Greg Woolf

Gregory Duncan Woolf, (born 3 December 1961) is a British ancient historian, archaeologist, and academic. He specialises in the late Iron Age and the Roman Empire. Since July 2021, he has been Ronald J. Mellor Chair of Ancient History at University of California, Los Angeles. He previously taught at the University of Leicester and the University of Oxford, and was then Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews from 1998 to 2014. From 2015 to 2021, he was the Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, and Professor of Classics at the University of London. From January 2025 he assumed the role of Director at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at New York University.

Early life and education Woolf was born on 3 December 1961 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. He was educated at Bexhill Grammar School, a grammar school in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1985; as per tradition, this was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA (Oxon)) degree.

Academic career Woolf began his academic career while still studying for his doctorate; he was a part-time lecturer at the University of Leicester and a research fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1990, after completing his doctorate, he moved to the University of Oxford to teach ancient history and archaeology. From 1990 to 1993, he was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Then, from 1993 to 1998, he was a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford and a lecturer in the Faculty of Classics. He was Head of the School of Classics between 2004 and 2009. During the 2009 to 2010 academic year, he was visiting fellow at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt. In 2022, he became editor of the Journal of Roman Archaeology. Since January 2025, he has been professor of ancient Mediterranean studies and director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University.

Woolf gave the Rhind Lectures for 2004/2005; the series was titled Men who turned towards the light: Cult and creativity in the Romans' world. The Rhind Lectures are a series of lectures on archaeology and they are hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In July 2012, he appeared on BBC Radio 4 as a guest on In Our Time to discuss Hadrian's Wall. In December 2012, he appeared again on In Our Time, this time to discuss the Cult of Mithras.

Honours In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA), and a Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE). In July 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. In 2021 he was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Selected works