Thomas Clements

I am a Greek historian studying Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greece and am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the UKRI/ERC-funded project Class Struggle in Ancient Greek Democracy at the University of Edinburgh. I have previously held fellowships at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington DC and the University of Cincinnati. I received a PhD in Classics and Ancient History from the University of Manchester in 2022 which was funded by the the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (now UK Research and Innovation). I also hold a BA (Hons) in History from Lancaster University (2016) and a MA in Classics and Ancient History (2017) from the University of Manchester. I was Lecturer in Greek History at Manchester from 2022 to 2024, and remain an Honorary Research Fellow. 

My primary research interests are in the history and archaeology of the Peloponnese (Archaic to Hellenistic), with a particular research focus on Archaic and Classical Sparta. I am currently preparing a monograph arising out of my doctoral research, Sparta's Territories: Power and Place in the Ancient Peloponnese, c. 800-371 BC, which examines the ways in which the Spartan polis territorialised itself in Lakonia and Messenia and (crucially) how ancient populations responded to these attempted impositions of authority. The book will represent a detailed study of territory and territorilisation in ancient Lakedaimon from a social, economic, cultural, and political perspective. 

My other research interests range widely in Greek economic and social history, ancient state formation, Greek epigraphy, and Greek historiography (especially Herodotus and Thucydides). I have recently published a paper in Classical Quarterly outlining some essential nuances of Herodotus' presentation of Spartan helots and have several other articles and chapters in preparation. 

I have taught a wide range of courses in Greek history and language, ancient history and Classical archaeology.