Timothy John Guy Whitmarsh, (born 23 January 1970) is a British
classicist and the second
A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture The A. G. Leventis Professorship of Greek Culture is the first professorship in Classics to have been endowed at Cambridge University since World War II, and Trinity College Dublin since 2017. Its purpose is to focus on the study of more than 1,00 ...
at the
University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the Greek literary culture of the
Roman Empire, especially the
Second Sophistic and the
ancient Greek novel.
Early life and education
Whitmarsh was born on 23 January 1970 in
Chelmsford, Essex, England. He was educated at
Moor Park School, a
Catholic prep school
Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: Schools
*Preparatory school (United Kingdom), an independent school preparing children aged 8–13 for entry into fee-charging independent schools, usually public schools
*College-preparatory school, ...
near
Ludlow, and at
Malvern College
Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...
, then an all-boys
independent school
An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
.
He took his undergraduate degree and doctorate at the
University of Cambridge.
Academic career
From 2001 to 2007 he taught in the department of Classics and Ancient History at the
University of Exeter where he remains an honorary fellow. He then served as
E. P. Warren Praelector, Fellow and Tutor in Greek at