Christopher John Smith, FSA (Scot),

FRHistS The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

, FSA,

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(born 1965 in

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamsh ...

, England) is a British academic and classicist specialising in early

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

. He is Professor of

Ancient History Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history co ...

at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

and was formerly Director of the British School at Rome. From 1 September 2020 he is on secondment to the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

as Executive Chair.

Early life

Smith was born in

, England in 1965. He attended

Aylesbury Grammar School Aylesbury Grammar School is a grammar school in Aylesbury situated in the English county of Buckinghamshire, which educates approximately 1300 students. Founded in 1598 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire by Sir Henry Lee, Champion of Queen Eliza ...

then

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to t ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

to read a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in Literae Humaniores, graduating in 1988. He holds a DPhil also from

awarded in 1992.

Academic career

His research explores constitutionalism and state formation with particular emphasis on the development of Rome as a political and social community and how this was represented in ancient historical writing and subsequent political thought. He joined the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

in 1992 as a Lecturer in Ancient History and was appointed to a chair in 2002. He was

Proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

& Provost of St Leonard's College,

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

. He served as President of the Unione internazionale degli istituti di archeologia Storia e Storia dell’Arte in Rome from 2012 to 2017. In 2017 he was awarded a three-year

Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the n ...

Major Research Grant. to study Rome's early kings. He is foreign member to the

Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici (English: Institute for Etruscan and Italic Studies) is a cultural institution based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It was founded in 1925 with the aim of promoting and enhancing in Italy and worldw ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Selected publications & awards

Among his publications are: *''Early Rome and Latium: Economy and Society c. 1000 to 500 BC'' Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1996. . *''The Roman Clan: The Gens from Ancient Ideology to Modern Anthropology.''Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006. . *Christopher John Smith; Anton Powell; Tim Cornell, eds. ''The lost memoirs of Augustus and the development of Roman autobiography.'' Swansea ales Classical Press of Wales; Oakville, CT: Distributor in the United States of America, David Brown Book Co., 2009. . *CJ Smith, RJ Covino (eds). ''Praise and Blame in Roman Republican Oratory.'' Swansea : Classical Press of Wales ; Oakville, CT : Distributor in the United States of America, David Brown Book Co., 2011. . *Peter Derow; Christopher John Smith; Liv Mariah Yarrow, eds. ''Imperialism, Cultural Politics, and Polybius.'' Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2012. . Awarded Premio Cultori di Roma 2017 by the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani /

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Christopher Living people Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Academics of the University of St Andrews Classical scholars of the University of St Andrews Historians of antiquity Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London People from Aylesbury People educated at Aylesbury Grammar School British classical scholars 1965 births Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland