Craige B. Champion

Craige B. Champion is a professor of ancient Greek and Roman history. He has had a life-long fascination with the myths, history and culture of ancient Greece, though oddly enough much of his scholarly work has concentrated on ancient Rome. His research focuses on historiography, elite religious practices in antiquity, and imperialism and citizenship in the ancient world. 

Champion has authored several books: "Cultural Politics in Polybius's Histories" (University of California Press, 2004), "The Peace of the Gods: Elite Religious Practices in the Middle Roman Republic" (Princeton University Press, 2017), "Roman Imperialism: Readings and Sources" (Blackwell Publishing, 2003) and the "Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Ancient History" (Wiley and Sons, 2013).

In 2004, he was the recipient of the Maxwell School’s Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award and in 2014 he garnered an Excellence in Teaching Award from Syracuse University and University College. He is working on completing a new, two-volume English-language edition of the history of the Greek historian Polybius.  

Books

Cultural Politics in Polybius's Histories. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2004.  Hellenistic Culture and Society Series, volume 41. (ISBN: 0-520-23764-1)

Roman Imperialism: Readings and Sources, Editor.  Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 2004. Interpreting Ancient History Series. (ISBN 0-631-23118-8 hardback; 0-631-23119-6 paperback)

Articles

"Polybius and the Aetolians: A Historigraphical Approach." forthcoming in Blackwell's Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography, ed. J. Marincola. Oxford: Basil Blackwell

"In Defense of Hellas: The Antigonid Soteria and Paneia at Delos and the Aetolian Soteria at Delphi," American Journal of Ancient History. In Press.

"Polybian Demagogues in Political Context," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 102 (2004). In Press
"Romans as Barbaroi: Three Polybian Speeches and the Politics of Cultural Indeterminacy," Classical Philology 95 (2000) 425-44

"Histories 12.4b.1-4c.1: An Overlooked Key to Polybios' Views on Rome," HISTOS, vol. 4 (2000)

"The Nature of Authoritative Evidence in Polybius and the Speech of Agelaus at Naupactus," Transactions of the American Philological Association 127 (1997) 111-28

"Polybius, Aetolia, and the Gallic Attack on Delphi (279 B.C.)," Historia 45 (1996) 315-28

"The Soteria at Delphi: Aetolian Propaganda in the Epigraphical Record," American Journal of Philology 116 (1995) 213-20

"Dialogus 5.3-10.8: A Reconsideration of the Character of Marcus Aper," Phoenix 48 (1994) 152-63

Papers

"Roman Classic Biases and Greek Political Strategies in the Second Century BC." Conference: Class Struggles in Ancient Greece, 15-16 April, 2005, Scripps College, Claremont, CA, 4/16/05

"Roman Religion and Roman Statecraft in the Second Century BCE." Third International Conference on Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations (Russian Academy of Sciences), Moscow, Russia, 6/18/04

"Polybian Demagogues in Political Context." Workshop in the History of Political and Social Thought, Department of History, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 4/27/04

"Religion as a Mechanism for Social Control in the Roman Republic (ca. 220-ca. 185 BCE)." Workshop in Religion and Society, Department of History, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 3/26/04

"Barbarians at the Gates: The Antigonid Sotera and Paneia at Delos and the Aitolian Soteria at Delphi." First International Conference on Ancient and Modern European History, Athens Institute for Education and Research, Athens, Greece, 12/29-31/04

"The Struggle for Apollo: The Aitolian Soteria at Delphi and the Antigonid Soteria at Delos." Panel of the American Society of Greek and Latin Epigraphy jointly sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and the American Philological Association. Philadelphia, PA, 1/4/02

"Cultural Politics, the Barbarian Category, and Polybius' Views on Rome," 2001 Meeting of the Association of Ancient Historians, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 5/5/01

"The Culture of Politics and the Politics of Culture: Recent Directions in Classical Studies," paper presented in the panel Diversity and Classics: Understanding Difference in Greek and Roman Antiquity, Spring Meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States, New Rochelle, NY, 4/27/01

"Polybius as Prototype: Hellenism, Barbarism, and the Construction of the Roman."  Presented in the conference, Hellenism, History, and Ethnography in the Early Roman Empire, Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 2/5/00

"Romans qua Barbaroi: Indirect Historiography in Some Polybian Speeches," Department of Classics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, 4/10/98

"Three Polybian Speeches and the Politics of Indeterminacy," Departments of Greek and Latin, Classics Colloquia Series, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, 2/23/96

"Ethnic Stereotypes in Polybius and the Speech of Agelaus at Naupactus, 217 BCE (Hist. 5.104.1-11)," 127th Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, San Diego, CA, 12/30/95

"Tacitus, Dialogus 5.4: Support for a Supplement," Fall Meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States, Atlantic City, NJ, 10/7/95

"Polybius, Aetolia, and the Gallic Attack on Delphi (279 BC)," Spring Meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 4/28/95

"The Soteria at Delphi: Aetolian Propaganda in the Epigraphical Record," 125th Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, Washington, DC, 12/28/93

"The Dignitas of Marcus Aper," Fall Meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 9/28/87  

Professor of history, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY: 2017-Present  

Associate professor of history, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY: 2003-2017 

Assistant professor of history, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY: 8/01-10/03

Assistant professor of ancient history and classical languages, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA: 8/95 to 5/01

Visiting assistant professor of classics and humanities, Reed College, Portland, OR: 8/93 to 5/95

Lecturer in classics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ: Spring Term, 1993

Instructor, The Lewis School and Diagnostic Center of Princeton, Princeton, NJ: 9/92 to 7/93

Adjunct professor of history, College of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ: 9/91 to 8/92

Lecturer in classics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ: Spring Terms of 1990 and 1992