Drop-in Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., or by appointment.

Personal Website

Sarah E. Bond is an associate professor in the Department of HIstory at the University of Iowa. She is interested in late Roman history, epigraphy, late antique law, Roman topography and GIS, Digital Humanities, and the socio-legal experience of ancient marginal peoples.

She earned a PhD in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2011) and obtained a BA in Classics and History with a minor in Classical Archaeology from the University of Virginia (2005). Her book, Trade and Taboo: Disreputable Professionals in the Roman Mediterranean, was published with the University of Michigan Press in 2016.

Follow her blog: History From Below.

Additionally, Bond is a regular contributor at Hyperallergic, a columnist at the Los Angeles Review of Books, and a section editor at Public Books. She has written for The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post. 

Please visit Professor Bond's personal website for her current CV.

Awards and service

Erling B. “Jack” Holtsmark Associate Professor in the Classics (August 2023-Present) 

Publications

Books

• Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire (Preorder available for publication February 4, 2025)
• Trade and Taboo Disreputable Professions in the Roman Mediterranean (2016)

Articles

• “The State, Governance, and Regulation in Ancient Shopping" in A Cultural History of Shopping, eds. Mary Harlow and Ray Laurence (2022)
• “Chapter 7: Maintaining the City Enslaved Labor and Trade in Roman Philippi” in Philippi, From Colonia Augusta to Communitas Christiana: Religion and Society in Transition, edited by  Steven J. Friesen, Michalis Lychounas, and Daniel N. Schowalter (Leiden: Brill, 2021)
• with Paul Dilley and Ryan Horne (edd.), “Linked Open Data for the Ancient Mediterranean: Structures, Practices, Prospects,” ISAW Papers 20 (2021)

Commentary and Popular Writing

• "Lebanon’s Ancient Heritage Under Threat as Israel Ramps Up Attacks" Hyperallergic (11.05.2024)
• "The Enslaved People Who Wrote Down the New Testament" Hyperallergic (07.28.2024)
• "Why Do We Expect Ancient Romans to Have British Accents in Movies?" Hyperallergic (08.12.2024)
• "Did Archaeologists Discover Pliny the Elder’s Famous Roman Villa?" Hyperallergic (02.2024)
• "Unearthed Clay Seals Shed Light on Ancient Roman Archiving Practices" Hyperallergic (11.2023)
• "As a History Professor, This Is How I Use AI in Class" Hyperallergic (11.2023)
• "What men are thinking about when they think about the Roman Empire" MSNBC (09.2023)
• "2,000-Year-Old Grave of Roman Doctor Unearthed in Hungary" Hyperallergic (05.2023)
• "The Meaning of Ancient Greek and Roman Artisan Signatures" Hyperallergic (03.2023)
• "Why Did Roman Baths Disappear?" Hyperallergic (12.2022)
• "An Iowa Museum Renowned for Its Pollock Emerges From a Flood With a More Inclusive Mission" Hyperallergic (09.2022)
• "Massive Head of Hercules Pulled From Historic Shipwreck" Hyperallergic (06.2022)
• "The Top Archaeological Discoveries of 2021"Hyperallergic (01.2022)
• "Ancient Hellscapes, Santa & Supply Chains, and More" Pasts Imperfect (12.2021)
• "The Story of the Black King Among the Magi" Hyperallergic (01.2020) 
• "Public Writing and the Junior Scholar" Chronicle of Higher Education (2019)
• "Why the Hell We Are Obsessed with Hell"
• "What Can Shackled and Beheaded Skeletons Reveal About Roman Servitude?"
• "Anti-vaxxers are claiming centuries of Jewish suffering to look like martyrs"
• "Discovery of an Industrial Brewery in Ancient Egypt Rewrites the History of Beer"
• "A World-Famous Ancient Collection, on Display for the First Time, Awaits Visitors in Rome"
• "Identifying Slut-Shaming, Racism, and Transphobia in the Byzantine World"
• "How Academics, Egyptologists, and Even Melania Trump Benefit From Colonialist Cosplay"
• "How Racial Bias in Tech Has Developed the 'New Jim Code'”
• "Seeing Through the History of Ancient Roman Glass"
• "Did the Ancient Romans Use Infographics?"

Reviews

• Review of Miriam J. Groen-Vallinga’s Work and Labour in the Cities of Roman Italy. Liverpool studies in Ancient History, Vol 1, Cambridge University Press (10.2024) 
• Review of Machado, Carlos, Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome: AD 270-535. The Journal of Roman Studies 111 (2021): 334 - 336
• Review of Levin-Richardson, Sarah The Brothel of Pompeii: Sex, Class, and Gender at the Margins of Roman Society. History Today 69.10 (2019)