Professor Catherine Steel
- Professor of Classics (Classics)
telephone:
01413304382
email:
Catherine.Steel@glasgow.ac.uk
R514 Level 5, Classics, 65 Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow G12 8LP
Research interests
I am a historian of Rome, and I’m particularly interested in political history and the relationship between individual and collective action and the institutional structures which frame and underpin those actions.
I started my research career working on the orator and politician Cicero and I continue to research and publish on his writings, particularly his speeches. More recently I have been working on the other orators of the Roman Republic – a huge number of speakers, who either did not write down their speeches or whose speeches did not survive beyond the end of classical antiquity. I’ve held a European Research Council starting grant to edit the testimonia and fragments for orators other than Cicero: this project, The Fragments of Republican Roman Orators is producing an edition of the material (forthcoming, Oxford University Press) as well as a range of contextual material.
I also have an ongoing interest in the Roman Senate in the Republican period. I held a British Academy mid-career fellowship in 2011-2012 to look at its institutional history and its importance as a model of republican government for subsequent polities, and I am currently working on a monograph on the Republican Roman Senate.
I have taught and researched at the University of Glasgow since 1999. Before that I read Classics at Oxford, getting my BA in 1995 and my PhD in 1999.
Publications
2024
Steel, C. (2024) Invective and provincial government: Cicero and his predecessors. In: Geitner, P., Pausch, D., Schwameis, C. and Wierzcholowski, R. (eds.) Ciceronian Invectives: Emotions, Configurations, and Reactions. Series: Emotions in antiquity. Mohr Siebeck: Tubingen, pp. 61-75. ISBN 9783161610356 (In Press)
Steel, C. (2024) Senatus frequens revisited: the quorum in the Roman Republican Senate. Historia: Zeitschrift fur Alte Geschichte, 73(4), pp. 410-424. (doi: 10.25162/historia-2024-0018)
2023
Steel, C. (2023) From inimici to hostes: internal conflict in the oratory of the Roman Republic, 133–88 BCE. In: Borm, H., Gotter, U. and Havener, W. (eds.) A Culture of Civil War? Series: Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien (65). Franz Steiner Verlag, pp. 327-341. ISBN 9783515134019
Steel, C. (2023) Cultural memory and political change in the public speech of the late Roman Republic. In: Dinter, M. T. and Guérin, C. (eds.) Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge ; New York, pp. 203-217. ISBN 9781009327756 (doi: 10.1017/9781009327749.012)
Steel, C. (2023) The arrival of eloquence? The changing parameters of public speech in the second century. In: Santangelo, F. and Balbo, M. (eds.) A Community in Transition: Rome between Hannibal and the Gracchi. Oxford University Press: New York, pp. 293-309. ISBN 9780197655245 (doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197655245.003.0011)
2022
Steel, C. E. W. (2022) The reception of Cicero’s speeches in the early empire. In: Berno, F. R. and La Bua, G. (eds.) Portraying Cicero in Literature, Culture, and Politics: From Ancient to Modern Times. Series: CICERO (4). de Gruyter: Berlin, pp. 233-245. ISBN 9783110748420 (doi: 10.1515/9783110748703-014)
Steel, C. (2022) Rhetoric and Roman Political Culture. In: Arena, V. and Prag, J. (eds.) A Companion to Roman Political Culture. Series: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Wiley-Blackwell: Hoboken, NJ; Chichester., pp. 446-454. ISBN 9781444339659 hbk, 9781119673712 pbk, 9781119673651 ePDF, 9781119673590 oBook, 9781119673675 epub (doi: 10.1002/9781119673675.ch32)
Steel, C. (2022) Consulars, political office and leadership in the middle and late republic. In: Frolov, R. and Burden-Strevens, C. (eds.) Leadership and Initiative in Late Republican and Early Imperial Rome. Series: Mnemosyne, supplements (453). Brill: Leiden, pp. 133-148. ISBN 9789004511392
2021
Steel, C. (2021) Philosophy in Cicero's speeches. In: Atkins, J. W. and Bénatouïl, T. (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Cicero's Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, pp. 59-70. ISBN 9781108241649 (doi: 10.1017/9781108241649.006)
Steel, C. (2021) A single ruling class? The evidence of electoral oratory. In: Pitia, S., Schettino, M. T. and Zecchini, G. (eds.) Héritages de Sylla. Series: Monografie del Centro Ricerche di Documentazione sull'Antichità Classica (52). L'Erma de Bretschneider: Rome, pp. 77-92. ISBN 9788891322814
2020
Steel, C. (2020) The intersection of oratory and political change. In: Pina Polo, F. (ed.) The Triumviral Period: Civil War, Political Crisis and Socioeconomic Transformations. Series: Libera Res Publica. Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza: Zaragoza, pp. 191-204. ISBN 97884134009609
2019
Steel, C. (2019) Sulla the orator. In: Eckert, A. and Thein, A. (eds.) Sulla: Politics and Reception. De Gruyter, pp. 19-32. ISBN 9783110618099 (doi: 10.1515/9783110624700-002)
Chaniotis, A. and Steel, C. (2019) Emotions in public: collectivities and polities. In: Cairns, D. (ed.) A Cultural History of the Emotions in Antiquity. Series: The cultural histories series, 1. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781472515063
2018
Steel, C. (2018) Past and present in Sulla's dictatorship. In: Zecchini, G. and Schettino, M. T. (eds.) The Age of Sulla/L'Età di Silla Atti del Convegno presso l'Istituto Italiano per la Storia Antica. Roma 23-24 marzo 2017. L'Erma di Bretschneider, pp. 225-228. ISBN 9788891316967
Steel, C. (2018) Roman citizenship between law and practice. In: Ellis, S. G. (ed.) Enfranchising Ireland? Citizenship, Identity and State. Royal Irish Academy: Dublin, pp. 7-18. ISBN 9781908997845
van der Blom, H., Gray, C. and Steel, C. (Eds.) (2018) Institutions and Ideology in Republican Rome: Speech, Audience and Decision. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 9781108429016
Gray, C., Balbo, A., Marshall, R. M.A. and Steel, C. E.W. (Eds.) (2018) Reading Republican Oratory: Reconstructions, Contexts, Receptions. Oxford University Press: Oxford ; New York. ISBN 9780198788201
Steel, C. , Gray, C., Van Der Blom, H. and Marshall, R. (2018) The Fragments of the Roman Republican Orators: Text, Translation and Commentary. Oxford University Press: Oxford. (Accepted for Publication)
2017
Steel, C. (2017) Re publica nihil desperatius: salvaging the state in Cicero’s pre-civil war philosophical works. In: Müller, G. M. and Zini, F. M. (eds.) Philosophie in Rom - Römische Philosophie? Kultur-, literatur- und philosophiegeschichtliche Perspektiven. Series: Beiträge zur Altertumskunde (358). De Gruyter, pp. 269-282. ISBN 9783110493108 (doi: 10.1515/9783110493108-011)
Steel, C. (2017) Cicero’s defence of Sextus Roscius and the Sullan Res Publica. Lampas, 50(4), pp. 453-462.
Steel, C. (2017) Defining public speech in the Roman Republic: occasion, audience and purpose. In: Rosillo-López, C. (ed.) Political Communication in the Roman World: Transmission and Exchange. Series: Impact of Empire (27). Brill: Leiden, pp. 17-33. ISBN 9789004350830
Steel, C. (2017) Speech without limits: defining informality in Republican Oratory. In: Papaioannou, S., Serafim, A. and Da Vela, B. (eds.) The Theatre of Justice: Aspects of Performance in Greco-Roman Oratory and Rhetoric. Series: Mnemosyne supplements, monographs on Grek and Latin language and literature (403). Brill: Leiden, pp. 75-89. ISBN 9789004334649 (doi: 10.1163/9789004341876_007)
2016
Steel, C. (2016) Early career prosecutors: forensic activity and senatorial careers in the Late Republic. In: Du Plessis, P. J. (ed.) Cicero's Law: Rethinking Roman Law of the Late Republic. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 205-227. ISBN 9781474408820 (doi: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408820.003.0012)
2015
Steel, C. (2015) The Roman political year and the end of the Roman Republic. In: Goušchin, V. and Rhodes, P. J. (eds.) Deformations and Crises of Ancient Civil Communities. Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart, pp. 141-155. ISBN 9783515111621
Steel, C. (2015) Introduction: the legacy of the Republican Roman Senate. Classical Receptions Journal, 7(1), pp. 1-10. (doi: 10.1093/crj/clu011)
2014
Steel, C. (2014) Rethinking Sulla: the case of the Roman Senate. Classical Quarterly, 64(2), pp. 657-668. (doi: 10.1017/S0009838814000421)
Steel, C. (2014) The Roman senate and the post-Sullan res publica. Historia, 63(3), pp. 323-339.
Steel, C. (2014) Rhetoric and pedagogy in Ancient Rome. In: The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780199731596 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199731596.013.016)
2013
Steel, C. (Ed.) (2013) The Cambridge Companion to Cicero. Series: Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 9780521729802
Steel, C. and Van Der Blom, H. (Eds.) (2013) Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199641895
Steel, C. (2013) Cicero's autobiography: narratives of success in the pre-consular orations. Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz, 23, pp. 251-266.
Steel, C. (2013) The End of the Roman Republic, 146-44 B.C.: Conquest and Crisis. Series: Edinburgh history of Ancient Rome, 3. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780748619443
Steel, C. (2013) Structure, meaning and authority in Cicero's dialogues. In: Follinger, S. and Muller, G.M. (eds.) Der Dialog in der Antike: Formen und Funktionen einer literarischen Gattung zwischen Philosophie, Wissensvermittlung und dramatischer Inszenierung. Series: Beiträge zur Altertumskunde (315). De Gruyter: Berlin, Germany, pp. 221-234. ISBN 9783110311839
Steel, C. and van der Blom, H. (2013) Introduction. In: Steel, C. and van der Blom, H. (eds.) Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 1-7. ISBN 9780199640895
Steel, C. (2013) Pompeius, Helvius Mancia and the politics of public debate. In: Steel, C. and van der Blom, H. (eds.) Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 151-159. ISBN 9780199641895 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641895.003.0010)
Van Der Blom, H. and Steel, C. (2013) Introduction. In: Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199641895
2012
Steel, C. (2012) The Lex Pompeia de Provinciis of 52 B.C.: a reconsideration. Historia, 61(1), pp. 83-93.
2011
Steel, C. (2011) Cicero's oratory of praise and blame and the practice of elections in the late Roman Republic. In: Smith, C. and Covino, R. (eds.) Praise and Blame in Roman Republican Rhetoric. Classical Press of Wales: Swansea, pp. 35-48. ISBN 9781905125463
Steel, C. (2011) Heroism and despair in Velleius' republican narrative. In: Cowan, E. (ed.) Velleius Paterculus: Making History. Classical Press of Wales: Swansea, pp. 265-277. ISBN 9781905125456
2010
Steel, C. (2010) Tribunician sacrosanctity and oratorical performance in the late republic. In: Berry, D.H. and Erskine, A. (eds.) Form and Function in Roman Oratory. Cambridge University Press, pp. 37-50. ISBN 9780521768955
Steel, C. and Gibson, R. (2010) The indistinct literary careers of Cicero and Pliny the younger. In: Hardie, P. and Moore, H. (eds.) Classical Literary Careers and Their Reception. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521762977
2009
Steel, C. (2009) Divisions of speech. In: Gunderson, E. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rhetoric. Series: Cambridge companions to literature. Cambridge University Press, pp. 77-91. ISBN 9780521860543
Steel, C.E. (2009) Friends, associates and wives. In: Griffin, M.T. (ed.) A Companion to Julius Caesar. Series: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World: Ancient History. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK, pp. 112-125. ISBN 9781405149235
Steel, C.E. (2009) Oratory. In: Erskine, A. (ed.) A Companion to Ancient History. Series: Blackwell companions to the ancient world: ancient history. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK, pp. 67-76. ISBN 9781405131506
2008
Steel, C.E. (2008) Finessing failure: the Sixth Philippic. In: Stevenson, T. and Wilson, M. (eds.) Cicero's Philippics: History, Rhetoric, Ideology. Polygraphia: Auckland, New Zealand, pp. 255-265. ISBN 9781877332562
2007
Steel, C.E. (2007) Lost orators of Rome. In: Dominik, W.J. and Hall, J. (eds.) A Companion to Roman Rhetoric. Series: Blackwell companions to the ancient world: literature and culture. Blackwell: Malden, USA, pp. 237-249. ISBN 9781405120913
Steel, C.E. (2007) Name and shame? Invective against Clodius and others in the post-exile speeches. In: Booth, J. (ed.) Cicero on the Attack: Invective and Subversion in the Orations and Beyond. Classical Press of Wales: Swansea, UK, pp. 105-127. ISBN 9781905125197
Steel, C.E. (2007) The rhetoric of the de frumento. In: Prag, J.R.W. (ed.) Sicilia Nutrix Plebis Romanae: Rhetoric, Law, and Taxation in Cicero's Verrines. Series: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies: supplement (97). Institute of Classical Studies: London, UK, pp. 37-48. ISBN 9781905670116
2006
Steel, C.E. (2006) Consul and consilium: suppressing the Catilinarian conspiracy. In: Spencer, D. and Theodorakopoulos, E. (eds.) Advice and its Rhetoric in Greece and Rome. Series: Nottingham Classical Literature Studies (9). Levante: Bari, Italy, pp. 63-78. ISBN 9788879494397
Steel, C.E. (2006) Roman Oratory. Series: New surveys in the classics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521687225
2005
Steel, C.E. (2005) Reading Cicero: Genre and Performance in Late Republican Rome. Duckworth. ISBN 0715632795
2004
Steel, C.E. (2004) Being economical with the truth: what really happened at Lampsacus? In: Powell, J.G.F. and Paterson, J. (eds.) Cicero the Advocate. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 233-251. ISBN 9780198152804
2003
Steel, C.E. (2003) Cicero's Brutus: the end of oratory and the beginning of history? Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 46, pp. 195-211.
2002
Steel, C.E. (2002) Cicero, Rhetoric and Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199248478
Articles
Steel, C. (2024) Senatus frequens revisited: the quorum in the Roman Republican Senate. Historia: Zeitschrift fur Alte Geschichte, 73(4), pp. 410-424. (doi: 10.25162/historia-2024-0018)
Steel, C. (2017) Cicero’s defence of Sextus Roscius and the Sullan Res Publica. Lampas, 50(4), pp. 453-462.
Steel, C. (2015) Introduction: the legacy of the Republican Roman Senate. Classical Receptions Journal, 7(1), pp. 1-10. (doi: 10.1093/crj/clu011)
Steel, C. (2014) Rethinking Sulla: the case of the Roman Senate. Classical Quarterly, 64(2), pp. 657-668. (doi: 10.1017/S0009838814000421)
Steel, C. (2014) The Roman senate and the post-Sullan res publica. Historia, 63(3), pp. 323-339.
Steel, C. (2013) Cicero's autobiography: narratives of success in the pre-consular orations. Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz, 23, pp. 251-266.
Steel, C. (2012) The Lex Pompeia de Provinciis of 52 B.C.: a reconsideration. Historia, 61(1), pp. 83-93.
Steel, C.E. (2003) Cicero's Brutus: the end of oratory and the beginning of history? Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 46, pp. 195-211.
Books
Steel, C. , Gray, C., Van Der Blom, H. and Marshall, R. (2018) The Fragments of the Roman Republican Orators: Text, Translation and Commentary. Oxford University Press: Oxford. (Accepted for Publication)
Steel, C. (2013) The End of the Roman Republic, 146-44 B.C.: Conquest and Crisis. Series: Edinburgh history of Ancient Rome, 3. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780748619443
Steel, C.E. (2006) Roman Oratory. Series: New surveys in the classics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521687225
Steel, C.E. (2005) Reading Cicero: Genre and Performance in Late Republican Rome. Duckworth. ISBN 0715632795
Steel, C.E. (2002) Cicero, Rhetoric and Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199248478
Book Sections
Steel, C. (2024) Invective and provincial government: Cicero and his predecessors. In: Geitner, P., Pausch, D., Schwameis, C. and Wierzcholowski, R. (eds.) Ciceronian Invectives: Emotions, Configurations, and Reactions. Series: Emotions in antiquity. Mohr Siebeck: Tubingen, pp. 61-75. ISBN 9783161610356 (In Press)
Steel, C. (2023) From inimici to hostes: internal conflict in the oratory of the Roman Republic, 133–88 BCE. In: Borm, H., Gotter, U. and Havener, W. (eds.) A Culture of Civil War? Series: Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien (65). Franz Steiner Verlag, pp. 327-341. ISBN 9783515134019
Steel, C. (2023) Cultural memory and political change in the public speech of the late Roman Republic. In: Dinter, M. T. and Guérin, C. (eds.) Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge ; New York, pp. 203-217. ISBN 9781009327756 (doi: 10.1017/9781009327749.012)
Steel, C. (2023) The arrival of eloquence? The changing parameters of public speech in the second century. In: Santangelo, F. and Balbo, M. (eds.) A Community in Transition: Rome between Hannibal and the Gracchi. Oxford University Press: New York, pp. 293-309. ISBN 9780197655245 (doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197655245.003.0011)
Steel, C. E. W. (2022) The reception of Cicero’s speeches in the early empire. In: Berno, F. R. and La Bua, G. (eds.) Portraying Cicero in Literature, Culture, and Politics: From Ancient to Modern Times. Series: CICERO (4). de Gruyter: Berlin, pp. 233-245. ISBN 9783110748420 (doi: 10.1515/9783110748703-014)
Steel, C. (2022) Rhetoric and Roman Political Culture. In: Arena, V. and Prag, J. (eds.) A Companion to Roman Political Culture. Series: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Wiley-Blackwell: Hoboken, NJ; Chichester., pp. 446-454. ISBN 9781444339659 hbk, 9781119673712 pbk, 9781119673651 ePDF, 9781119673590 oBook, 9781119673675 epub (doi: 10.1002/9781119673675.ch32)
Steel, C. (2022) Consulars, political office and leadership in the middle and late republic. In: Frolov, R. and Burden-Strevens, C. (eds.) Leadership and Initiative in Late Republican and Early Imperial Rome. Series: Mnemosyne, supplements (453). Brill: Leiden, pp. 133-148. ISBN 9789004511392
Steel, C. (2021) Philosophy in Cicero's speeches. In: Atkins, J. W. and Bénatouïl, T. (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Cicero's Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, pp. 59-70. ISBN 9781108241649 (doi: 10.1017/9781108241649.006)
Steel, C. (2021) A single ruling class? The evidence of electoral oratory. In: Pitia, S., Schettino, M. T. and Zecchini, G. (eds.) Héritages de Sylla. Series: Monografie del Centro Ricerche di Documentazione sull'Antichità Classica (52). L'Erma de Bretschneider: Rome, pp. 77-92. ISBN 9788891322814
Steel, C. (2020) The intersection of oratory and political change. In: Pina Polo, F. (ed.) The Triumviral Period: Civil War, Political Crisis and Socioeconomic Transformations. Series: Libera Res Publica. Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza: Zaragoza, pp. 191-204. ISBN 97884134009609
Steel, C. (2019) Sulla the orator. In: Eckert, A. and Thein, A. (eds.) Sulla: Politics and Reception. De Gruyter, pp. 19-32. ISBN 9783110618099 (doi: 10.1515/9783110624700-002)
Chaniotis, A. and Steel, C. (2019) Emotions in public: collectivities and polities. In: Cairns, D. (ed.) A Cultural History of the Emotions in Antiquity. Series: The cultural histories series, 1. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781472515063
Steel, C. (2018) Past and present in Sulla's dictatorship. In: Zecchini, G. and Schettino, M. T. (eds.) The Age of Sulla/L'Età di Silla Atti del Convegno presso l'Istituto Italiano per la Storia Antica. Roma 23-24 marzo 2017. L'Erma di Bretschneider, pp. 225-228. ISBN 9788891316967
Steel, C. (2018) Roman citizenship between law and practice. In: Ellis, S. G. (ed.) Enfranchising Ireland? Citizenship, Identity and State. Royal Irish Academy: Dublin, pp. 7-18. ISBN 9781908997845
Steel, C. (2017) Re publica nihil desperatius: salvaging the state in Cicero’s pre-civil war philosophical works. In: Müller, G. M. and Zini, F. M. (eds.) Philosophie in Rom - Römische Philosophie? Kultur-, literatur- und philosophiegeschichtliche Perspektiven. Series: Beiträge zur Altertumskunde (358). De Gruyter, pp. 269-282. ISBN 9783110493108 (doi: 10.1515/9783110493108-011)
Steel, C. (2017) Defining public speech in the Roman Republic: occasion, audience and purpose. In: Rosillo-López, C. (ed.) Political Communication in the Roman World: Transmission and Exchange. Series: Impact of Empire (27). Brill: Leiden, pp. 17-33. ISBN 9789004350830
Steel, C. (2017) Speech without limits: defining informality in Republican Oratory. In: Papaioannou, S., Serafim, A. and Da Vela, B. (eds.) The Theatre of Justice: Aspects of Performance in Greco-Roman Oratory and Rhetoric. Series: Mnemosyne supplements, monographs on Grek and Latin language and literature (403). Brill: Leiden, pp. 75-89. ISBN 9789004334649 (doi: 10.1163/9789004341876_007)
Steel, C. (2016) Early career prosecutors: forensic activity and senatorial careers in the Late Republic. In: Du Plessis, P. J. (ed.) Cicero's Law: Rethinking Roman Law of the Late Republic. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 205-227. ISBN 9781474408820 (doi: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408820.003.0012)
Steel, C. (2015) The Roman political year and the end of the Roman Republic. In: Goušchin, V. and Rhodes, P. J. (eds.) Deformations and Crises of Ancient Civil Communities. Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart, pp. 141-155. ISBN 9783515111621
Steel, C. (2014) Rhetoric and pedagogy in Ancient Rome. In: The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780199731596 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199731596.013.016)
Steel, C. (2013) Structure, meaning and authority in Cicero's dialogues. In: Follinger, S. and Muller, G.M. (eds.) Der Dialog in der Antike: Formen und Funktionen einer literarischen Gattung zwischen Philosophie, Wissensvermittlung und dramatischer Inszenierung. Series: Beiträge zur Altertumskunde (315). De Gruyter: Berlin, Germany, pp. 221-234. ISBN 9783110311839
Steel, C. and van der Blom, H. (2013) Introduction. In: Steel, C. and van der Blom, H. (eds.) Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 1-7. ISBN 9780199640895
Steel, C. (2013) Pompeius, Helvius Mancia and the politics of public debate. In: Steel, C. and van der Blom, H. (eds.) Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 151-159. ISBN 9780199641895 (doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641895.003.0010)
Van Der Blom, H. and Steel, C. (2013) Introduction. In: Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199641895
Steel, C. (2011) Cicero's oratory of praise and blame and the practice of elections in the late Roman Republic. In: Smith, C. and Covino, R. (eds.) Praise and Blame in Roman Republican Rhetoric. Classical Press of Wales: Swansea, pp. 35-48. ISBN 9781905125463
Steel, C. (2011) Heroism and despair in Velleius' republican narrative. In: Cowan, E. (ed.) Velleius Paterculus: Making History. Classical Press of Wales: Swansea, pp. 265-277. ISBN 9781905125456
Steel, C. (2010) Tribunician sacrosanctity and oratorical performance in the late republic. In: Berry, D.H. and Erskine, A. (eds.) Form and Function in Roman Oratory. Cambridge University Press, pp. 37-50. ISBN 9780521768955
Steel, C. and Gibson, R. (2010) The indistinct literary careers of Cicero and Pliny the younger. In: Hardie, P. and Moore, H. (eds.) Classical Literary Careers and Their Reception. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521762977
Steel, C. (2009) Divisions of speech. In: Gunderson, E. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rhetoric. Series: Cambridge companions to literature. Cambridge University Press, pp. 77-91. ISBN 9780521860543
Steel, C.E. (2009) Friends, associates and wives. In: Griffin, M.T. (ed.) A Companion to Julius Caesar. Series: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World: Ancient History. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK, pp. 112-125. ISBN 9781405149235
Steel, C.E. (2009) Oratory. In: Erskine, A. (ed.) A Companion to Ancient History. Series: Blackwell companions to the ancient world: ancient history. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK, pp. 67-76. ISBN 9781405131506
Steel, C.E. (2008) Finessing failure: the Sixth Philippic. In: Stevenson, T. and Wilson, M. (eds.) Cicero's Philippics: History, Rhetoric, Ideology. Polygraphia: Auckland, New Zealand, pp. 255-265. ISBN 9781877332562
Steel, C.E. (2007) Lost orators of Rome. In: Dominik, W.J. and Hall, J. (eds.) A Companion to Roman Rhetoric. Series: Blackwell companions to the ancient world: literature and culture. Blackwell: Malden, USA, pp. 237-249. ISBN 9781405120913
Steel, C.E. (2007) Name and shame? Invective against Clodius and others in the post-exile speeches. In: Booth, J. (ed.) Cicero on the Attack: Invective and Subversion in the Orations and Beyond. Classical Press of Wales: Swansea, UK, pp. 105-127. ISBN 9781905125197
Steel, C.E. (2007) The rhetoric of the de frumento. In: Prag, J.R.W. (ed.) Sicilia Nutrix Plebis Romanae: Rhetoric, Law, and Taxation in Cicero's Verrines. Series: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies: supplement (97). Institute of Classical Studies: London, UK, pp. 37-48. ISBN 9781905670116
Steel, C.E. (2006) Consul and consilium: suppressing the Catilinarian conspiracy. In: Spencer, D. and Theodorakopoulos, E. (eds.) Advice and its Rhetoric in Greece and Rome. Series: Nottingham Classical Literature Studies (9). Levante: Bari, Italy, pp. 63-78. ISBN 9788879494397
Steel, C.E. (2004) Being economical with the truth: what really happened at Lampsacus? In: Powell, J.G.F. and Paterson, J. (eds.) Cicero the Advocate. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 233-251. ISBN 9780198152804
Edited Books
van der Blom, H., Gray, C. and Steel, C. (Eds.) (2018) Institutions and Ideology in Republican Rome: Speech, Audience and Decision. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 9781108429016
Gray, C., Balbo, A., Marshall, R. M.A. and Steel, C. E.W. (Eds.) (2018) Reading Republican Oratory: Reconstructions, Contexts, Receptions. Oxford University Press: Oxford ; New York. ISBN 9780198788201
Steel, C. (Ed.) (2013) The Cambridge Companion to Cicero. Series: Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 9780521729802
Steel, C. and Van Der Blom, H. (Eds.) (2013) Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199641895
Grants
2012-17
- £881,000: European Research Council - 'The fragments of Republican Roman Oratory'
2011-12
- £141,000: British Academy mid-career fellowship - 'SPQR: the Roman Republican Senate in the 21st century'
2010-11
- £17,500: Director of Classics, HEA HCA subject centre
- £450: Carnegie Trust: 'Reconsidering Roman Government at the end of the Republic: Pompeius' lex de prouinciis in context'0
2009-10
- £15,000: Director of Classics, HEA HCA subject centre
Supervision
Research proposals
I am particularly interested in supervising research students working on the following areas and topics:
- Cicero
- the Roman Republic, particularly its political history
- Roman oratory
- Roman political theory and practice, including its reception
I am also very happy to discuss proposals across a broader range of topics in Latin prose literature and Roman history.
Current projects
I am currently supervising research students working on:
- Cicero and the Just War tradition
- rhetoric and the formation of Roman law
- the Severan monarchy
- Trajanic monumentality.
Past projects
Past PhD theses supervised include:
- The pontifex maximus in the late Republic
- Dio the Rhetorician: Studies in Rhetoric and Rhetorical Education in Cassius Dio’s ‘Roman History’
- A New Study of the Rhetorica ad Herennium.
Teaching
- Roman History; Latin language and prose literature
Professional activities & recognition
Grant committees & research advisory boards
- 2018: Irish Research Council, Postdoctoral Fellowships Outer Board
Editorial boards
- 2008 - 2017: Journal of Roman Studies
Professional & learned societies
- 2012 - 2017: Secretary, Council of University Classical Departments
- 2008 - 2017: Council Member, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Selected international presentations
- 2016: Prentice Lecture (Princeton University)
- 2014: Rothman Lecture (University of Florida)