Staff Profiles

My fascination with past lives and societies was kindled at a very early age thanks to my mum's involvement in the Sussex Archaeological Society. As a result, some of my earliest memories involve 'helping out' on the margins of archaeological excavations or being buffeted by icy winds whilst out field-walking on exposed sections of the South Downs. My parents enrolled me in the Sussex Young Archaeologists' Club as soon as I was eligible so much of our free time was spent participating in the fantastic range of activities that they offered (everything from (re)painting the Long Man at Wilmington to spending the day as 'an Iron Age Briton' at Michelham Priory). During this time I was increasingly captivated by a steady diet of historical fiction by children's authors such as Rosemary Sutcliffe and Ronald Welch which often featured the drawings of Victor Ambrus. I also benefitted from having several inspirational teachers at both (state) primary and secondary schools. Their infectious passion for history undoubtedly played a major role in my decision to study the topic at an advanced level (quite apart from planting the idea of my actually going to university to begin with!). 

My first formal encounter with the study of Graeco-Roman antiquity occurred in the East Neuk of Fife in the beautiful Scottish seaside town of St. Andrews where I studied Ancient History for five delightful years. (I was able to stay on for an M.Litt. thanks to a scholarship provided by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.) I then moved down to the University of Leicester where I studied for an MA in Professional Archaeological Practice with a view to taking up a job in contract archaeology. On completing my MA I took a year out to work as an archaeological illustrator in Leicester's School of Ancient History and Archaeology whilst casting around for funding for my PhD. I eventually secured a scholarship from the University of Liverpool-to study ancient ethnography under the supervision of Professors Tom Harrison and Christopher Tuplin. I then spent a year as School Student at the British School at Athens preparing my thesis monograph for publication before returning to Liverpool where I taught Ancient History on a series of rolling one-year 0.8 contracts from 2010-2013. I have been a Lecturer in Ancient Greek History at Newcastle since 2013.

My research focuses on the literary and material evidence for ancient concepts of race, ethnicity and culture together with the history of ethnographic thought - including its reception from the early-modern period until the present. I am particularly interested in the role of ethnographic description within Herodotus' Histories and the light that this sheds upon what it meant to be Greek in the first place. My broader interest in the history of contact and interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks encompasses regions as far flung as northern Greece (the Chalkidiki), ancient Bactria (modern Afghanistan) and Magna Graecia (S. Italy), however, I am also fascinated by ancient visual culture, Achaemenid Persia, and archaeological illustration. My work on nineteenth-century receptions ancient ethnography has led to a wider interest in intellectual engagement with modern Greece/its inhabitants whether in the form of early traveller's accounts or Anthropological studies of Greek customs and culture.

I am actively involved in archaeological fieldwork - most recently on the Greek island of Naxos (The Apalirou Environs Project) and the ancient city of Olynthos in the Chalkidiki (The Olynthos Project).

Postgraduate supervision:

I am willing to supervise dissertations on any aspect of Greek history or material culture relating to my research interests but would particularly welcome applications for PhD projects relating to: ancient ideas of race or ethnicity, the history and reception of ancient ethnography, Herodotus' Histories, interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks, the workings of Greek identity, and the modern study of Greece/its inhabitants.

I am currently co-supervising the following PhDs: 

Justine Mclean: The Classical Greek Citizen Soldier: perspectives from the Early Modern world and Historical European Martial Arts.

Jerome Ruddick: Olympian Shackles: An examination of the relationship between Greek Mythology, identity and material culture in Hellenistic Greece.

Recently supervised PhDs:

Mara Lou Schumacher: From archive to the microscope: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding domestic organisation in ancient Greece.

Jordan Bayley:‘British Histories: Readership and Reception of Herodotus in Britain during the long nineteenth century’.

James Mullen: The Image of the King: Can the royal hunts of Alexander the Great be seen as engaging with Aristotle's theory of pambasileia in order to legitimise his rule as King of Asia?

Nigel Porter: Images of Warrior Departure on Athenian Painted Pottery 600-400 BC.

Drop-in hours in Weeks 1-8, 11:

• Wednesdays 10-11am
• Thursdays 11-12 noon
• Fridays 1-2pm

Undergraduate modules

• HCA1008 Global Ancient Histories
• CAH1012 : West Meets East: Greek History and Society, 776-200BC
• CAC3000 Dissertation in Classics & Ancient History
• CAH3034 : 'Like ants or frogs around the pond': Mobility and identity in the Greek Mediterranean 
• CAC3073 : Warlike women, one-eyed warriors and gold-guarding griffins: The World of Herodotus

Postgraduate supervision

I am willing to supervise dissertations on any aspect of Greek history or material culture relating to my research interests but would particularly welcome applications for PhD projects relating to: ancient ideas of race or ethnicity, the history and reception of ancient ethnography, Herodotus' Histories, interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks, the workings of Greek identity, and the modern study of Greece/its inhabitants.

I am currently co-supervising the following PhDs: 

Justine Mclean: The Classical Greek Citizen Soldier: perspectives from the Early Modern world and Historical European Martial Arts.

Jerome Ruddick: Olympian Shackles: An examination of the relationship between Greek Mythology, identity and material culture in Hellenistic Greece.

Recently supervised PhDs:

Mara Lou Schumacher: From archive to the microscope: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding domestic organisation in ancient Greece.

Jordan Bayley:‘British Histories: Readership and Reception of Herodotus in Britain during the long nineteenth century’.

James Mullen: The Image of the King: Can the royal hunts of Alexander the Great be seen as engaging with Aristotle's theory of pambasileia in order to legitimise his rule as King of Asia?

Nigel Porter: Images of Warrior Departure on Athenian Painted Pottery 600-400 BC.

• Article

  • Skinner J. Herodotus remember'd: Cultures of empire in the long 19th century. Pharos 2019, 23(1), 65-85.

• Authored Book

  • Skinner JE. The Invention of Greek Ethnography: From Homer to Herodotus. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

• Book Chapters

  • Skinner JE. The Explored and their Explorations. In: Dueck D, ed. The Cultural History of Exploration in Antiquity. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2024.
  • Skinner JE. 'Greeks in the making'? Early Greek mercenaries and Oriental stereotyping. In: Forsén B; Lampinen A, ed. Oriental Mirages. Stereotypes and Identity Creation in the Ancient World. Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag, 2024, pp.41-74.
  • Skinner JE. Race, environment and culture. In: McCoskey D, ed. A Cultural History of Race in Antiquity (500 BCE – 800 CE). London: Bloomsbury, 2021, pp.33-47.
  • Skinner JE. Writing Culture: Historiography, Hybridity, and the Shaping of Collective Memory. In: Constantakopoulou C; Fragoulaki M, ed. Shaping Memory in Ancient Greece: Poetry, Historiography and Epigraphy. Newcastle upon Tyne: Histos, 2020, pp.189-234.
  • Skinner JE. Imagining Empire through Herodotus. In: Harrison T; Skinner JE, ed. Herodotus in the Long Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp.117-153.
  • Skinner JE. Early Greek ethnography and human values. In: Wolfsdorf,D, ed. Early Greek Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, pp.493-519.
  • Skinner JE. Herodotus and his world. In: Harrison, T; Irwin, E, ed. Interpreting Herodotus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, pp.187-222.
  • Skinner JE. Greek Ethnography and Archaeology: Limits and Boundaries. In: Muller,C;Veïsse, A-E, ed. Culture(s) matérielle(s) et identités ethniques, Dialogues d’Histoire Ancienne, Supplement 10. Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2014, pp.171-203.
  • Skinner JE, Almagor E. Introduction. In: Almagor, E; Skinner, JE, ed. Ancient Ethnography: New Approaches. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013, pp.1-22.
  • Skinner JE. Imperial visions, imagined pasts: Ethnography and identity on India's North-Western Frontier. In: Almagor, E; Skinner, JE, ed. Ancient Ethnography: New Approaches. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013, pp.203-221.
  • Skinner JE. Fish heads and mussel-shells: Visualizing Greek identity. In: Foxhall,L;Gehrke,H-J;Luraghi,N, ed. Intentional History. Spinning Time in Ancient Greece. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2010, pp.137-160.

• Edited Books

  • Skinner JE, Manolopoulou V, Tsouparopoulou C, ed. Identities in Antiquity. London: Routledge, 2025.
  • Harrison T, Skinner JE, ed. Herodotus in the Long Nineteenth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
  • Almagor E, Skinner JE, ed. Ancient Ethnography: New Approaches. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

• Reviews

  • Skinner JE. Review of: Török, L. (2014) Herodotus in Nubia. Mnemosyne Supplements, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity 368. Leiden and Boston: Brill. Pp. xiv +163. ISBN 978-9-004-26913-2. US$136.00. Acta Classica 2016, LIX.
  • Skinner J. Herodotus in Nubia [Review]. Acta Classica 2016, 59, 236-240.
  • Skinner JE. Review: Richard Stoneman, Xerxes: A Persian Life. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2015. Argo 2015, 2015(2 (Autumn/Winter)), 41-41.
  • Skinner JE. Review of: Moyer, I.S. (2011) Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Pp. x + 347, illus. £65/$110. ISBN: 9780521765510. Journal of Hellenic Studies 2013, 133, 249-250.
  • Skinner JE. Review of: Gruen, E.S. (2010) Rethinking the Other in Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp. xiv + 416, illus. ISBN: 9780691148526. £27.95/US$39.50. Journal of Roman Studies 2012, 102, 107-109.
  • Skinner JE. Review of: Bridges, E., Hall, E. and P.J. Rhodes (eds.) (2007) Cultural Responses to the Persian Wars. Antiquity to the Third Millennium. Oxford University Press. Pp xv + 453, illus. £80. ISBN: 9780199279678. Journal of Hellenic Studies 2008, 128, 223.