Richard Lim

Professor

Richard Lim is an associate professor of Ancient Mediterranean, Greece and Rome, Late Antiquity.

Field of research centers on the history and religions of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds during late antiquity (c. 200-600). Recent works include scholarly articles on Christian uses of the literary dialogue form, the history of Manichaeism, aspects of late Roman urbanism and interpretations of chariot-racing in the Circus Maximus, and thematic chapters on late antiquity/Later Roman Empire and religion and empire in late antiquity for publications such as the Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies, Edinburgh Companion to Greece and Rome, Blackwell Companion to Late Antiquity and the Cambridge Companion to the Religions of Late Antiquity . My major research project remains a book on public spectacles and civic transformation in late Roman cities such as Rome , Carthage , Antioch and Constantinople . Published books include: (as joint editor with Carole Straw), The Past Before Us: The Historiographies of Late Antiquity for a New Millennium , Bibliothèque de l' Antiquité Tardive (Turnholt, 2004); Public Disputation, Power and Social Order in Late Antiquity ( Berkeley , 1995). Recent a rticles and chapters include: "The Gods of Empire." In Greg Woolf, ed., Cambridge Illustrated History of the Roman World ( Cambridge , 2003); "Converting the Unchristianizable: the Baptism of Stage Performers in Late Antiquity." In Kenneth Mills and Anthrony Grafton, eds., Seeing Is Believing: Conversion in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages ( Rochester , 2003); "Augustine, Grammarians and the Cultural Authority of Vergil." In Roger Rees, ed., Romane memento: Vergil in the Fourth Century ( New York and London , 2002); "The Roman Pantomime Riot of A.D. 509." In Jean-Michel Carrié and Rita Lizzi, eds., 'Humana Sapit': Études d'Antiquité Tardive offertes à Lellia Cracco Ruggini. Bibliothèque de l' Antiquité Tardive 3 (Turnholt, 2002); "People as Power: Games, Munificence and Contested Topography." In William V. Harris, ed., The Transformation of VRBS ROMA in Late Antiquity, Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series Number 33 (Portsmouth, RI, 1999); "In the ' Temple of Laughter ': Visual and Literary Representations of Spectators at Roman Games." In Bettina Bergmann & Christine Kondoleon, eds., The Art of the Ancient Spectacle , Studies in the Visual Arts, Center for Advanced Study of the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C./New Haven, 1999); and "Christian Triumph and Controversy," one of a dozen lead essays in G. W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, Oleg Grabar, eds., Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Post-Classical World (Cambridge, Mass., 1999).

As the sole ancient historian of the Department of History, my course offerings necessarily cover a considerable geographical and chronological expanse (c. 800 B.C. and even earlier to c. A.D. 400). I teach a four-semester cycle of ancient history survey courses: Ancient Greece (HST 202), Alexander the Great & the Hellenistic World (HST 203), The Roman Republic (HST 204); and The Roman Empire (HST 205). In addition to the ancient surveys, I have also taught several colloquia under the rubric of HST 206, Aspects of Ancient History, including "The Emergence of Byzantium," "Law and Society in Greece and Rome," and "Sports and Public Entertainment in Greece and Rome." The senior seminars I offer under the rubric of HST 302, Topics in Ancient History, tend to be even more specifically tied to my own research interests and previous topics include: "'Bread and circuses': Public Spectacles in the Roman World" and "Late Antique and Early Medieval Rome." I also teach HST 201, "The Ancient Silk Road," a course on the history of the pre-modern contact between "East" and "West" from the rise of pastoral nomads to the travels of Marco Polo.

Phone: 413-585-3717
Office: Seelye Hall 108
Email: rlim@smith.edu
Office Hours: TBA

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