus Domitius Afer” (953 words) in V.E. Pagán (ed.) The Tacitus Encyclopedia (Blackwell Publishing, forthcoming)
•“Maiestas (lex Maiestatis)” (1074 words) in V.E. Pagán (ed.) The Tacitus Encyclopedia (Blackwell Publishing, forthcoming)
•“Courts, Roman” in P. DuPlessis (section ed.) Oxford Classical Dictionary Digital Edition (Oxford University Press, 2019) 7950 words.
•“Law and Lawcourts in Ancient Rome” in A. Claridge and C. Holleran (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to the City of Rome (Blackwell Publishing, 2018) 527-540.
•“The Courts and Private Arbitration” in C. Ando, P. Du Plessis, K. Tuori (eds.) Oxford Handbook on Roman Law and Society (Oxford University Press, 2016) 234-244.
•“Iconographic Continuity in the Scenes of Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate”, in R. Haensch (ed.) Konferenz II: Die Alltägliche Realität der Rechtsprechung in einer Zeit des Übergangs (vom 3. bis zum 6. Jh). in the three-conference series Recht haben und Recht bekommen im Imperium Romanum. Das Gerichtswesen der Römischen Kaiserzeit und seine dokumentarische Evidenz (Warschau, 2016), 597-620.
•“Bringing the Law Home: The Roman house as courtroom” in K. Tuori (ed.) JRA Supplement: Public and Private in the Roman House (Portsmouth, 2015) 63-76.
•“Tacitus on Trial(s)” in L.L. Brice and D. Slootjes (eds.) Aspects of Ancient Institutions and Geography in Honour of R.J.A. Talbert (Brill, 2015) 65-83.
•”Roman Society in the Courtroom” in M. Peachin (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World (Oxford University Press, 2011) 317-334.
•”A Relief, Some Letters and the Centumviral Court” in F. de Angelis (ed.) Spaces of Justice in the Roman World. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition. (Brill, 2010) 223-250.
•“Three Passages on Tiberius and the Courts”, Memoirs of the American Academy at Rome 54 (2009) 121-133.
•“The Selection of Advocates for Repetundae trials: The cases of Pliny the Younger” Athenaeum 97 (2009) 197-208.
•“The Platform in Roman Art (30 BC – AD 180): forms and functions”, in C. Deroux, ed., Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History vol. XIV (2008) 235-282, 13 plates.
•“Judging Ovid”, The Classical Journal 104.1 (2008) 33-41.

I am open to supervising graduate students in the areas of Roman history, Roman law, Roman culture, and/or Roman topography. Please contact me directly through email if you would like to discuss the possibility of studying in our department.