Professor Neville Morley

I've worked in Exeter since 2016, having previously spent over twenty years at Bristol. I teach and research on both classical Greek and Roman history, with a particular focus in recent years on historiography, political theory and the reception and influence of ancient texts and examples in the modern world, especially Thucydides.

I am currently writing a book on What Thucydides Knew for Princeton University Press, about how Thucydides has been read as a guide to modern politics and how he could help us understand them if we read him better. From 2024 to 2026 I will be a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellow, working on a project in Marx, Class and Antiquity, including writing books on Marx and Antiquity for Oxford University Press and Class: antiquity and its legacy for Bloomsbury. In the longer term I am developing a project on decadence as a form of political thinking, and co-editing a volume on The Futures of Greek and Roman History for Cambridge University Press.

I am also actively engaged with the public understanding of ancient history. As well as writing pieces for non-academic audiences, I blog regularly about my research, about the reception of Thucydides and his potential relevance to contemporary issues, and about anything else that catches my interest, at http://thesphinxblog.com. I also correct misquotations and misappropriations of Thucydides on Ex-Twitter, via the Thucydides Bot (@Thucydiocy).