Sam Ellis was a Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellow at the Chair of Ancient History in the University of Mannheim. From 2011 to 2014 he studied Ancient History at Cardiff University, before moving to the University of Edinburgh to complete his research Masters in 2015 to 2016. From 2017 to 2021 he was a doctoral student and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Edinburgh, and an ERASMUS+ visiting researcher at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in 2019. His doctorate was achieved in 2021 with a dissertation titled ‘Sole Rule and the Greek polis: Legitimising Monocratic Power from the Archaic Period to the Early Hellenistic Period’.

As Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellow, his research focused on the use of language to legitimise political power in the Greek polis. In particular, he has been interested in the use of stereotypes, metaphors and titles by sole rulers to justify their position. Further research interests are Greek political thought and institutional history, Greek and Persian relations, epinicia, and numismatics.

Publications

Articles and Chapters

Ellis, S. (forthcoming). ‘Legitimising sole power in the Greek polis: A New Institutionalist approach’ in M. Canevaro & M. Barbato (eds.) New Institutionalism and Greek Institutions, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Ellis, S. (2021). ‘Greek Conceptualisations of Persian Traditions – Gift-giving and Friendship in the Persian Empire’, Classical Quarterly 71.1,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 77–88.

Book Reviews

Ellis, S. (forthcoming). Review of C. de Lisle (2021). Agathokles of Syracuse: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bryn Mawr Classical Review.

Ellis, S. (2019). Review of N. Panou & H. Schadee (2018). Evil Lords: Theories and Representations of Tyranny from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2019.08.19.