Mirko Canevaro - Biography#

Mirko Canevaro, Professor of Greek History at the University of Edinburgh, is a Greek historian with particular interests in the institutional, social, cultural and economic history of ancient Athens and of the Greek cities. His research has developed in various strands, all united by a focus on the citizen-centred political organisation of the Greek polis. He was trained (BA, MA) in Turin and holds a PhD in Classics from Durham University. Before his appointment in Edinburgh, he was Research Fellow at the British School at Athens and A. von Humboldt Stipendiat at Mannheim University. His early research, culminated in the publication of his first monograph (OUP 2013), was on key documents about Athenian law and institutions. This was the necessary underpinning for his wider work on political, legal and economic institutions, particularly on decision-making and legislation. His extensive commentary of Demosthenes’ Against Leptines (De Gruyter 2016) sheds new light on Athenian politics, law and public economy. The study of the social and economic underpinnings of political institutions is matched by his research on ancient philosophical reflections on these topics, exemplified by a co-authored commentary of book IV of Aristotle’s Politics. Many articles, and edited volumes, make important contributions e.g. to the study of the status of slaves and freedmen in Athens, of Athenian popular culture, of the workings of honour and hybris. The quality, range and impact of his research have been recognised by the award of a Philip Leverhulme Prize, of the Chancellor’s Rising Star Award of the University of Edinburgh, of the Thomas Reid Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and by his election to the RSE Young Academy of Scotland and to the Young Academy of Europe. He has had significant success in obtaining research funding from AHRC, British Academy, A. von Humbold Stiftung, RSE, Leverhulme Trust, ERC. He is also a regular columnist for Il Fatto Quotidiano, one of the mostly widely read Italian national newspapers.