Professor Hans van Wees

Hans has been Grote Professor of Ancient History since 2011, having previously held posts as Lecturer, Reader and Professor since joining UCL History in 1995. His research centres on the archaic period of Greek history (c. 750-450 BC), but also includes the classical period, and is focused above all on developments in society, economy, and warfare.

PhD supervision

Among students who have completed a PhD under Hans’ supervision are Errietta Bissa (Government Intervention in Trade in Archaic and Classical Greece, published by Brill in 2009), Alex Millington (on representations of Ares), Roel Konijnendijk (Classical Greek Tactics: a cultural history, published by Brill in 2018), Cezary Kucewicz (The Treatment of the War Dead in Archaic Athens, published by Bloomsbury in 2020). In 2021, Sotirios Peithis completed a PhD on communications in classical Greek warfare, Beatrice Pestarino on the political and administrative structures of classical Cypriot city-states (Kyprion Politeia, published by Brill in 2022), and Joe Whitchurch on anger, revenge and the state from Homer to Aristotle. Current students include Vincent Fourcade (classical Greek navy), Alix Harmer (Cimon and Athenian foreign policy), and Rong Li (the economy of Corinth). Hans would particularly welcome PhD proposals in the area of archaic or classical Greek social and economic history.

Major publications

• Ships and Silver, Taxes and Tribute: A fiscal history of archaic Athens (London: IB Tauris, 2013)
• Greek Warfare: Myths and realities (London: Duckworth/Bloomsbury, 2004)
• (with Nick Fisher as co-editor) Aristocracy in Antiquity: Redefining Greek and Roman elites (Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2015)
• (with Kurt Raaflaub as co-editor) A Companion to Archaic Greece (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)

For a full list of publications, see Hans’s Iris profile.

Teaching

• Cultures of War in Ancient Greece (special subject)
• An Economic History of Ancient Greece (thematic course)
• The Economy of Archaic Greece (MA module)
• The Economy of Classical Athens (MA module)
• Sources and Methods in Ancient History (MA Ancient History core course)
• ‘The Mediterranean World, 800-500 BC’
• “Aristocracy” in Ancient Greece (advanced undergraduate seminar)
• Homer and History: Epic Evidence for Early Greek Society (research seminar)

Email: h.wees@ucl.ac.uk

Telephone: 020 7979 3633

Office: G02, 23 Gordon Square

Student support & feedback hours: Mondays 16.30am - 17.30 

Student support & feedback hours are an opportunity for students to chat with their module tutors about their ideas, any support they might need with the module, and to go through feedback from their assessments. 

Departmental/UCL roles

• Tutor, BA Ancient History
  Consultative and Teaching Committee

External roles

• Co-Editor of Historia: Zeitschrift fuer Alte Geschichte
• Member of editorial board GAIA
• Corresponding member of Royal Dutch Academy
• Honorary Fellow of University of Wales Institute of Classical Studies
• Regular convenor of ICS Ancient History seminars

Qualifications

PhD Leiden, 1992