Columbia University, PhD ’20

BIOGRAPHY

Jeremy Simmons investigates the wider ancient world—what Greco-Roman geographers thought of as the oikoumene, which spanned roughly from Iberia to India. Accordingly, he focuses not only on the texts and material culture of the Greek and Roman world, but also those of the ancient Near East and Indian subcontinent.

His current research addresses long-distance maritime commerce in the western Indian Ocean during the early centuries of the Common Era. His forthcoming monograph, Sea of Treasures: A Cultural History of Ancient Indian Ocean Trade (Princeton University Press), focuses on the consumption of goods traded across the Indian Ocean in antiquity, addressing representative Mediterranean and Indian commodities in their new social and cultural contexts. His upcoming research projects continue in material historical directions, particularly the broader frameworks of oceanic history. He regularly teaches courses on Afro-Eurasian connectivity and comparative approaches to ancient conceptions of the world. 

Simmons earned his Ph.D. in Classical Studies at Columbia University and his B.A. in Classics and Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Before coming to Chicago, he was a visiting assistant professor at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (New York University) and then Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has held several residential fellowships, including at the American Academy in Rome (FAAR ’20), Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC (2023) and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (2024).