معرفی
Dr. Marco Santini is a Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh, appointed in January 2025. Previously, he was a Fellow by Examination in Ancient History at Magdalen College, University of Oxford (2022-2024) and a Postgraduate Research Associate and Lecturer at Princeton University (2021-2022). His academic trajectory spans elite institutions across Europe and North America, with specialized focus on the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean and Near East.
His educational credentials include:
- BA Classics, University of Pisa (2014)
- MA Classical Philology and Ancient History, University of Pisa (2016)
- Diploma di Licenza (BA & MA equivalent) in Classical Philology, Linguistics and History, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (2017)
- MA Classics, Princeton University (2018)
- PhD Ancient History, Princeton University (2021)
Santini's research interrogates political, social, and cultural dynamics of the Eastern Mediterranean during the Iron Age (1200-600 BC), with concentrated expertise on Greece-Anatolia-Levant interactions. He pioneers interdisciplinary approaches examining political thought, ethnic identity formation, cultural memory, and multiculturalism through linguistic analysis of Anatolian (Luwian, Hittite, Carian) and Semitic (Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic) languages. His work reveals how multilingualism shaped power structures and cross-cultural exchanges in ancient societies.
Analysis of his publication record since 2016 demonstrates consistent thematic evolution: early work centered on Hellenistic Caria and Halikarnassos epigraphy, gradually shifting toward Iron Age Anatolian political systems (Phrygia, Lydia) and cross-Mediterranean conceptual transfers like tyranny. A defining methodological signature is his integration of linguistic evidence with historical analysis to decode power dynamics, particularly evident in his 2024 articles on Phrygian hegemony and Anatolian-Greek political parallels.
His scholarly recognition includes:
- Hyde Fellowship for doctoral research at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (2019-2020)
- CECIL Visiting Fellowship at the University of Pisa (2024)
- Evans-Pritchard Lecturer appointment at All Souls College, Oxford (Spring 2026)
Actively recruiting PhD candidates, Santini supervises research on early Greek society, Iron Age Mediterranean interactions, and 1st-millennium Anatolian states (Neo-Hittite kingdoms, Phrygia, Lydia). His collaborative research portfolio includes the Greek Economic Inscriptions database (2015-2017), Getty Foundation's "Material Entanglements" project (2018-2020), Oxford's "A World History of Ritual" (2022-2024), and the "Ancient Anatolia Network" (2023-2024), demonstrating sustained engagement with major international research consortia.
Current major projects include his monograph "A Common Path in a Diverse World: Political Development in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean" analyzing post-Bronze Age political evolution, and a Cambridge Elements volume on "Political Geographies of the Iron Age Mediterranean", positioning him at the forefront of Mediterranean macrohistorical synthesis.
