Dr Eve MacDonald
(she/her)
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Eve MacDonald
Senior Lecturer in Ancient History
Overview
I am interested in the social history and archaeology of many places in the ancient Mediterranean and western Asia. 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
- MacDonald, E. 2024. Hannibal. In: Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, (10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2930)
- Bingham, S. and MacDonald, E. 2024. Carthage. Archaeological Histories. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. (10.5040/9781350380271)
- Priestman, S. et al. 2024. Sohar Project: The archaeology of an Indian Ocean port in Arabia. Bulletin of the International Association for the Study of Arabia 32, pp. 16-19.
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. et al. 2024. Sohar Project: The archaeology of an Indian Ocean port in Arabia. Bulletin of the International Association for the Study of Arabia 32, pp. 16-19.
- 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. 2024. Hannibal. In: Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, (10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2930)
- 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. (10.5040/9781350380271)
- 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
My current research is directed towards a monograph on the social history of the Sasanian Persian Empire that will be published by Yale University Press (2026 forthcoming). I am co-director of a fieldwork project (in collaboration and funded by the University of Chicago - Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures) at the ancient Indian ocean port site of Sohar, Oman that was an important centre of connectivity in the early Islamic maritime trade. We have been writing up our previous excavation in Oman at the Sasanian period fort of Fulayj that was funded by BIPS and the British Omani Society. I continue to be involved in research, writing and teaching on Carthage and ancient North Africa and have recently published a co-authored book (Bloomsbury, 2024) on the history of the archaeological site of Carthage and the processes that formed it. My new history of Carthage will be published by Penguin in 2025.
Teaching
I teach on a range of topics related to the Roman Empire, the Parthian and Sasanian worlds and Carthage. 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. I am teaching a new module called The South Shore in 2024 that is focussed on the people and cultures of ancient North Africa.
Biography
I am a Canadian-British ancient historian and archaeologist. I teach and research cultures both inside and outside of the traditional Greco-Roman worlds and have taught courses in Carthaginian, Roman and Persian material culture and history. I work in the field on excavations at Sohar, Oman at the moment (@soharancientport) and have experience in fieldwork in different regions including the Mediterranean - first in Italy, and then at Carthage in Tunisia - and also extensive work on the excavations of Sasanian Persian outposts in Georgia, Iran and Oman for the ‘Persia and Its Neighbours Project’.
My first book was Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life which followed on from a long interest in the history and archaeology of Carthage and was published with Yale University Press (2015). Recently published is a co-authored book on the Archaeological History of Carthage (Bloomsbury, 2024) and forthcoming is a new history of Carthage (Ebury). I am writing also writing a history of the Sasanian Empire for Yale University Press.
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: Senior 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
Contact Details
+44 29208 79682
John Percival Building, Room Room 4.09, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Research themes
Specialisms
- Ancient history
- Sasanian Iran
- Carthage