Dorothy J. Thompson

Dorothy Joan Thompson, (born 31 May 1939) is an ancient historian and classicist who specialises in the culture and society of Hellenistic Egypt, the early Hellenistic world, and documentary papyrology.

Career Thompson was born in 1939, the daughter of historian F. W. Walbank and his wife Mary (née Fox). She was educated at Birkenhead High School for Girls and Girton College, Cambridge, where she graduated with BA (1961) and PhD (1965) degrees in Classics, and Bristol University, where she received a Certificate of Education in 1962.

Her 1988 book Memphis under the Ptolemies was awarded the 1989 James H. Breasted Prize by the American Historical Association.

From 2001 to 2007 Thompson served as president of the International Association of Papyrologists and still remains an Honorary President of that organisation. Other presidencies include the Cambridge Classical Association (1987–1990) and the Cambridge Philological Society (2002–2004). She was elected as a Fellow of British Academy in 1996 and is a current fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, and a bye-fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.

Thompson formerly published work as Dorothy J. Crawford.

Selected publications Thompson, D. J. 1988. Memphis under the Ptolemies. Thompson, D. J. 2003. "The Ptolemies and Egypt", in Erskine, E. Blackwell Companion to the Hellenistic World. Clarysse, W. and Thompson, D. J. 2006. Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt. Thompson, D. J. 2011. "Slavery in the Hellenistic world", in Bradley, K. and Cartledge, P. The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 1, The Ancient Mediterranean WorldI