Classics, Ancient History, Religion and Theology

Photo of Professor Lynette Mitchell

Professor Lynette Mitchell

Professor in Greek History and Politics

l.g.mitchell@exeter.ac.uk

4203

01392 724203

Overview

I took my first degree at the University of New England, Armidale, in northern New South Wales, and came to the UK in 1991 after being awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship. I subsequently held a British Academy Post-doctoral Fellowship and Junior Research Fellowship at Oriel College, Oxford, before coming to Exeter in 1998.

I am primarily a Greek historian who works on Greek political history in the period from the archaic period (8th century BC) to the death of Alexander. I am also interested both in later periods (especially the Hellenistic), and in other areas of Classics & Ancient History, especially Greek language and historiography, and the history of the ancient Near East. My current areas of interest are the development of Greek political thought, especially in relation to monarchy, and ideas about ancient monarchy more generally, especially in its relationship to the divine.

My first book, Greeks Bearing Gifts (published by CUP in 1997), was a revised version of my PhD thesis on the political significance of friendships for interstate relationships in the fifth and fourth centuries. My second monograph (Panhellenism and the Barbarian in Archaic and Classical Greece, published by the Classical Press of Wales in 2007) tries to define the phenomenon of Panhellenism, and so considers issues of identity and the relationship between Greeks and non-Greeks (and especially those of Asia) in this period, as well as considering the ways in which it changed and developed over time.My third monograph on rulers and ruling in archaic and classical Greece (The Heroic Rulers of Archaic and Classical Greece), argues that their was a common ideological basis for ruling from the archaic to the Hellenistic periods, which emphasised heroic heritage and values. This book was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2013. My most recent monograph, Cyrus the Great: A Biography of Kingship (Routledge, 2023), is a study of ancient Near Eastern kingship and how it was recieved in early medieval Europe by looking at the rich heritage of story-telling surrounding this important historical figure.

I can offer supervision on topics in Greek political history from the archaic to the early Hellenistic periods, Greek contacts with the non-Greek world, the development of Greek political thought, and ideas about ancient kingship more widely.

I have also organised a number of conferences. The most recent was a conference in Rio de Janeiro on the Biographies of Kingship which I co-organised with Dr Adriene Baron Tacla from UFF (Brazil) as part of out Newton Advanced Fellowship 'Of Coins and Kings. Previously I have organised a conference  on kingship in the Near East and medieval Europe (supported by the British Institute of Persian Studies and the Iran Heritage Foundation) with Professor Charles Melville of Cambridge (September, 2008), the proceedings of which have been published by Brill (Every Inch a King. Comparative Studies on Kings and Kingship in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds). I have also organised a conference on the Greek island of Rhodes held in 2005 to mark Peter Rhodes' 65th birthday ('Rhodes on Rhodes'). The papers from this conference have been published by the Classical Press of Wales as Greek History and Epigraphy. The proceedings of a conference organised jointly with Peter Rhodes at Durham in 1994, The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, have been published by Routledge in 1997, and reissued in paperback. I also organised a conference on 'Money and culture in archaic Greece' with Professor Richard Seaford in 1999.

I was a research-team member of the project ‘Greek Federal States and their Sanctuaries – Identity and Integration’ within the international network ‘Religion und Politik in den Kulturen der Vormoderne und Moderne’, and served two terms as a council member for the Hellenic Society.

I have run workshops in local comprehensive schools on leadership to disseminate my research, and Professor Neville Morley and I are leads on the outreach project, Thinking thorugh Thucydides.

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Research

My research interests range widely across Greek history of the archaic and classical periods. I am, in essence, a political historian, although I am interested in the impact of social relations on Greek politics.

I also have interests in Greek identity and relationships with the non-Greek world, especially as expressed through literature and the visual arts.

I am also interested in the development of Greek constitutions and Greek constitutional forms, and the early attempts to find a theoretical framework in which they could be understood.

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Supervision

Research students

I am able to supervise a number of areas from archaic to early Hellenistic Greek history. I would be delighted to supervise students who are interested in:

Greek interstate relations in the archaic and classical periods

Greek political activity, especially in the fifth and fourth centuries

Greek political theorising in the fifth and fourth centuries

Macedonian kingship, especially in the Argead period

Early Macedonian history, especially relating to Philip II and Alexander the Great

Ancient kingship

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2023 | 2022 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2001 | 2000 | 1997 | 1996 |

2023

  • Mitchell L. (2023) Cyrus the Great, Routledge Ancient Biographies.

2022

  • Mitchell LG. (2022) The Politics of Power: The Rise and Fall of the Deinomenid Dynasty in Fifth-century Sicily, Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica, volume 28, no. 1, pages 123-141, DOI:10.47743/saa-2022-28-1-8.
  • Mitchell L. (2022) A tale of two cities: studies in Greek border politics, Our Beloved Polites, pages 237-255.
  • Mitchell L. (2022) King, Divinity, and Law in Ancient Greece, Sacred Kingship in World History: Between Immanence and Transcendence, Columbia University Press, 111-136.

2020

  • Morley N, Mitchell L. (2020) To Help Students Understand Political Power, We Have To Begin At The Beginning, Times Educational Supplement, pages 36-37.
  • Mitchell LG. (2020) 'What age were you when the Mede came?' Cyrus the great and western Anatolia, Boreas : Uppsala studies in ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilizations, volume 37, pages 199-216.

2019

  • Mitchell LG. (2019) POLITICAL THINKING ON KINGSHIP IN DEMOCRATIC ATHENS, Polis, volume 36.3.

2018

  • Mitchell LG. (2018) Peace, war and gender, A Companion to Peace in Antiquity, Bloomsbury.

2016

  • Mitchell L. (2016) Greek Political Thought in Ancient History, Polis, volume 33, no. 1, pages 52-70, DOI:10.1163/20512996-12340073. [PDF]
  • Mitchell LG. (2016) Anti-Athenian attitudes in fifth-century Sicily?, Eyesore of Aigina, Classical Press of Wales, 61-73.
  • Mitchell LG. (2016) The three constitutions in Greek political thought, Leadership, Social Memory and Judean Discourse in the 5th-2nd Centuries BCE, Equibox Press, 201-218.

2015

  • Mitchell LG. (2015) Admiring others: Persians and Xenophon, Assessing Biblical and Classical Sources for the Reconstruction of Persian Influence, History and Culture, Harrassowitz, 183-91.
  • Mitchell LG. (2015) The Community of the Hellenes, Federalism in Greek Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 49-65.

2014

  • Mitchell LG. (2014) The splendors and the miseries of ruling alone: encounters with monarchy from archaic Greece to the Hellenistic Mediterranean, American Historical Review.

2013

2012

  • Mitchell L. (2012) The Women of ruling Families in Archaic and Classical Greece, Classical Quarterly, pages 1-21.

2011

  • Mitchell L. (2011) Em busca da antiguidade, A busca do antigo, 133-59.
  • Mitchell L, Melville C. (2011) Introduction, Every inch a king: comparative studies in kings and kingship of the ancient and medieval worlds, Brill.
  • Mitchell L. (2011) Alexander the Great: the rule of one man, divinity, and the rule of law, Every inch a king: comparative studies of kings and kingship in the ancient and medieval worlds, Brill.
  • Mitchell L. (2011) Herodotus' Cyrus and political freedom, Hisoriography and Iran in Comparative Perspective, IB Tauris.
  • Mitchell L. (2011) The women of ruling families in archaic and classical Greece, Classical Quarterly.

2010

2009

  • Mitchell L, Rubinstein L. (2009) Introduction, Greek History and Epigraphy: Essays in honour of P.J. Rhodes, Classical Press of Wales.
  • Mitchell LG. (2009) Cyrus the great and the obedience of the willing, Centre for Leadership Studies Extended Essays Series, no. 3, pages 8-22.
  • Mitchell LG, Rubinstein L. (2009) Greek History and Epigraphy. Essays in honour of PJ Rhodes, Classical Press of Wales.
  • Mitchell LG. (2009) The rules of the game: three studies in friendship, equality and politics, Greek History and Epigraphy. Essays in honour of PJ Rhodes, Classical Press of Wales, 1-32.

2008

  • Mitchell LG. (2008) Freedom and the rule of law, Freedom and Coercion. [PDF]
  • Mitchell LG. (2008) Thucydides and the monarch in democracy, Polis, no. 25, pages 1-30.

2007

  • Mitchell LG. (2007) Greek Government, A Companion to the Classical Greek World, 367-386, DOI:10.1002/9780470996799.ch18.
  • Mitchell LG. (2007) Born to rule? The Argead royal succession, Alexander’s Empire: Formulation to decay, Regina, 61-74.
  • Mitchell LG. (2007) Panhellenism and the Barbarian in Archaic and Classical Greece, Classical Press of Wales.

2006

  • Mitchell LG. (2006) Tyrannical oligarchs at Athens, Ancient Tyranny, Edinburgh University Press, 178-187.
  • Mitchell, L.G.. (2006) Born to be king? The Macedonian succession, Arethusa.
  • Mitchell, L.. (2006) 'Greek government', A Companion to the Classical Greek World, Blackwell.
  • Mitchell LG. (2006) Greeks, barbarians & Aeschylus Suppliants, Greece and Rome, volume 53, no. 2, pages 205-223, DOI:10.1017/S0017383506000283.

2005

  • Mitchell LG. (2005) Ethnic identity and the community of the Hellenes: review of J. Hall, 2002, Hellenicity: Between ethnicity and culture, Chicago, Ancient West & East, volume 4, pages 409-420.

2001

  • Mitchell LG. (2001) Euboean Io, The Classical Quarterly, volume 51, no. 2, pages 339-352, DOI:10.1093/cq/51.2.339.
  • Mitchell LG. (2001) Euboean Io (Greek myth-cycles), CLASSICAL QUARTERLY, volume 51, no. 2, pages 339-352, DOI:10.1093/cq/51.2.339. [PDF]

2000

1997

  • Mitchell LG. (1997) Greeks Bearing Gifts: the public use of private relationships 435-323 BC.
  • Mitchell LG. (1997) New wine in old wineskins: Solon, arete, and the agathos’, The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, Routledge, 137-147.
  • Mitchell LG, M, Mitchell L, Mi LG. (1997) Greeks Bearing Gifts: the public use of private relationships 435-323 BC.
  • Mitchell LG. (1997) The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, Routledge.
  • Mitchell LG. (1997) 'Philia, eunoia and Greek interstate relations', Antichthon, volume 31, pages 344-360.

1996

  • Mitchell LG. (1996) ‘New for old: Friendship networks in Athenian politics’, Greece & Rome, volume 43, pages 11-30.

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