Jeffrey A. Stevens

Jeff Stevens profile pic
Associate Teaching Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies
615 Locust St. Bldg., Rm E126
573-882-2481
Research Area
Ancient History (Rome, Greece, and Egypt), Late Antiquity, Classical Archaeology and Material Culture Studies
Education

PhD, University of California - Los Angeles, 2014
MA, University of California - Los Angeles, 2009
MA, University of Oregon, 2007

Bio

2024 - present                                                                                                                                                               Director:  MU Global Research Study Abroad Program - Monteleone Sabino Field School in Italy
Co-Director: Monteleone Sabino Archaeological Field School at Trebula Mutuesca, Italy
Establishing a new archaeological field school and study abroad program as a 
collaborative effort between the University of Missouri and the University of Rochester. 
Excavation will commence on the ancient Roman town and amphitheater of Trebula
Mutuesca near the modern town of Monteleone Sabino for the Italian archaeological
superintendency.

2008 – present
Assistant Field Director, Numismatist: San Martino Field School, Torano di Borgorose, Italy
Staff position for an ongoing excavation of a Roman villa in central Italy.  Undergraduate students are provided with hands-on training in archaeological field and laboratory work, including remote sensing in archaeology, on-site surveying, excavation techniques, field documentation, and artifact identification and processing.  Excavated materials currently on display at the Museo Archeologico Cicolano (MAC) in Corvaro di Borgorose, Italy.
 

ACADEMIC SERVICE

Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of History, University of Missouri, 2022-present
Chair: Fordyce Mitchel Lecture Series, University of Missouri, 2017-present
President, Archaeological Institute of America - Central Missouri Society, 2018-2021                                        Vice-Chair: Ad Hoc Committee on Mentoring, Association of Ancient Historians, 2017-2021
Committee Representative: Ancient Studies Program, University of Missouri, 2015-2018

MEDIA PROFILE - PROFESSIONAL HISTORICAL CONSULTATION:

2023 - present                                                                                                                                                      Historical Consultant: "Spartacus: House of Ashur" (Season One), forthcoming on STARZ    Currently serving  in a consultation capacity to provide staff writers and executives with information on the ancient Roman world to include in the fictional television series about the aftermath of the Third Servile War involving Spartacus.   

                                
2016 - 2017
Historical Consultant: “Roman Empire: Reign of Blood” (Season One), 2016-17 on NETFLIX
Served as a historical consultant and appeared on camera in multiple episodes for the docudrama series on the reign of the Emperor Commodus.

2008 - 2013
Historical Consultant: “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” (Season One), 2008-10 STARZ
   “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena” (Prequel), 2010 STARZ
   “Spartacus: Vengeance” (Season Two), 2010-12 STARZ
   “Spartacus: War of the Damned” (Season Three), 2012-13 STARZ

Served in a consultation capacity to provide staff writers and executives with information on the ancient Roman world to include in the fictional television series of Spartacus.

Research Interests

Roman Archaeology, Numismatics, Ancient Slavery, Ancient Sport

 

Courses Taught

“The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic” [HIST 4520 + 4520 HONORS + 7520]

“The Roman Empire” [HIST 4530 + 4530 HONORS + 7530]

“The Later Roman Empire” [HIST 4540 + 4540 HONORS + 7540]

"The Greek World" [HIST 3510]

"The Hellenistic World" [HIST 3530]

“The Roman World” [HIST 3520]

"Ancient Egypt" [HIST 3505]

"Ptolemaic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra" [HIST 3515]

“Introduction to the Ancient World” [HIST 1520]

“Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World” [HIST 2510]

“Topics: Slavery in the Ancient World” [HIST 2004]

"Sophomore Seminar: Topics" [HIST 2950]

Recent Publications

Articles/Book Chapters:

2024  “Viabilità e vita commerciale nel Cicolano in età romana e tardo antica: il caso di San Martino (Torano di Borgorose, Rieti)” Atti del Convegno in Lazio e Sabina 13, 2024.  Co-authored with E. Colantoni, G. Colantoni, Francesca Lezzi. 

2023   “Changing Trade Routes in Late Antique and Early Medieval Cicolano:  Evidence of Adriatic and Other Imports at the San Martino site (Torano di Borgorose, Rieti, Italy)” in TRADE: Transformations of Adriatic Europe, 2nd-9th c. (Archaeopress 2023), pp. 394-400.  Co-authored with Elizabeth Colantoni, Gabriele Colantoni, Maria Rosa Lucidi, and Francesco Tommasi.   (ISBN 978-180-3271-72-9)

2021   “L’insediamento rustico d’età romana e tardo-antica a San Martino di Torano (Borgorose, Rieti): le campgangne di scavo 2016-2017” in Il Fucino e le aree limitrofe nell’antichità, (Atti del V Convegno di Archaeologia [Castello Orsini – Avezzano] 2021), pp. 423-433.  Co-authored with E. Colantoni, G. Colantoni, M.R. Lucidi, and F. Tommasi.   (ISBN 979-12-210-1321-4)

2017  “L’insediamento rustico d’età romana e tardo-antica a San Martino di Torano (Borgorose, Rieti): lo stato delle ricerche” Atti del Convegno in Lazio e Sabina 11, 2017, pp. 239-242.  Co-authored with E. Colantoni, G. Colantoni, M.R. Lucidi, and F. Tommasi.    (ISBN  978-88-7140-733-3)

2015  “La ceramica dai contesti tardo antichi di San Martino di Torano (Borgorose RI)” in Le forme della crisi. Produzioni ceramiche e commerce nell’Italia centrale tra Romani e Longobardi (III-VIII sec. d.C.), Atti del Convegno (Spoleto-Campello sul Clitunno), edited by Enrico Cirelli, Francesca Diosono and Helen Patterson, Ante Quem, Bologna, 2015, pp. 493-498.  Co-authored with E. Colantoni, G. Colantoni, M.R. Lucidi, and F. Tommasi.    (ISBN 978-88-7849-9)

Book Reviews:

2018   Oxford University Press textbook review (back cover excerpt) of Mathisen, R., Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations: From Prehistory to 640 CE, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 2021).  (ISBN  978-0-19-008094-5)

2017  Review of Hubbard, B., Gladiator: Fighting for Life, Glory and Freedom (London, Amber Books Ltd., 2015) in Res Militares Volume 17, Issue 1, May 2017, pp. 13-14.  (ISSN 1533-4708)

Awards/Fellowships/Grants

2021 MU Provost's Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty