Research
I am an historian with a research focus on Classical Greek literature and Thucydides in particular. I hold a PhD from the University of St Andrews and an MPhil. from the University of Sydney. In my doctoral research, I examined methods of characterisation in Thucydides’ History with a focus on the deliberative speeches. Immediately following my PhD, I was hosted as the Jacobi Scholar at the Kommission für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, where I began work on my first monograph which is based on my doctoral thesis.
As a Research Associate at the British School at Athens, I shall undertake a primary research project that investigates the correspondence between sophistic concepts, modes of questioning, and types of arguments in the Dissoi Logoi and the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides. This project will provide scholars with a fuller picture of the network of cultural and philosophical perspectives among Greeks in the Classical period.
Concurrently, I shall work on a project that investigates the role of religious ritual and belief in the creation of alliances and treaties during the Atheno-Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BC), entitled ‘Peace by Libation and Oath: Alliances and Treaties during the Atheno-Peloponnesian Wars’. Due to the significance of treaties and alliances between poleis and the importance of religious factors in the Atheno-Peloponnesian Wars, this research will continue to clarify the role of religion in that conflict.
Publications
Book Chapters
- Armstrong, E. J. “Speaking of the Gods: Religious Belief in Thucydides,” in Belief and Unbelief in the Ancient World: Multidisciplinary Discussions of the First Millennium BCE to the 2nd Century CE, edited by E. Johnson, M. Vercesi, and T. Gray. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmanns (forthcoming).
- Armstrong, E. J. “Tragedies in Thucydides: A Cathartic Reading of Military Defeats,” in Cathartic History, edited by A. Shilo, N. Williams, R. F. Kennedy, and J. Rop. (submitted).
Articles
In Preparation
- Armstrong, E. J. ‘Peace by Libation and Oath: Alliances and Treaties during the Atheno-Peloponnesian Wars’.
- Armstrong, E. J. ‘Herodotus and the Wonders of Physical Erga’.
Monographs
In Preparation
- Armstrong, E. J. Character and Rhetoric in Thucydides.
- Armstrong, E. J. Cultures of Classical Greek Thought: Herodotus and Thucydides in Conversation with the Dissoi Logoi.