Talia Prussin
Assistant Professor, History
Academic focus:
The ancient history of Western and Central Asia, the ancient economy, comparative history of empire
Current research project:
My current book project is a comparative study of land use in Western and Central Asia between 550 and 100 BCE. It looks at institutions for land distribution and management under the Persian Achaemenid and Greco-Macedonian Seleucid empires, considering whether these institutions demonstrate administrative continuity between the two states. By conceptualizing real property as a social relation, the book argues that the relationships constituted by Seleucid and Achaemenid institutional landholding served divergent imperial priorities. Seleucid institutions long seen as Achaemenid legacies were, in fact, only superficially similar, demonstrating that land use was an area of administrative discontinuity between the two states.
Previous positions:
- Assistant Professor Without Review, Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, University of British Columbia, 2023-2025
Academic background:
- Ph.D., Ancient history and Mediterranean archaeology, University of California, Berkeley, 2023
- M.A., Ancient history and Mediterranean archaeology, University of California, Berkeley, 2016
- A.B., Classical studies, University of Chicago, 2013
Last book read:
“Blackout/All Clear” by Connie Willis
In your own time/when not working:
Gardening, knitting, learning languages
Courses you’re most looking forward to teaching:
I'm incredibly excited to develop a course in coming years on the history of labor in the ancient world, looking at the working lives of non-elites and the development of marginalized forms of labor. This year, I'm looking forward to bringing an introductory survey of ancient Greek history back to Cornell after a 3-year hiatus. As a historian studying Greeks in Western and Central Asia, I emphasize connections between Greece and the larger ancient world in my teaching, and I want to share that vision of the ancient world with my students.
What most excites you about Cornell:
As a comparative historian, I'm excited to bring my work into dialogue with my colleagues in history who work on similar themes of empire, land management and intercultural interaction in later time periods.
