Jason R. Harris

Senior Lecturer of Classical and Mediterranean Studies

I am a historian who specializes in Ancient Greek history, especially the relationship between human mobility and state formation during the Classical period. My first book project, by studying the links between the movement of scholars around the Mediterranean and the subsequent creation of scholarly courts (e.g. in Syracuse and Macedon) and philosophical communities (e.g. the Pythagoreans and Platonic Academy), analyzes developments in literary/philosophical ideas and the creation of multi-ethnic empires during the fourth century BC. I have also published articles on tyranny, mercenaries, and political refugees in Ancient Greece. Before coming to Vanderbilt, I taught at Tulane University and have held fellowships at Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies (where I also am Fellow of Ancient History), the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Berlin, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and the American Academy in Rome.