Cynthia Patterson
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Visiting Professor
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History (HIST)
Cynthia Patterson is Professor of History and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. A native of Rochester, Minnesota, she received a BA (History) from Stanford University and a PhD (Ancient History) from the University of Pennsylvania. As a student at the University of Pennsylvania she was the Thomas Day Seymour fellow at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1974/5.
Her publications include Pericles’ Citizenship Law of 451/0 B.C. (1981); The Family in Greek History (1998); an edited volume, Antigone’s Answer: Essays on Death and Burial, Family and State in Classical Athens (Helios 2006); and articles on topics relating to marriage and family law and structure, burial practice and law, and other aspects of Greek history. Her current interest lies in the interconnections between Greek social and intellectual history, with the preliminary title “Plato and the Social Issues of his Time” (freedom and slavery, health and healing, and piety and impiety).
In the 2019-20 academic year she was an Elizabeth Whitehead Distinguished Scholar at the ASCSA. After having to cut that year short due to the COVID pandemic, she is delighted to be able to return to Athens in the summer of 2022.