Prof Caillan Davenport

Professor Caillan Davenport is Professor of Classics and Head of the Centre for Classical Studies at the Australian National University. He studied Latin, Ancient Greek, and Ancient History at the University of Queensland, receiving the University Medal in Latin. With the support of a John Crampton Travelling Scholarship, he undertook a DPhil in Ancient History at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Alan Bowman. He held positions at the University of Queensland (2011-2017) and Macquarie University (2017-2021) before coming to the ANU in January 2022.

In the course of his career, Professor Davenport has received the Royal Historical Society's Gladstone Prize, a Rome Award from the British School at Rome, an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, and an Experienced Researcher Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which he held at the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main with the sponsorship of Professor Hartmut Leppin. He has recently been awarded an ARC Future Fellowship for the project 'Why Monarchy Endures. Answers from the Ancient Mediterranean World', which will run from June 2025-June 2029. He has been named a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Professor Davenport is committed to public outreach and engagement. He has written for The Conversation, appeared on ABC Radio, given talks at the Queensland Museum and the Australian Museum in Sydney, and delivered numerous lectures and workshops to school groups on topics ranging from Cicero's speeches to women on ancient coins. He is a regular contributor to the Emperors of Rome Podcast, which was named Best Australian History Podcast in 2019 by Apple.

BA (Hons), MPhil (Qld.), DPhil (Oxon.), FHEA, FRHistS

• Ancient Mediterranean Monarchy (1200 BC - AD 600)
• Roman history from the Archaic period to Late Antiquity
• Roman emperors in Antiquity and their reception in later periods
• Roman imperial court society and ceremonial
• Comparative history, especially of monarchy, courts, governments, and empires
• News, rumour, gossip in pre-modern societies
• Documentary evidence for Roman history, especially inscriptions and coins
• Greek and Latin historiography of the Roman empire
• Roman letter writing, especially the correspondence of Marcus Aurelius and Fronto

Professor Caillan Davenport is the author of A History of the Roman Equestrian Order (Cambridge University Press, 2019), which won the Royal Historical Society's Gladstone Prize. The judges' citation described the book as 'a most impressive work of profound scholarship...of great ambition, erudition, and sophistication'. The book has been praised as 'a major work of scholarship and a very readable book' (Classics for All), 'an impressively scholarly but readable study' (Choice), 'an impressive work of scholarship...it is sure to become the new standard work of reference' (Ancient History Bulletin), 'a remarkable success' (Classical Review), 'learned and wide-ranging...an important advance' (Journal of Roman Studies), 'compelling reading' (Classical World) and 'magnificent...Davenport's magnum opus sets the whole subject on a new footing' (American Historical Review).

Professor Davenport is also the co-translator and editor of Fronto: Selected Letters (Bloomsbury, 2014, with J. Manley), the co-editor of Emperors and Political Culture in Cassius Dio's Roman History (Cambridge University Press, 2021, with C. Mallan), the co-editor of The Roman Imperial Court in the Principate and Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2023, with M. McEvoy), and the co-editor of Representing Rome's Emperors. Historical and Cultural Perspectives through Time (Oxford University Press, 2024, with S. Malik). He has published widely on the history and historiography of ancient Rome in journals such as Classical Quarterly, Journal of Late Antiquity, Journal of Roman Studies, Journal of Roman Archaeology, and Papers of the British School at Rome.

His next book, Talking about the Caesars: How Romans Imagined their Emperors, is forthcoming with Yale University Press. The book examines Rome's rulers from the perspective of their subjects. Drawing upon letters, graffiti, fables, plays, sermons, poems, and papyri, he analyses how people discussed the emperors' powers, bodies, sex lives, deaths, and successions across almost seven hundred years of Roman history from Julius Caesar to Heraclius.

Professor Davenport is also working on a collection of essays, entitled The Politics and Political Culture of The Roman Imperial Monarchy. The book explores the interactions between the 'republican' and 'monarchical' elements in the imperial state, examining issues such as imperial dynasties, communication, behaviour, and representation.

He welcomes enquires from prospective Honours, MPhil and PhD students who wish to work on theses associated with his ARC Future Fellowship Project: 'Why Monarchy Endures. Answers from the Ancient Mediterranean World'.