Timothy Howe

Assistant Professor
Ancient Mediterranean History
Ancient Studies
howe@stolaf.edu


Tim Howe was born in California and spent his formative years in the Sierra Nevada foothills, chasing cattle and sheep on his parents' farm.   After completing a B.A. in History and Anthropology at Cal State, Chico, he went "back east" to Penn State for his M.A. and Ph.D. , and was finally able to combine his two interests (Ancient History and agriculture) in a dissertation analyzing the animal production strategies of the Ancient Greeks. At Penn State, as a student in a Golden Age Latin class, he met his wife, Mary.

Historian, archaeologist, Greek and Latin epigrapher, his fascination with the Ancients began at the tender age of 1 and a half, when he proudly flushed a copy of Thucydides down the toilet. Reflecting his wide interests, he teaches a range of classes about the ancient Mediterranean world from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Greece, Rome and Late Antique Europe. He is especially interested in warfare, agriculture, law, and religion, and has written several articles on these topics. He is currently working on a book project for the Association of Ancient Historians' monograph series about the effects of agricultural strategies on the political, social and legal institutions of the ancient Mediterranean. Reflecting his life-long interest in Alexander the Great, he is also editing a book on ancient Macedonian history and culture.

He has visited many different parts of the Mediterranean, both as a researcher and a teacher, and is always ready to share weird travel stories with anyone bold enough to enter his office. In the Interim of 2006 he took 30 students to Greece. He hopes to continue teaching students in Greece and in the future plans to develop an Interim trip to Italy.




He, his wife, and his cat are avid birdwatchers and gardeners, and he (and the cat) love to fish. Cooking, especially Mediterranean cooking, is his passion. Someday he hopes to have a farm of his own, full of organic gardens, sheep, a cow or two, and perhaps the odd goat.

He is the faculty advisor for the St. Olaf Society of Ancient History (http://www.stolaf.edu/orgs/sah/), Phi Alpha Theta (History Honors Society), and the Society for Creative Anachronism.