thomas.a.mcginn@vanderbilt.edu
t.mcginn@aarome.org
Curriculum Vitae as of May 2008
Special Areas of Interest:
Roman Law and Social History
Education
Harvard College B.A. magna cum laude 1978
Cambridge University M.A. 1980
University of Michigan Ph.D. 1986
Title of Dissertation: Prostitution and Julio-Claudian Legislation: The Formation of
Social Policy in Early Imperial Rome
Teaching Experience
Tutorial in Latin Literature (summer 1981)
Elementary Latin (1981-1982)
Greek and Roman Classical Civilization (1982-1983)
(all at the University of Michigan)
Instructor in Roman History and Classical Sites for
Rhode Island School of Design Rome Program
(summer, fall 1985)
Assistant Director of the Summer School of the American
Academy in Rome, with Gerhard Koeppel (summer 1986)
Assistant Professor, Classical Studies, Vanderbilt University
(fall 1986-fall 1993)
Associate Professor, Classical Studies, Vanderbilt University
(spring 1994-fall 2004)
Associate Professor, Women’s Studies (affiliated), Vanderbilt University
(spring 1995-fall 2004)
Associate Professor, Graduate Department of Religion, Vanderbilt University
(spring 2004-fall 2004)
Professor, Classical Studies, Vanderbilt University
(spring 2005-)
Professor, Women’s Studies (affiliated), Vanderbilt University
(spring 2005-)
Professor, Graduate Department of Religion, Vanderbilt University
(spring 2005-)
Courses taught at Vanderbilt include:
Intermediate-level language:
3rd-semester Latin
4th-semester Greek
Upper-level reading courses:
Thucydides
Satire
Roman Comedy
Cicero
Roman Historians
Graduate seminars:
Pliny’s Letters
Sallust
Tacitus
Ovid
Polybius
Greek Orators
Roman Law
Classical Studies courses:
Roman Civilization
Roman History: Empire
Roman Law (Delicts, Family Law)
Women, Sexuality, and the Family in
Ancient Greece and Rome (cross-listed as a Women’s Studies course)
The Roman Family and Household (an undergraduate honors seminar)
Independent Studies:
Cicero, Roman Law (undergraduate and graduate levels), Satire, Early
Christianity (graduate level), Roman History (graduate level), Women’s
Studies
Andrew W. Mellon Professor-in-Charge of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies
in Rome (1996-1997)
Andrew W. Mellon Professor-in-Charge of the School of Classical Studies of the American
Academy in Rome (2006-2009)
Supervised 3 M.A. theses:
John F. Matlock, “The Roman Censorship in the Late Republic and Early Empire”
1989
Richard M. Rothaus, “Augurs and Augury in the Late Roman Empire: A Prosopography and
History” 1989
Joan M. Trimbach, “Paternal Roles in the Letters of Cicero and Pliny”
1995
Supervised 2 M.A. papers:
Mary Jo Maston, “Pliny the Younger’s Self-Image as an Intellectual and Patron of Literature”
2000
Matt Brown, “The Husband’s Role in Adultery in Roman Law”
2005
Served as a second reader on 1 M.A. thesis and on committees for 7 Ph.D. dissertations.
Supervised first Classics Honors Thesis:
Jason B. Jones, “SPQR: The Honorary Arches of the Roman Forum”
Fall 1998
Supervised a subsequent Classics Honors Thesis:
Amanda Cooper, “Roman Fathers and Sons in Republican and Augustan Times: A Study of
Life, Literature, and Law” 1999-2000
Supervised independent research projects:
Elizabeth Brown, “Widows in Ancient Rome and Modern India” 2000-2001
Meaghan Pomeroy, “How They Were Treated: A Comparison of Roman and Victorian Laws
and Social Practices Regarding Women”
2004-2005
Jonathan Justl, “Dynamic Stagnation: The Relationship Between Pietas and Patria Potestas
in Law and Practice” Fall 2005
Supervised a Women’s Studies Senior Thesis:
Stephanie Liaw, “Interracial Marriage: Anti-Miscegenation Laws and Representations of
Asian Americans” 2005-2006
Supervised an independent pedagogical project:
Meaghan N. Patten, “Roman Cruelty: An Introduction to the Harsher Side of Slavery,
Gladiators, and Martyrdom” Spring 2006
Honors and Awards
Harvard:
T.T. Lowell and A.L. Woodbury Scholarship (1975-1976)
D.T. Clark Prize (Latin Oration) (1978)
N.R. Landon Scholarship (1978)
Cambridge:
A. Koumoulides Prize (1979)
Michigan:
Rackham First Year Fellowship (1980-1981)
Rackham Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (1983-1984)
American Academy in Rome Fellowship (1984-1985)
Fulbright Fellowship (1984-1985; extended Fall 1985)
Vanderbilt:
NEH Summer Seminar Fellowship (seminar directed by Prof. S. Pomeroy on “The Family in
Classical and Hellenistic Greece”) (summer 1987)
Vanderbilt University Research Council award for summer research in Rome (summer 1988)
NEH Summer Stipend, supplemented by a URC award (summer 1989)
Vanderbilt University Research Council award (1989-1990)
NEH Summer Seminar Fellowship (seminar directed by Profs. R. Saller and J. Bodel on “The
Roman Family and Household”) (summer 1991)
Vanderbilt University Research Council award for summer research (summer 1993)
Kenan Venture Fund Committee award for course development (summer 1993)
Vanderbilt University Research Council award (1999)
CAMWS Award for Outstanding Publication (first ever - given for Prostitution, Sexuality,
and the Law in Ancient Rome) (2002)
Publications
Books:
1. Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome (Oxford University Press: 1998)
Paperback edition published by Oxford University Press in January 2003
2. A Casebook on Roman Family Law (coauthor with Bruce Frier: Oxford University Press:
October 2003, hardback and paperback)
3. The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World: A Study of Social History and the
Brothel (University of Michigan Press: February 2004)
Second Printing published by University of Michigan Press October 2005
4. Widows and Patriarchy: Ancient and Modern (Duckworth: February 2004)
Articles:
1. (as co-editor and contributor), Puteoli 9/10 (1985/6) 41-78: Puteolana Analecta: Seven
Inscriptions in the Kelsey Museum
2. Helios 16 (1989) 79-110: The Taxation of Roman Prostitutes
3. Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte 107 (1990) 315-353: Ne Serva
Prostituatur: Restrictive Covenants in the Sale of Slaves
4. Transactions of the American Philological Association 121 (1991) 335-374: Concubinage
and the Lex Iulia on Adultery
5. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 93 (1992) 273-295: The SC From Larinum and
the Repression of Adultery at Rome (= Il Senatusconsultum di Larino e la repressione
dell’adulterio a Roma, in N. Stelluti ed., Epigrafi di Larino e della bassa Frentania 2
[Campobasso 1997] 691-715).
6. Encyclopedia of Social History (1994) 588-591: Prostitution
7. (with P. Tassini), in S. Panciera ed., Iscrizioni greche e latine del Foro Romano e del
Palatino: Inventario generale, inediti, revisioni (Rome 1996) (Tituli 7) 242-243
8. (with S. Pias), ibid., 254-255
9. Encyclopedia of Early Christianity2 2 (1997) 666-668: Roman Law
10. Classical Journal 93 (1997/8) 241-250: Feminae Probrosae and the Litter
11. Echos du Monde Classique / Classical Views n.s. 17 (1998) 95-107: Caligula’s Brothel on
the Palatine
12. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 42 (1997 [1998]) 73-116: The Legal
Definition of Prostitute in Late Antiquity
13. Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 67 (1999) 57-73: The Social Policy of Emperor
Constantine in Codex Theodosianus 4.6.3
14. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 47 (2001) 81-102: Satire and the
Law: The Case of Horace
15. in J.-J. Aubert and A.J.B. Sirks eds., Speculum Iuris: Roman Law as a Reflection of
Economic and Social Life (University of Michigan Press 2002) 46-93: The Augustan
Marriage Legislation and Social Practice: Elite Endogamy vs. Male “Marrying Down”
16. Journal of Roman Archaeology (Supplement 47) (2002) 7-46: Pompeian Brothels and
Social History
17. Historia: Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte 53.2 ( 2004) 200-208: Missing Females?:
Augustus’ Encouragement of Marriage Between Freeborn Males and Freedwomen
18. in C. Faraone and L. McClure eds., Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World
(Madison, WI 2006) 161-176: Zoning Shame in the Roman City
19. Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work 1 (2006) 31-34: Ancient Rome
20. in D.C. Allison, J.D. Crossan, and A.-J. Levine eds., Documenting Jesus (series:
Readings in Religion) (Princeton, Princeton University Press: 2006) 309-322: The
Roman Law of Divorce in the Time of Christ
21. New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville, TN, Abingdon Press, 2006):
Caligula
22. in H. Heinen ed., Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei (Stuttgart, Franz
Steiner Verlag: 2006): Gastgewerbe (Griechisch-römische Antike und Spätantike)
23. in H. Heinen ed., Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei (Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag:
2006): Nuncupatio
24. in H. Heinen ed., Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei (Stuttgart, Franz Steiner
Verlag: 2006): Prostitution (Römische Antike und Spätantike)
Review Article:
25. Journal of Roman Archaeology 12 (1999) 617-632: Widows, Orphans, and Social History
(review article on Krause, Witwen und Waisen im römischen Reich I-IV).
Popular:
1. Archaeology Odyssey (January/February 2004) 18-25, 62: How to Find a Brothel in
Pompeii
2. Corriere della Sera (August 7 2004) 29: Nella tana delle “lupe” che sostenevano l’Impero:
Dai patrizi ai plebei - un giro d’affari che non conosceva distinzione di classe
