
Dr Eve MacDonald
Lecturer in Ancient History
School of History, Archaeology and Religion
- macdonaldg1@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 9682
- Room 4.09, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
I am broadly interested in the social history and archaeology of many places in the ancient Mediterranean and near east. I have worked previously on the Carthaginians and continue to research on the archaeological legacy of 19th and 20th century colonial occupation in North Africa. I am also now researching and teaching on Sasanian Iran and the broader Sasanian Empire. I have travelled and worked widely across the Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East and find inspiration in all differents periods and cultures that make up our global ancient worlds - especially if outside the traditional Greco-Roman narrative.
Biography
I was born in Halifax, Canada and graduated from the University of Alberta (Canada) with a degree in Classics and then went on to an MA at the Institute of Archaeology in London (UK) and a PhD in Ancient History at the University of Ottawa (Canada). I teach and research around cultures both inside and outside of the Roman Empire and have taught courses in Carthaginian, Roman and Persian material culture and history. I have always worked in the field on excavations, first in Italy, and then at Carthage in Tunisia while my most recent fieldwork includes the excavations of Sasanian Persian outposts in Georgia, Iran and Oman for the ‘Persia and Its Neighbours Project’.
Besides academic work I have also been a guide across the Mediterranean and Middle East and focused on areas of specific cultural and archaeological interest. I have led tours in Greece, Turkey, North Africa and across the Middle East and was lucky enough to spend time in Syria before the recent war. My first book, Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life follows on from a long interest in the history and archaeology of Carthage and was published with Yale University Press. I am writing a new book on the history of the Sasanian Empire for the same publisher. When not teaching at Cardiff I live in London
Professional memberships
British Institute of Persian Studies
Royal Asiatic Society
Institute of Classical Studies
Academic positions
2017-present: Lecturer at Cardiff University
2012-2017: Teaching Fellow at University of Reading
2007-2011: Teaching Fellow at University of Edinburgh (part-time)
Speaking engagements
- If One Sasanian Girl Remains: Sasanian Sisters and Dynastic Practices: given a panel on Cross-Cultural Dynasties (also panel co-organiser) at the CCC, Coimbra Portugal (June. 2019)
- Shirin in Context: A powerful woman at the end of Antiquity: Kassel, Germany (Jan. 2019)
- Hannibal and Remembering War: Invited Lecture at the Gloucester History Festival (Sept. 11, 2018)
- What Women Are These? Gendered Royal Iconography and the Sasanians at the Roman Archaeology Conference, Panel on Sasanian and Roman Cross Cultural Interactions, Edinburgh University (upcoming April 13, 2018)
- Hannibal and Carthage after Zama, paper and panel discussion for the CSC/AIA joint meeting (January, 2018)
- Cassius Dio and the Rise of the Sasanians, at Colloquium on Contemporary History in the Ancient World, Oxford University (May 19, 2017)
- Panel member for Showcasing Women in the Arts and Humanities, University of Reading (Nov. 15, 2016)
- Hannibal: The Elephant in the Room, invited lecture for the Reading Classical Association (June 21, 2016)
- Hannibal, Livy and Remembering War, invited lecture for the Scottish Classical Association (Edinburgh branch) (Dec. 2, 2015)
- Hannibal and Livy, invited lecture at Charterhouse School Classics Society, (April, 2015)
Publications
2020
- Sauer, E. W.et al. 2020. Dariali: the 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from antiquity to the age of the Huns and the middle ages: the joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge excavations and surveys of 2013-2016. British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monographs Vol. 6. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
2019
- MacDonald, E. and Bingham, S. 2019. Piracy, plunder and the legacy of archaeological research in North Africa. In: Evans, R. and De Marre, M. eds. Piracy, Pillage and Plunder in Antiquity: Appropriation and the Ancient World. Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies Routledge, pp. 170-184.
2015
- MacDonald, E. 2015. Hannibal: A Hellenistic life. Yale University Press.
Current research is directed towards a monograph on the history of Sasanian Iran that will be published by Yale University Press. I am also involved in fieldwork at the site of Fulayj in Oman where we have uncovered a Sasanian fort that is leading us to reassess the early Islamic period in Oman. I continue to be involved in research on Carthage and am working towards a paper that looks at the early 20th century in Carthage and the legacy of technologies like aerial photography and film on the perception of the ancient city.
Supervision
Sasanian Iran: history, material culture and archaeology
Carthage: reception, material culture, archaeological history and legacy
Resistance to imperial power and identity