October 23, 2026
James Romm is an author, reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College in Annandale, NY.
James Romm
He specializes in ancient Greek and Roman culture and civilization. His reviews and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the London Review of Books, the Daily Beast, and other venues. He has held the Guggenheim Fellowship (1999-2000), the Birkelund Fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library (2010-11), and a Biography Fellowship at the Leon Levy Center of the City University of New York (2014-15). His most recent books are Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece’s Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece (W. W. Norton, 2026); Demosthenes: Democracy’s Defender (Yale University Press, 2025); and How to Have a Life: An Ancient Guide to Using Our Time Wisely (Princeton University Press, 2022).
Lecture 1
How Plato Wrecked Syracuse: A Tale of Philosophy Gone Wrong
Friday, October 23, 2026
4:30PM Weiss 235
Hosted by the Classics Department.
Further information
- Location: Weiss 235
- Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
- Cost: Free