Michael Whitby


Lionel Michael Whitby is a British ancient historian of Late Antiquity. He specialises in late Roman and early Byzantine history and historiography. He is currently pro-vice-chancellor and head of the College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham.

Early life

Whitby was born in February 1952, to Joan and Gordon Whitby, a physician and biochemist. He read Literae Humaniores at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. He then spent three years working as a civil servant in the Scottish Office. He returned to Oxford to conduct postgraduate study in Byzantine history. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1981 with a doctoral thesis titled "The Historiae of Theophylact Simocatta".

Academic career

Whitby held a junior research fellowship at Merton College, Oxford. In 1987, he joined the Ancient History department at the University of St Andrews. He became head of department in 1993 and received a personal chair in 1995 as Professor of Ancient History.
He was Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick, having joined the Department of Classics and Ancient History in 1996. He also served as pro-vice-chancellor 'Teaching, Learning and Quality' from 2003, and then 'Academic Planning and Resources'.
On 1 September 2010, he became pro-vice-chancellor and head of College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham.

Honours

In 2007, Whitby was awarded a Doctor of Letters honorary degree by the University of Warwick. He received one of the 2009 Distinguished Book Awards from the Society for Military History for The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare.

Works