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About Me

I am an Associate Professor in Ancient History at the University of Birmingham.

My research focuses on socio-political history of the Roman Republic and Empire, with a particular interest in Roman imperialism and Roman attitudes towards their position as a political power in the Mediterranean. My work is ground-breaking for demonstrating that rather than being simply war’s antonym, peace was a complex, multifaceted concept and is a significant lens through which to understand power dynamics, particularly the changing power structures between Republic and principate (Cornwell 2017). I continue to examine the relationship of peace to conflict, crisis and the pressures of political dynamics during the Roman civil wars of the late Republic, while also analysing spatial constructions and mechanisms of communication used to construct relationships of power between different polities and groups, notably in the field of ancient diplomacy and diplomatic space.

Recent Publications

Cornwell, H. and Woolf, G. (eds) (2022) Gendering Roman Imperialism, Brill: Leiden.

‘A Place for Peace in a Time of War’, in A. Burnett, and A. Powell (eds.) , Coins of the Roman Revolution. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales (2020), pp. 123-144.

‘A Framework of Negotiation and Reconciliation in the Triumviral Period’, in F. Pina Polo (ed.),  The Triumviral Period: Civil War, Political Crisis and Socioeconomic Transformations. Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza (2020), pp. 149-170.

‘The Production of Diplomatic Space in Ancient Rome’, in A. Haug and S. Merten (eds.) Practices in Ancient Public Spaces. Studies in Classical Archaeology: Brepols (2020), pp. 81-94.

‘Die Pax Romana und die Idee von einem Imperium – Frieden in der Römischen Antike’, in Antike Welt. Zeitschrift für Archäologie und Kultergeschichte 3.18, 17-21 (2018)

Pax and the Politics of Peace: Republic to Principate. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2017)

‘Routes of Resistance to Integration: Alpine Reactions to Roman Power’ in R. Varga and V. Rusu-Bolindeț (eds.) Official Power and Local Elites in the Roman Provinces, London: Routledge (2017), ch. 4.

‘Negotiating ideas of peace in the civil conflicts of the late Republic’ in E. P. Moloney and M. S. Williams (eds.) Peace and Reconciliation in the Classical World, London: Routledge (2017), ch. 6.

‘The King who would be Prefect: Authority and Identity in the Cottian Alps’, Journal of Roman Studies 105, 41-72 (2015).

‘The Role of The Role of the Peace-Makers (caduceatores) in Roman attitudes to War and Peace’, in G. Lee, H. Whittaker and G. Wrightson (eds.) Ancient Warfare: Introducing Current Research, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2015), 331-348.

‘The Construction of One’s Enemies in Civil War (49-30 BCE), in R. Westall (ed.) A House Divided: The Reality of Representation of Roman Civil War. Hermathena 196-197, Summer-Winter 2014 [2018], pp. 41-68.

Media Coverage

BBC Radio

Social Media

@cornwell_hannah

Country Focus

Italy, Mediterranean, Europe

Expertise by Geography

Mediterranean

Expertise by Chronology

Ancient

Expertise by Topic

Diplomacy, Material Culture, Politics, Rebellion & Revolution, Urban History