Christopher Stedman Parmenter is an ancient historian specializing in the intertwined histories of race, culture, and long-distance trade in Archaic and Classical Greece. Before coming to Ohio State, he held postdocs at the University of Pennsylvania (2021-22) and New York University (2020-21), where he also received his doctorate in Classics.
His articles cover a wide range of topics, including slavery in the world of the Archaic Black Sea, the archaeology of Archaic Cyprus, Egyptianizing religious practices in the Archaic Greek world, and the politics of Blackness in American classical studies during the Cold War. Two of his current article projects explore how the late eighteenth century abolitionists Olaudah Equiano (1745-97) and Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) – both writing before the professionalization of Classics – interpreted slavery in ancient Greece and Rome.