Debra Hamel is an American

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 species; as well as the ...

specializing in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

Life and career

Hamel was born in 1964 in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. She graduated from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1989 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

with departmental and general honors. Hamel studied at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and graduated with an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

and M.Phil. in

classical language According to the definition by George L. Hart, a classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large body of ancient written literature. Classical languages are usually extinct languages. Those that are still ...

s and

literatures Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, th ...

in 1993. She received her

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1996, with the dissertation ''

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Strategoi ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek term to mean 'military general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also used to describe a military governor. In the modern Hellenic ...

: The Extent and Exercise of Authority in the Military Sphere, 501/0-322/1'' three years later. From 1998 to 2001 Hamel was Visiting Assistant Professor at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

. Debra Hamel's main topics are

ancient Greek law Ancient Greek laws consist of the laws and legal institutions of ancient Greece. The existence of certain general principles of law in ancient Greece is implied by the custom of settling a difference between two Greek states, or between members ...

and Greek military history. She has written several articles for the

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

Military History Quarterly A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a di ...

''. Hamel lives with her husband and her two daughters in North Haven.

Works

* ''Athenian Generals. Military Authority in the Classical Period.'', Brill, Leiden a.o. 1998 (Mnemosyne Supplementum 182) * ''Trying Neaira. The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece.'' Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2003. * ''Reading Herodotus: A Guided Tour through the Wild Boars, Dancing Suitors and Crazy Tyrants of ''The History''.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2012 * ''The Battle of Arginusae: Victory at Sea and Its Tragic Aftermath in the Final Years of the Peloponnesian War.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2015 * ''The Mutilation of the Herms'' Amazon Digital Services. 2012 * ''Killing Eratosthenes: A True Crime Story From Ancient Athens.'' Amazon Digital Services. 2016

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamel, Debra American classical scholars American women classical scholars 21st-century American historians Scholars of ancient Greek history 1964 births Living people Wesleyan University faculty Johns Hopkins University alumni Yale University alumni American women historians Writers from New Haven, Connecticut People from North Haven, Connecticut 21st-century American women writers Historians from Connecticut