Professor Cook teaches ancient Greek, Latin, and courses on Greek culture and publishes on the historical lives and later traditions about Demosthenes, Philip II, Alexander the Great, and later figures in Greek and Roman history.
Research Interests
Since graduate school, Professor Cook has wondered why readers of the same ancient sources have come to such differing opinions about so many ancient figures. From his dissertation to today he has studied and published on the surviving sources about the 4th-century BCE Athenian speechwriter and political leader Demosthenes, how we have our sources about Demosthenes and his day and how those sources have been handed down by later writers. Research on Demosthenes has led to study of ancient texts and traditions about Demosthenes’ Macedonian opponents, Philip II and his son Alexander, as well as to parallel study of the so-called Roman Demosthenes, the 1st-century BCE speechwriter and political leader Cicero, especially the reading and reception of Cicero during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. See below for five sample publications; for a full list of journal articles, book chapters, and reviews, see the cv posted on academia.edu.
Biography
Professor Cook was trained broadly in Greek and Latin literature at the University of Washington but also studied for a spring quarter with UW’s Rome program and then a year at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. That on-site education has deeply influenced his teaching of ancient cultures, from his first course in 1996, “Macedon and the Fourth Century in Greek History,” taught on site, literally, for College Year in Athens, to his newest course on slavery (and freedom) in ancient Greece and Rome. Before coming to the University of Mississippi in 2011, he taught at Ursinus College, Loyola University and Tulane, Ohio Wesleyan, and San Diego State University. For a list of his current culture/history courses, see below, and for Greek and Latin courses, check the current course schedule
Publications
“Swift-boating in Antiquity: Rhetorical Framing of the Good Citizen in Fourth-Century Athens,” Rhetorica 30 (2012) 219–251.
“A Watery Folktale in the Alexander Romance: Alexander’s Byzantine Neraΐda Folktale,” Syllecta Classica 20 (2009) 105–134.
“Tully’s Late-Medieval Life: The Roots of the Renaissance in Cicero’s Biography,” Classica et Mediaevalia 60 (2009) 347–370.
“The Essential Philip: A Byzantine Epitome of His Life,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 45 (2005) 189–211.
Courses Taught
- Clc 101 Introduction to (Ancient) Greek Civilization
- Clc340/Hst301 The Golden Age of Athens
- Clc341/Hst303 Alexander the Great
- Clc342/Hst302 Law & Life in Ancient Athens
- Clc349/Hst308 Slavery in Ancient Greece and Rome
Education
B.A. Greek, University of Washington (1987)
M.A. Classics, University of Washington (1988)
Ph.D. Classics, University of Washington (1996)