Mary Harlow


Mary Harlow, is an English archaeologist and classical scholar. Her research focuses on various aspects of Roman social history―such as age, family, dress and textiles―and their impact on the formation of ancient identity. Her approach strongly promotes interdisciplinary methods, using source materials to accompany the study of Roman dress.

Education and career

Harlow studied at the University of Leicester gaining a BA in classical studies and PhD in ancient history. After the completion of her PhD she taught briefly at St Andrews, before joining the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity at the University of Birmingham as senior lecturer in Roman history. Between 1995 and 2000 she was also an Associate Lecturer at the Open University. In 2000–2002 she held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to study Dress and Identity in Late Antiquity. In 2013 Harlow returned to the University of Leicester, where she is now associate professor in ancient history in the School of Archeology and Ancient History.
Between 2011 and 2013 Harlow was also guest professor at the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen, where she took part in the TEMA research project. Since 2015, Harlow has been involved in the international research group ATOM, in collaboration with CTR and the CNRS, Paris.
On 15 March 2018, Harlow was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Selected bibliography

Growing Up and Growing Old in Ancient Rome: A Life Course Approach ; The Clothed Body in the Ancient World ; Age and Ageing in the Roman Empire ;
  • ‘The Greek and Roman family’ in Blackwell’s Companion to Ancient History, pp. 329–41; A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in Antiquity ; Dress and Identity ; Families in the Roman and Late Antique World ; Prehistoric, Ancient Near Eastern & Aegean Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology ; Greek and Roman Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology ; Spinning Fates and the Song of the Loom: The Use of Textiles, Clothing and Cloth Production as Metaphor, Symbol and Narrative Device in Greek and Latin Literature ;