My first degree was in Classics (Oxford '97) and my PhD (UCL '02) looked at Achaemenid kingship in texts and material culture from the fourth century BC. I arrived at King's in 2005. I previously held research fellowships at Wolfson College, Oxford, the Warburg Institute and the British Museum. In the academic year 2008-09, I was a visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York.

Research Interests

• The Near East, particularly the Achaemenid Persian empire (c. 550-330 BC) and pre-Islamic Iran.
• History of scholarship and reception studies, particularly in relation to Persian history, the Ancient Near East and Alexander of Macedon.

My research and teaching interests lie mostly in the Near East, particularly the Achaemenid Persian empire (c. 550-330 BC) and pre-Islamic Iran. My research has expanded from Achaemenid Kingships in texts and material culture to include the history of scholarship and reception studies, particularly in relation to Persian history, the Ancient Near East and Alexander of Macedon. I would be interested in supervising PhD students in any of these areas.

For more details, please see my research profile.

Expertise and Public Engagement

• Achemenet at the Collège de France
• The London Centre for the Ancient Near East
• Art of the First Cities Ancient Near Eastern Art Dept. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation Griffith Institute, Oxford