Benjamin Gray

Benjamin Gray is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Historical Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford (2006-2012) and has held fellowships at All Souls College, the University of Edinburgh, and Humboldt University Berlin. His research focuses on ancient Greek political and ethical thought, particularly in the Hellenistic period, emphasizing inscriptions, decrees, and their interplay with literary texts. He is co-editor of Polis, contributing to expanding its coverage of Hellenistic political thought. Recent projects include studies on civic cosmopolitanism and the dynamics of exile and reconciliation in ancient Greek cities.

Education:

• Doctorate in Classics (DPhil), University of Oxford (2006-2012)
• Chancellor’s Fellowship in Classics, University of Edinburgh (2012-2017)
• Research Fellowship, Humboldt University Berlin (2016-2018)

Research Interests:

• Hellenistic political thought and civic discourse
• Epigraphic evidence and its role in reconstructing public debates
• Cosmopolitanism and modern parallels to ancient exile/refugee issues

Teaching:

• "Greek and Roman Political Thought in Context" (BA)
• "Classical Cosmopolitanism and its Critics" (MA)

Current Projects:

• Book: Debating Polis and Cosmopolis, c. 150 BC – AD 14 (under contract with Oxford University Press)
• Co-editing Ancient Greek History and Contemporary Social Science (Edinburgh University Press, 2018)

Supervision:

• Joint supervision of doctoral theses on exile in Greek literature and Hellenism