Michael Whitby

L. Michael Whitby is a British ancient historian of Late Antiquity. He specialises in late Roman history, early Byzantine history and historiography. He is currently pro-vice-chancellor and head of the College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham.

Early life

Whitby read Literae Humaniores at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford.^[1] He then spent three years working as a civil servant in the Scottish Office. He returned to Oxford to conduct postgraduate study in Byzantine history.^[2]

Academic career

Whitby held a junior research fellowship at Merton College, Oxford.^[3] In 1987, he joined the Ancient History department at the University of St Andrews. He became head of department in 1993 and received a personal chair in 1995 as Professor of Ancient History.^[2]

He was Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick,^[4] having joined the Department of Classics and Ancient History in 1996.^[5] He also served as pro-vice-chancellor 'Teaching, Learning and Quality' from 2003,^[6] and then 'Academic Planning and Resources'.^[1]

On 1 September 2010, he became pro-vice-chancellor and head of College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham.^[1]

Honours

In 2007, Whitby was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by the University of Warwick.^[7] He received one of the 2009 Distinguished Book Awards from the Society for Military History for The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare.^[8]

Works

• The Emperor Maurice and his Historian: Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare (1988).
• Chronicon Paschale 284–628 AD (1989), with Mary Whitby.
• The Cambridge Ancient History XIV; AD 425–600 (2000), co-editor.
• Rome at War AD 293–696 (2002).
• The Cambridge History of Ancient Warfare (2005), co-editor.
• Christian Persecution, Martyrdom and Orthodoxy (2006).
• Sparta. New York: Routledge (2002).

References