Lionel Michael Whitby (born February 1952) is a British

ancient historian Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

. He specialises in late Roman and early Byzantine history and

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

. He is currently pro-vice-chancellor and head of the College of Arts and Law at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Early life

Whitby was born in February 1952, to Joan and Gordon Whitby, a physician and biochemist. He read '' Literae Humaniores'' at Corpus Christi College,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

. He then spent three years working as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

in the

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

. He returned to Oxford to conduct postgraduate study in Byzantine history. He completed his

Doctor of Philosophy 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 Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(DPhil) degree in 1981 with a

doctoral thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

titled "The Historiae of Theophylact Simocatta".

Academic career

Whitby held a junior research fellowship at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

. In 1987, he joined the Ancient History department at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. He became head of department in 1993 and received a personal chair in 1995 as Professor of Ancient History. He was Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, having joined the Department of Classics and Ancient History in 1996. He also served as pro-vice-chancellor 'Teaching, Learning and Quality' from 2003, and then 'Academic Planning and Resources'. On 1 September 2010, he became pro-vice-chancellor and head of College of Arts and Law at the

Honours

In 2007, Whitby was awarded a

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

(DLitt)

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

by the University of Warwick. He received one of the 2009 Distinguished Book Awards from the

Society for Military History The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...

for ''The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare''.

Works

*''The Emperor Maurice and his Historian: Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare'' (1988). *''Chronicon Paschale 284–628 AD'' (1989), with Mary Whitby. *''The Cambridge Ancient History XIV; AD 425–600'' (2000), co-editor. *''Rome at War AD 293–696'' (2002). *''The Cambridge History of Ancient Warfare'' (2005), co-editor. *''Christian Persecution, Martyrdom and Orthodoxy'' (2006). *''Sparta''. New York: Routledge (2002).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitby, Michael Living people British historians Academics of the University of Birmingham Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Academics of the University of Warwick Academics of the University of St Andrews 1952 births