Arthur M. Eckstein

Professor of History, University of Maryland
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 1978
Ancient History
phone: 301-405-4301
ameckst1@umd.edu
 

Professor Art Eckstein has been a frequent guest of NWC's "Empires" evening discussion series. He is a specialist in the history of Roman imperialism. He has published four books and almost 40 major scholarly articles. The first book, Senate and General: Individual Decision-Making and Roman Foreign Relations, 264-194 B.C. (1987) is a study of the day-to-day mechanism of Roman foreign relations under the Roman Republic, emphasizing specifically the wide freedom of diplomatic decision-making enjoyed by Roman commanders in the field–the diplomatic importance of "the man on the spot." The second book, Moral Vision in the Histories of Polybius (1995), is a revisionist analysis of the important Hellenistic historian Polybius, who has usually been viewed as a severe and rational pragmatist; the book emphasizes instead Polybius' traditionally moralistic approach to human action in the face of widespread social and international chaos. Professor Eckstein's scholarly articles cover a wide range of topics, mostly on issues of Roman imperial expansion, but also on topics ranging from modern theories of economic imperialism to American film and popular culture. In the latter regard, Professor Eckstein is senior editor of a collection of scholarly essays on John Ford's great western The Searchers (1956), which is a central artifact of post-World War II American culture: The Searchers: Essays and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western (Wayne State University Press, 2004). Professor Eckstein's most recent book is Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome (University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 0520246187). This book attempts to integrate international systems theory with the history of Roman expansion. Professor Eckstein has been a long-term member of the editorial board of The American Journal of Philology (the oldest and most prestigious American journal of Classical literature and history), and is currently a member of the editorial board of The International History Review (the most important journal of international political history). He was the major scholarly consultant on the Emmy Award-winning PBS film "Roman City" (1994).

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