Dr Eve MacDonald
Senior Lecturer in Ancienc history
School of History, Archaeology and Religion
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
I am broadly interested in the social history and archaeology of many places in the ancient Mediterranean and near east. I have worked previously on the history and archaeology of Carthage and continue to research on the archaeological legacy of 19th and 20th century colonial occupation in North Africa. I am also now researching and teaching on Sasanian Iran and the broader Sasanian Empire. I have travelled and worked widely across the Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East and find inspiration in all differents periods and cultures that make up our global ancient worlds - especially those outside the traditional Greco-Roman narrative.
Publication
2024
- Bingham, S. and MacDonald, E. 2024. Carthage. Archaeological Histories. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Priestman, S., Kennet, D., MacDonald, E. and al-Jahwari, N. 2024. Sohar Project: The archaeology of an Indian Ocean port in Arabia. Bulletin of the International Association for the Study of Arabia, pp. 17-19.
2023
- Priestman, S., al-Jahwari, N., MacDonald, E. and Kennet, D. 2023. Anglo-Omani excavations at Fulayj fort. The British Omani Society Review 2023, pp. 95-98.
- Priestman, S. et al. 2023. Fulayj: a Sasanian to early Islamic fort in the Sohar hinterland. Presented at: Fifty-fifth meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Berlin, Germany, 5-7 August 2022Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol. 52. Archeopress pp. 291-304., (10.32028/psas.v52i)
2022
- Macdonald, E. 2022. [Book Review] (P) HORDEN and (N.) PURCELL The Boundless Sea: Writing Mediterranean History (Variorum Collected Studies Series).. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 142, pp. 391-392. (10.1017/S007542692200057X)
- MacDonald, E. 2022. The best of men: cross-cultural command in the 630s AD. In: Tougher, S. and Evans, R. eds. Generalship in Ancient Greece, Rome and Byzantium. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 206-224.
2021
- Short, E. and MacDonald, E. 2021. Shirin in context: female agency and the wife of Sasanian King Khosrow Parvez. Presented at: 8th Melammu Workshop, Kassel, Germany, 30 January - 1 February 2019 Presented at Droß-Krüpe, K. and Fink, S. eds.Powerful Women in the Ancient World: Perception and (Self) Presentation, Vol. 4. Melammu Workshops and Monographs Zaphon pp. 475-498.
2020
- Sauer, E. W. et al. 2020. Dariali: the 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from antiquity to the age of the Huns and the middle ages: the joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge excavations and surveys of 2013-2016. British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monographs Vol. 6. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
2019
- MacDonald, E. and Bingham, S. 2019. Piracy, plunder and the legacy of archaeological research in North Africa. In: Evans, R. and De Marre, M. eds. Piracy, Pillage and Plunder in Antiquity: Appropriation and the Ancient World. Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies Routledge, pp. 170-184.
2015
- MacDonald, E. 2015. Hannibal: A Hellenistic life. Yale University Press.
Articles
- Priestman, S., Kennet, D., MacDonald, E. and al-Jahwari, N. 2024. Sohar Project: The archaeology of an Indian Ocean port in Arabia. Bulletin of the International Association for the Study of Arabia, pp. 17-19.
- Priestman, S., al-Jahwari, N., MacDonald, E. and Kennet, D. 2023. Anglo-Omani excavations at Fulayj fort. The British Omani Society Review 2023, pp. 95-98.
- Macdonald, E. 2022. [Book Review] (P) HORDEN and (N.) PURCELL The Boundless Sea: Writing Mediterranean History (Variorum Collected Studies Series).. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 142, pp. 391-392. (10.1017/S007542692200057X)
Book sections
- MacDonald, E. 2022. The best of men: cross-cultural command in the 630s AD. In: Tougher, S. and Evans, R. eds. Generalship in Ancient Greece, Rome and Byzantium. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 206-224.
- MacDonald, E. and Bingham, S. 2019. Piracy, plunder and the legacy of archaeological research in North Africa. In: Evans, R. and De Marre, M. eds. Piracy, Pillage and Plunder in Antiquity: Appropriation and the Ancient World. Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies Routledge, pp. 170-184.
Books
- Bingham, S. and MacDonald, E. 2024. Carthage. Archaeological Histories. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Sauer, E. W. et al. 2020. Dariali: the 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from antiquity to the age of the Huns and the middle ages: the joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge excavations and surveys of 2013-2016. British Institute of Persian Studies Archaeological Monographs Vol. 6. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
- MacDonald, E. 2015. Hannibal: A Hellenistic life. Yale University Press.
Conferences
- Priestman, S. et al. 2023. Fulayj: a Sasanian to early Islamic fort in the Sohar hinterland. Presented at: Fifty-fifth meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Berlin, Germany, 5-7 August 2022Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol. 52. Archeopress pp. 291-304., (10.32028/psas.v52i)
- Short, E. and MacDonald, E. 2021. Shirin in context: female agency and the wife of Sasanian King Khosrow Parvez. Presented at: 8th Melammu Workshop, Kassel, Germany, 30 January - 1 February 2019 Presented at Droß-Krüpe, K. and Fink, S. eds.Powerful Women in the Ancient World: Perception and (Self) Presentation, Vol. 4. Melammu Workshops and Monographs Zaphon pp. 475-498.
Research
Current research is directed towards a monograph on the history of Sasanian Iran that will be published by Yale University Press. I am also involved in fieldwork at the site of Fulayj in Oman where we have uncovered a Sasanian fort that is leading us to reassess the early Islamic period in Oman. I continue to be involved in research on Carthage and am co-authoring a book on the history of the archaeological site of Carthage and the processes that formed it.
Teaching
I teach on a range of topics related to the Roman Empire, the Parthian and Sasanian worlds and resistance to Rome. I am currently Part 1 Tutor for Ancient History which means I look after the 1st year teaching. My teaching is inspired by students who are interested in understanding today's ideas of the past and how we got here -- ideas around identity, ethnicity, colonialism, post-colonial theory all interest me.
Biography
I was born in Halifax, Canada and graduated from the University of Alberta (Canada) with a degree in Classics and then went on to an MA at the Institute of Archaeology in London (UK) and a PhD in Ancient History at the University of Ottawa (Canada). I teach and research around cultures both inside and outside of the Roman Empire and have taught courses in Carthaginian, Roman and Persian material culture and history. I have always worked in the field on excavations, first in Italy, and then at Carthage in Tunisia while my most recent fieldwork includes the excavations of Sasanian Persian outposts in Georgia, Iran and Oman for the ‘Persia and Its Neighbours Project’.
Besides academic work I have also been a guide across the Mediterranean and Middle East and focused on areas of specific cultural and archaeological interest. I have led tours in Greece, Turkey, North Africa and across the Middle East and was lucky enough to spend time in Syria before the recent war. My first book, Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life follows on from a long interest in the history and archaeology of Carthage and was published with Yale University Press. I am writing a new book on the history of the Sasanian Empire for the same publisher. When not teaching at Cardiff I live in London
Professional memberships
British Institute of Persian Studies
Royal Asiatic Society
Institute of Classical Studies
Academic positions
2017-present: Lecturer at Cardiff University
2012-2017: Teaching Fellow at University of Reading
2007-2011: Teaching Fellow at University of Edinburgh (part-time)
Supervisions
Sasanian Iran: history, material culture and archaeology
Carthage: reception, material culture, archaeological history and legacy
Resistance to imperial power and identity
Current supervision
Dom Rossi
Research student
Sean Strong
Research student
Clare Parry
Research student
Tony Curtis
Research student
Kieran Blewitt
Research student
Contact Details
+44 29208 79682
John Percival Building, Room Room 4.09, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU