Paul Cartledge

Paul Cartledge
Cartledge in Stockholm 2014 due to his books Alexander the Great and The Spartans: An Epic History
Born	Paul Anthony Cartledge (1947-03-24) 24 March 1947 (age 77)
Nationality	British
Academic background
Alma mater	New College, Oxford
Doctoral advisor	John Boardman
Academic work
Discipline	Ancient history
Sub-discipline	Ancient Greece
Institutions	New University of Ulster Trinity College, Dublin University of Warwick Clare College, Cambridge Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge

Paul Anthony Cartledge (born 24 March 1947)^[1] is a British ancient historian and academic. From 2008 to 2014 he was the A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge.^[2][3] He had previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.

Early life[edit]

Cartledge was educated at St Paul's School^[4] and New College, Oxford, where, with his contemporaries Robin Lane Fox and Terence Irwin, he was a student of G. E. M. de Ste. Croix. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, later promoted to MA (Oxon) by seniority, in 1969. He remained at the University of Oxford to undertake postgraduate studies, completing a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) under the supervision of Professor Sir John Boardman. His thesis focused on Spartan archaeology.

Academic career[edit]

Cartledge lectured at the New University of Ulster in 1972–73, at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1973 to 1978, and at the University of Warwick in 1978–79.^[1] In October 1979 he moved to Cambridge University^[5] where he is a fellow of Clare College.^[6]

In 2008, Cartledge was elected to the newly established A. G. Leventis Professorship of Greek Culture at Cambridge University,^[2] a position from which he retired at the end of September 2014.^[7]

Cartledge holds a visiting Global Distinguished Professorship at New York University, funded by the Greek Parliament,^[2] and sits on the European Advisory Board of Princeton University Press.^[8]

Cartledge is also a holder of the Gold Cross of the Order of Honour of Greece and an Honorary Citizen of (modern) Sparta.^[9]

He is Vice-Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.^[10]

Field of study[edit]

Cartledge's field of study is Athens and Sparta in the Classical Age; he has been described as a Laconophile.^[11]

He was chief historical consultant for the BBC TV series The Greeks and the Channel 4 series The Spartans, presented by Bettany Hughes.^{[citation needed]}

Cartledge has appeared several times over his career on the BBC radio program In Our Time on episodes that discuss the ancient world. ^[12]

Personal life[edit]

Cartledge is married to Judith Portrait, a solicitor who acts as trustee of part of the Sainsbury family shareholding in Sainsbury's in blind trust.^[13]

In August 2014, Cartledge was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.^[14]

Publications[edit]

• Agesilaos and the crisis of Sparta (1987), The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801835056
• Aristophanes and His Theatre of the Absurd (1989), Duckworth. ISBN 1-85399-114-7
• Nomos : Essays in Athenian Law, Politics and Society (1991), Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37022-1
• The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization (TV Books, L.L.C., 2000; BBC Worldwide, 2001)
• Spartan Reflections, a collection of essays new and revised (Duckworth, 2001), ISBN 0-7156-2966-2
• Sparta and Lakonia (2nd edn., Routledge and Kegan Paul, 2002).
• Hellenistic and Roman Sparta (rev. edn., Routledge, 2002), (with A. Spawforth).
• The Greeks: A Portrait of Self and Others (2nd edn, Oxford University Press, 2002), the product of research into Greek self-definition.
• Kosmos: essays in Order, Conflict and Community in Classical Athens (coauthor Paul Millett; (2002), Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52593-4
• The Spartans: An Epic History (2nd edition, Pan Books, 2003). Published in the U.S. by The Overlook Press/Peter Mayer Publishers as The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse (2003) ISBN 1-58567-402-8.
• Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past (Macmillan, 2004).
• Helots and Their Masters in Laconia and Messenia: Histories, Ideologies, Structures (Center for Hellenic Studies, 2004). ISBN 0-674-01223-2
• Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World (The Overlook Press, 2006). ISBN 1-58567-566-0
• Ancient Greek Political Thought in Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2009). ISBN 978-0-521-45455-1
• Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities, (Oxford University Press, 2009). ISBN 978-0-191-57157-2
• Democracy: A Life (Oxford University Press, 2016). ISBN 978-0-199-83745-8
• Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece (Picador, 2020). ISBN 978-1509873166

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Dan Vergano (6 March 2007). "This is Sparta? The history behind the movie '300'". USA Today. Retrieved 21 April 2007. Interview with Paul Cartledge.
• 'Forever Young: why Cambridge has a Professorship of Greek Culture' An inaugural lecture by Professor Paul Cartledge to mark the establishment of the A G Leventis Professorship of Greek Culture, Monday 16 February 2009 at Mill Lane Lecture Theatre, Cambridge
• The myths of 'ancient Greece' dispelled, as explained by Paul Cartledge
• "Ancient History at Cambridge". Faculty of Classics. University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
• Forward To The Past! Hello To Democracy, Sparta, And All That A valedictory lecture by The AG Leventis Professor Of Greek Culture, Professor Paul Cartledge, Thursday 20 February 2014 at Mill Lane Lecture Theatre, Cambridge