Before coming to Berkeley in Fall 2020, I was trained as an ancient historian and epigraphist in Pisa (Scuola Normale Superiore/University of Pisa), Munich (Ludwig-Maximiliens-Universität) and Vienna (ÖAW, Forschungsgruppe Epigraphik). My PhD reseaerch has been supported, at Berkeley, by the Sara B. Aleshire Center for the Study of Greek Epigraphy, the Center for Tebtunis Papyri (CTP), the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR); and outside Berkeley, by the Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund, the American Numismatic Society (ANS), the Association of Ancient Historians (AHA), and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, where I was Associate Student Member during the a.y. 2024/2025.
My dissertation, Debt and the Polis, offers the first comprehensive history of public debt in the Greek-speaking world, spanning from the fifth to the first century BCE. Combining traditional philological analysis with probabilistic modeling and insights from economic sociology, new institutionalism, monetary economics, and the theory of public debt, the dissertation investigates when and why Greek poleis began borrowing around 450 BCE. It traces the early development of public debt between ca. 400–250 BCE, exploring the role of sanctuaries as supplier of loanble capital and insfrustracture to smooth consumption; the predominance of private lenders; the economics of public borrowing in relation to other fiscal tools; and the influence of private law on the emergence of public debt and inequality—while also addressing why kings never borrowed. The dissertation then turns to the period ca. 250–50 BCE, examining changes in discourse surrounding major lenders, the decline of sacred credit, practices of borrowing and lending within federal states, the impact of Roman rule on public indebtedness, the question of whether Rome itself ever engaged in public borrowing, and the reasons why public borrowing in the Greek world never consolidated into a stable fiscal institution.
I contribute to the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (SEG) as Assistant Editor (Attica, Peloponnesos, Boiotia). I have carried out epigraphic fieldwork research in Athens, Izmir, Thebes, and Nicopolis. At Vienna, I worked on archival material concerning Roman Ephesos and the Kabalis region.
In Pisa (2017–2019), I tutored high school students in Greek and Latin as part of a volunteer program organized by the Scuola Normale Superiore. At Berkeley, I have taught Latin 2 (Fall 2022) and AHMA R1B (Fall 2023), an argumentative writing course on historical writing in the Greek and Roman world. I also led discussion sections for AGRS 17A: Introduction to the Archaeology of the Greek World (Fall 2025). In Spring 2026, I served as guest instructor for Greek 125: Greek Literature of the Hellenistic and Imperial Periods, where I taught On the Death of Peregrinus by Lucian. I additionally offered guided tours of the papyrological collection at the Center for Tebtunis Papyri for undergraduate students. In Summer 2026, I will serve as instructor of record for HIS 227: Ancient World History at Mount Tamalpais College, within the Humanities and Social Sciences Program, an independent liberal arts initiative dedicated to providing higher education to incarcerated students at San Quentin State Prison.
Publications
Articles:
- with K.L. Zachos, "Nero and Augustus at Nicopolis. A new Inscription with aureae litterae from the Orchestra of the Theater.” In: A. Angeli, N. Papazarkadas, E. Pavlidis, K. Zachos (eds.) The Theater of Nicopolis (Monumenta Graeca et Romana; Brill) (expected 2026)
- "Magnesia al Meandro," in L.B.Borsano, M.Gammella, A.Magnetto (eds.), La diplomazia delle città della Ionia d'Asia (IV-I sec. a.C.). Con la prosopografia degli inviati. Pisa 2026.
- “Νέα έμμετρα επιτύμβια από τη Νικόπολη στην Ήπειρο,” Grammateion 14 (2025) 67-72
- with N. Papazarkadas, "In search of the Smyrna fragment of the Athenian Standards decree (IG I-3 1453G)," ZPE 226 (2023): 82-86
- "Neue Inschriften aus der Kabalis," Philia 8 (2022): 98-112
- with N.H. Levine, "Psenkebkis, Son of Pakebkis: New and Old Documents from the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri at The Bancroft Library." BASP 59 (2022): 61-83
- with M. Gammella, “La legge efebarchica di Anfipoli. Una difesa della coerenza interna del testo.” Ricerche Ellenistiche 2 (2021): 25-38
- “New light on Artemis’ epiphany. The I.Magnesia 65a+75 and 65b+76 dilemma revisited.” ASNP 12.1 (2020): 61-100
Edited Volumes:
- (as Assistant Editor) Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume LXX (2021 [expected 2026])
- (as Assistant Editor) Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume LXX (2020 [2025])
- (as Assistant Editor) Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume LXIX (2019 [2024])
- (as Assistant Editor) Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume LXVIII (2018 [2023])
- (as Assistant Editor) Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Volume LXVII (2017 [2022])
Reviews:
The Economy of the Greek and Roman world; Public Debt; Credit; Magnesia on the Maeander; Classical and Hellenistic stasis; ancient ephebeia; the public epigraphy of the early Roman empire; Roman Tebtunis; Ambrose and Late Antique imperial representation.
