Richard John Alexander Talbert (born 26 April 1947) is a British-American contemporary ancient

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Cla ...

on the faculty of the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, where he is William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of Ancient History and Classics. Talbert is a leading scholar of ancient geography and the idea of space in the ancient

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

world.

Education

Talbert received his education at

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th centur ...

, where he gained Double First Class Honours in Classics (1968), followed by a PhD (1972).

Career

Connected to his spatial research is a major project on the ''

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-ce ...

'' (Peutinger table), a copy of an ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

map preserved in a

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

version once owned by Konrad Peutinger. He is the head of the advisory board of th
Ancient World Mapping Center
an interdisciplinary research unit based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Talbert is also a senior editor of th
Pleiades Project
a joint

digital humanities Digital humanities (DH) is an area of scholarly activity at the intersection of computing or Information technology, digital technologies and the disciplines of the humanities. It includes the systematic use of digital resources in the humanitie ...

venture focused on ancient world geography coordinated by

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. Cambridge granted him a Litt. D. in 2003. He is also a Corresponding Member of the

Deutsches Archäologisches Institut The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

. Talbert has been on the faculties of the

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

and

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

in Ontario, Canada. He was Herodotus Fellow at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

, (1978–79). His study ''The Senate of Imperial Rome'' (

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, 1984) won the

American Philological Association The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA) is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the preemin ...

's Goodwin Award of Merit in 1985. For 2000–01 Talbert was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

, an

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Senior Fellowship, and the inaugural Robert F. and Margaret S. Goheen Fellowship at the

National Humanities Center The National Humanities Center (NHC) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities. The NHC operates as a privately incorporated nonprofit and is not part of any university or federal agency. The center was planned under the ausp ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. Talbert has served on the council of the Classical Association of Canada, and was president of the Association of Ancient Historians (1999–2002). He was awarded the

's Medal for Distinguished Service in 1999. He was resident professor at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

(1991), and currently chairs the advisory council to its School of Classical Studies. He taught at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

in Huntsville as eminent scholar in the humanities (spring 1993), and has been visiting professor of Classics at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

(spring 1997). In 2011/12 he was the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...

's Martha Sharp Joukowsky Lecturer, and Directeur d'études invité at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. For Fall 2012 Talbert was named the first Suzanne Deal Booth Scholar-in-Residence at the

Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies The Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome (ICCS) is an overseas study center located in Rome, Italy for undergraduate students in fields related to Classical Studies. It was first established in 1965 by ten American colleges and ...

in Rome, Italy. Talbert has directed a

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Institute on the early Roman empire (Chapel Hill, 1991), and co-directed (with Michael Maas of Rice University) three

Seminars at the

(2000, 2006, and 2012.). In 2017 Talbert and Maas directed an NEH summer program focused on "Migration and Empire: The Roman Experience From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad".https://www.neh.gov/divisions/education/other-opportunities/2017/migration-and-empire-the-roman-experience-marcus-aurelius-muhammad Migration and Empire: The Roman Experience From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad SUMMER SEMINARS AND INSTITUTES FOR COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY TEACHERS Significant among his scholarly work is the compilation of the ''

Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World The ''Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World'' is a large-format English language atlas of ancient Europe, Asia, and North Africa, edited by Richard J. A. Talbert. The time period depicted is roughly from archaic Greek civilization (pre- ...

'', which won the 2000 Association of American Publishers Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Multi-volume Reference Work in the Humanities. He has also completed path-breaking research on the ''

'', a Medieval manuscript containing a copy of a likely ancient Roman map. Talbert's work, including both print and digital components, analyzes the map in an effort to situate it in terms of Roman world view. Talbert has continued to explore Roman ideation related to time and space with published work on portable sundials and modes of communication and travel in the Roman Mediterranean world. Talbert has trained many ancient historians during his tenure at the University of North Carolina.

Selected publications

Monographs

* 1971.
Studies on Timoleon and the revival of Greek Sicily from 344 to 317 B.C.
' (PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge. Faculty of Classics) * 1974.
Timoleon and the Revival of Greek Sicily
' (Cambridge). * 1984. ''The Senate of Imperial Rome'' (Princeton University Press). . Reviews: ''American Journal of Philology'
108.3
(1987). * 1985. ''Atlas of Classical History'' (Routledge). . Japanese-language edition 1996.
Girishia rōma rekishi chizu
ギリシア。ローマ歴史地図 / Richiādo·J·A·Tarubāto hen ; Nonaka Natsumi, Oda Kenji yaku./リチァード·J·A·タルバート編 ; 野中夏実, 小田謙爾訳. * 2010. ''Rome's World: The Peutinger Map Reconsidered'' (Cambridge).
online content
Reviews
TLS
''Journal of Roman Archaeology'
Elijah Meeks
(2011). * estschrift Lee L. Brice and Daniëlle Slootjes. Edd. 2014. ''Aspects of Ancient Institutions and Geography: Studies in Honor of Richard J.A. Talbert''. Leiden: E. J. Brill. . Reviews
Ancient History Bulletin 2015
* 2017. ''Roman portable sundials: the empire in your hand.'' (Oxford).

Edited volumes

* 2000. ''

'' (Princeton, 2000). . Reviews: ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'
14.454
Athena Revie

''JRS'' 94 (2004): 183–90
additiona
2013 app version
* 2004. with Kai Brodersen. ''Space in the Roman World, its Perception and Presentation'' (LIT, Munster). . Reviews: ''BMCR'
2005.09.41
* 2004. with M.T. Boatwright and D. Gargola. ''The Romans: From Village to Empire'' (Oxford). . Review

Czech edition (2012). ''Dějiny římské rise: od nejranějších časů po Konstantina Velikého'' . * 2005. trans. ''Plutarch on Sparta'' new ed. . * 2006. with M.T. Boatwright and D. Gargola. ''A Brief History of the Romans'' (Oxford). . * 2008. with R.W. Unger
Cartography in antiquity and the Middle Ages: fresh perspectives, new methods
' (Brill). . Reviews: ''BMCR'

* 2010. with Kurt A. Raaflaub.''Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies'' (Wiley-Blackwell). . Reviews: ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'
25.763
* 2011. with David S. Potter.
Classical Courts and Courtiers
' (''

American Journal of Philology The ''American Journal of Philology'' is a quarterly academic journal established in 1880 by the classical scholar Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. It covers the field of philology, and related areas ...

'' vol. 132.1, special issue). * 2012. with M.T. Boatwright, N. Lenski and D. Gargola ''The Romans: From Village to Empire: A History of Rome from Earliest Times to the End of the Western Empire'' 2nd expanded edition (Oxford). . * 2012. with Susan E. Alcock and John P. Bodel. ''Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World''. (Wiley-Blackwell). . * 2012.
Ancient Perspectives: Maps and Their Place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome
'. (University of Chicago Press). . Reviews
AJA 117.4
(2013) * 2013. New introduction to re-print of William Smith. ''An atlas of ancient geography, biblical and classical: maps of the ancient world''. London: I. B. Tauris. . * 2013. Boatwright, M. T., D. J. Gargola, N. Lenski, and R. Talbert. ''A Brief History of the Romans''. Second Edition. Oxford University Press. * 2014. F. S. Naiden and R. Talbert. ''American Journal of Philology'' 135.2 (Whole number 538)
Special Issue: Moses Finley in America: The Making of an Ancient Historian
'. * 2017. with Fred Naiden. ''Mercury's Wings: Exploring Modes of Communication in the Ancient World''. Oxford University Press. . * 2018. ''Challenges of Mapping the Classical World'' Routledge. * Forthcoming (2021). ''Travel in the Roman Mind'' (with Grant Parker). Routledge. .

Maps

* 2011. ed.
Routledge Wall Maps for the Ancient World
' (7 maps). * 2014. ed.
Asia Minor in the Second Century C.E.
' The map is at 1:750,000 scale, and prints at a size of 80 in x 50 in (at 300 dpi). * ed.
Maps for Texts
' series.

Internet resources

* 2012. "Maps" fo
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Classics
* 2010
Digital material
accompanying ''Rome's World: The Peutinger Map Reconsidered''. Cambridge University Press.

References

External links

Ancient World Mapping Center

Faculty profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbert, Richard English historians English classical scholars Historians of antiquity University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Place of birth missing (living people) 1947 births Living people Classical scholars of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill