Gary Reger

Professor of History

Trinity College

Hartford, Connecticut

Note: This page remains intermittently under construction; your indulgence is requested. Please address comments or corrections to me via email; the address also appears at the end of this page.

I teach Greek and Roman history, which have a long tradition at Trinity College and (to the best of my knowledge) have always been housed in the History Department. Related courses on aspects of the ancient Mediterranean world are also found under Classical Civilization in the Classics Department and in the Philosophy Department. I am also beginning to explore the history of the mediaeval Middle East; you'll find more information about this farther down on the page.

History Department at Trinity College

If you are a prospective student interested in Trinity College, please visit the Trinity College Home Page, which has plenty of information about Trinity College and links to other campus resources. The History Department's Home Page provides major requirements, course descriptions, a list of faculty, and other useful information. For further information or to ask more specific questions, please email Kathleen Kete, the department chair.. For a department brochure or a map to campus, email Gigi St. Peter, the departmental administrative assistant.

If your interest is particularly in Greek or Roman history, send me an email.

Middle Eastern Studies

I am a faculty member Middle Eastern Studies, a major within International Studies. Please see the web pages for further information, or contact Ron Kiener, the Coordinator.

    Right -- Mosque of Mohammed Ali in Cairo

Why Study Greek and Roman History?

There are lots of answers to this question, but if you have any doubts you might want to see what rock star and social critic Iggy Pop has to say.

Courses

Spring 2009   

• History 115: "History of the Greek World (c. 1500-200 BCE) "  -- MWF 10.00-10.50 am.
• History 299: "Historiography" -- MW 8.00-9.45 am. This section of Historiography is offered concurrently with the section taught by Cheryl Greenberg; we will be doing a number of classes and activities jointly.

For the next few academic years I will be teaching four courses/year because of a one-course reduction for my duties as co-director of the new Trinity Center for Teaching and Learning.

For the 2009-2010 academic year, I am also thinking of:

• Senior seminar on Greco-Roman economic history
• History 211: "History of the Desert" (the link takes you to the fall 2006 syllabus)
• History 374: "The Age of Alexander the Great" (the link takes you to the spring 2006 syllabus)
• History 116: "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic" (the link takes you to the spring 2008 syllabus)

But this list is only preliminary. Email any suggestions.

For other courses recently taught, please click here.

For the academic year 2003-2004 I was lucky enough to be Elizabeth A. Whitehead Visiting Professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, where I taught a short seminar called Greek Agriculture.

Co-Curricular Initiatives

For some past several years, the History department, in association with other departments and programs at Trinity, has created or participated in  year-long Co-Curricular Initiatives around important historical anniversaries or themes. The initiatives include classes, special lectures, film series, symposia, and many other special events. 

The Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Co-Curricular Initiative for 2001-2002 sought "to explore fundamental moral questions associated with scientific inquiry." Historians participated in several aspects of this initiative.

[There was no initiative for the 2000-2001 academic year.]

"Fin de Siecle Millenium." For 1999-2000; for more information, contact Prof. Michael Lestz.

Migration, Diasporic Communities, and Transnational Identities. The 1998-1999 initiative focused on the increasing trendency for people to move around the globe, both willingly and unwillingly.

Decolonization: Painful Transitions in the Cold War Era. 1997-1998 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the decolonization of much of the British empire (most notably India and Pakistan), the creation of Israel, and the deferment of the question of Palestinian statehood. Trinity's first co-curricular initiative was created to consider these momentous events, the consequences of which are still very much with us.

Conferences

Here are a few conferences of interest to people working in Greek epigraphy and history.

Thirteenth International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy

The 13th International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy will be held September 2-8, 2007, at Oxford University in Oxford, England. Sure to be a fabulous time!

Graduate School in Greco-Roman History

Thinking about graduate school in classical Mediterranean history? It's a rewarding but difficult endeavor; you can find out some of what I think about it (having been there) and some resources for exploring the possibility further here.

Granting Agencies and Funding Sources

The academic world seems to get more competitive every year for money. Universities and colleges are less willing to fund leaves for research just at the time when travel and other needs grow. I have tried to collect here some sources for outside funding for scholars in Greek and Roman history, many on the web but some still reachable (as far as I know) only by mail.

Web Resources

Resources devoted to the study of the classical world are burgeoning on the WorldWideWeb. Home pages, discussion groups, graphical displays of ancient artwork, texts, and city plans, electronic versions of Greek and Latin texts in both the original and in translation, dictionaries, and even electronic journals are readily available, and more seem to appear every day. Click here to explore, but beware: the listings are intended as a guide to some resources; I make no claim to comprehensiveness. Additions are welcome.

Archaeological Fieldwork and Study Abroad

If you are interested in archaeological fieldwork, Cornell University provides a list of projects requiring personnel, or contact Martha Risser or me about the Tel el-Far'ah project in Israel, which offers credit for Trinstudents.

In March 2004 I visited three study away programs for Trinity, two in Athens and one in Cairo. If you are interested in spending a semester -- or a year -- in Athens or Cairo, you may want to have a look at:

• American University in Cairo
• Arcadia University in Athens
• DIKEMES (formerly College Year in Athens)

Booksellers

• AddALL. AddALL searches over forty on-line booksellers, both new and used, and displays all items found from least to most expensive.
• Ares Publishers. Reprints lots of useful reference books in epigraphy and papyrology, as well as publishing some original scholarship.
• Blackwell's of London. Can't be beat for books in classics and ancient history, but try it for other fields too.
• Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. Lots of material related to the classical world, Bolchazy-Carducci are also the US agents for Teubner.
• Brill. Publisher of many (unfortunately usually very expensive) important books on Greco-Roman antiquity.
• DK Agencies. Excellent source (and inexpensive) for books published in India.
• De Boccard in Paris publishes many important books and journals dealing with the Greek and Roman world.
• Casalini Libri in Italy for books published there by many different presses.
• Edizioni Quasar Publishes many important books on antiquity, including a reprint of Heinrich Kiepert's Formae Orbis Antiqui.
• Dr Rudolf Habelt. Habelt not only publishes some of the best and most important books in ancient history in Germany, but is also a source par excellence for almost anything you might want to get.
• John Benjamins. US supplier for books from J. C. Gieben.
• L'Erma di Bretschneider. One of the principle publishers of books and journals on classical antiquity in Italy.
• Hellenic Literature Society A great source for books about Greece from antiquity to the present day, in both English and modern Greek.
• Palm Tree Books If you're looking for scholarly books, including many out-of-print or hard-to-find items, on the Islamic and Byzantine world, this is a wonderful site to explore.
• Al-Kitab Another excellent resource for books on the Middle East, including a wide range of material in Arabic.
• Joppa Books Joppa Books in Britain is another source for Arabic-language material.
• Leila Books Leila Books in Cairo supplies books and periodicals published in the Middle East to libraries and scholars all over the world. If you care to write, the address is: George Fawzy, Director, 39 Kasr El Nil Str.-Office 12, Cairo, Egypt; telephone: 3924475-3934402-3507399; fax: (00202) 3924475. The bookshop is located at: 17 Gawad Hossny St., Cairo, Egypt; for correspondence: P.O.Box 31 Daher, 11271 Cairo, Egypt. Or simply email them.
• L'Olivier Located in in Geneva, L'Olivier features thousands of books in Arabic, French, and English.
• Boustany's Boustany's in Cairo can also be contacted via email.
• Amazon Books The original general on-line bookseller, with a catalogue of one million items. However, availability of foreign material is spotty.
• Barnes and Noble now also has an on-line bookstore which seems often to have better foreign press coverage than Amazon.
• Alapage is a kind of French Amazon; try it for books published in France.
• For books from Turkey, you can try E. B. Arikan, Posta Kutusu 67, Cebeci, TR-06592, Ankara, Turkey, or by email.
• For books from India, try K.K. Agencies. Lots of books and many very inexpensive.

The Byzantine, Arab, and Ottoman Middle East

Recently an old interest in the post-classical Middle East has reemerged, thanks in part to the directions my research is now taking me. To that end, I have begun to collect Web resources on this period as well. Additions and corrections are most welcome! Click here.

Research Interests and Publications

Since 1984, when I began my dissertation research at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, my work has focused on the Hellenistic period of Greek history (roughly the years between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the battle of Actium in 31 BC). My particular interest in economic and social history led me into the specialty of epigraphy, the study of documents (typically, but not always, public) carved on stone. My work on the economy of Delos, the small Aegean island housing a great sanctuary to the god Apollo, issued in a book, Regionalism and Change in the Economy of Hellenistic Delos, published in 1994 by the University of California Press.

Three big projects now occupy me. I am now working on a book on the city of Mylasa (modern Milas) in Karia (now southwestern Turkey), treating its political history and social, economic, and cultural development in the centuries from Persian domination to late antiquity. This study will situate Mylasa in its wider regional context, and thus continue the research interests of my work on Delos. My study of Mylasa rests in particular on a great mass of unpublished inscriptions found there by Louis and Jeanne Robert and given to me by Jeanne Robert; these texts will be published in my book.

I have also been appointed by Mark Garrison and Ilknur Ozgen, Co-Directors of the Hacimusalar Survey Project in northern Lykia, to look for, study, and publish the inscriptions in the survey region. For a full overview of the project see The HACIMUSALAR Project. A Multidisciplinary Archaeological Project in Southwestern Turkey.

Finally, I am a participant in the Polis Centre Project directed by Mogens Herman Hansen. I am responsible for the section on many Aegean islands exclusive of Euboia, Rhodos, and the large islands off the Asia Minor coast (Lesbos, Chios, Samos). 

For a list of publications and papers presented (but updated irregularly), please click here.

Gary Reger, Box 702550, Trinity College, 300 Summit Street, Hartford CT 06106-3100

Phone: 860-297-2393

Fax: 860-297-5111