People_
Dr James Tan
BA Hons Sydney MPhil Sydney MA Columbia MPhil Columbia PhD Columbia
Senior Lecturer in Roman History
Department of Classics and Ancient History
Department of Classics and Ancient History
Phone
+61 2 9114 2199
Email
Address
A14 - The Quadrangle
The University of Sydney
Details
Member of SSSHARC
Member of The Vere Gordon Childe Centre
Resume
James Tan began studying Roman history at high school. As an undergraduate and masters student at the University of Sydney, and then as a PhD student at Columbia University in New York, he has focussed on the history of the Roman Republic. His research primarily examines how elites dominate their societies, how people create and respond to economic change and how we as students and scholars can conceptualize these problems.
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Primarily the political, economic and social history of the Roman Republic.
- “Tributum and theTribuni Aerarii from the Conquest of Veii to the Equestrian Law Courts.” Monograph in progress.
- “The Long Shadow of Tributum in the Long Fourth Century,” under review for Bernard, S., Mignone & L. Padilla-Peralta, D. (Eds), The Roman Republic in the the Long Fourth Century.
- “Climate Change and Rome’s Changing Republic,” in progress for Balbo, M. & Santangelo, F. (Eds), A Community in Transition: Roman History 200-134 BCE.
- “Spatial Perception and the Reform of the Comity Centuriata,” article in progress.
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| Trading Tyranny for... Contested Models of Leadership and Ending Civil War in Rome during the Shift from Participatory Democracy to Autocracy | Nicole DUNCAN |
Selected publications
Power and Public Finance at Rome, 264-49 BCE
(Oxford University Press, 2017)
Publications
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Books
- Tan, J. (2017). Power and Public Finance at Rome, 264-49 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
Book Chapters
- Tan, J. (2025). The Role of the Economy in the Fall of the Roman Republic. In F.J. Vervaet , D. Rafferty and C. J. Dart (Eds.), How Republics Die: Creeping Authoritarianism from the Ancient to the Modern World (Forthcoming), (pp. 123-150). Berlin: De Gruyter. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2023). The Long Shadow of Tributum in the Long Fourth Century. In Seth Bernard, Lisa Marie Mignone and Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Eds.), Making the Middle Republic: New Approaches to Rome and Italy ca. 400-200 BCE, (pp. 38-63). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2022). Climate Change and Rome's Changing Republic. In Mattia Balbo and Federico Santangelo (Eds.), A Community in Transition: Rome between Hannibal and the Gracchi, (pp. 21-54). New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
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Journals
- Bernard, S., McConnell, J., Di Rita, F., Michelangeli, F., Magri, D., Sadori, L., Masi, A., Zanchetta, G., Bini, M., Celant, A., Tan, J., et al (2023). An Environmental and Climate History of the Roman Expansion in Italy. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 54, 1-42. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2023). Geography and the Reform of the Comitia Centuriata. The Classical Quarterly, 72, 1-18. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2022). Political Cohesion and Fiscal Systems in the Roman Republic. Frontiers in Political Science, 4, 803030-1-803030-10. [More Information]
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Reference Works
- Tan, J. (2018). Tributum. The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley Blackwell.
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2025
- Tan, J. (2025). The Role of the Economy in the Fall of the Roman Republic. In F.J. Vervaet , D. Rafferty and C. J. Dart (Eds.), How Republics Die: Creeping Authoritarianism from the Ancient to the Modern World (Forthcoming), (pp. 123-150). Berlin: De Gruyter. [More Information]
2023
- Bernard, S., McConnell, J., Di Rita, F., Michelangeli, F., Magri, D., Sadori, L., Masi, A., Zanchetta, G., Bini, M., Celant, A., Tan, J., et al (2023). An Environmental and Climate History of the Roman Expansion in Italy. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 54, 1-42. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2023). Geography and the Reform of the Comitia Centuriata. The Classical Quarterly, 72, 1-18. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2023). The Long Shadow of Tributum in the Long Fourth Century. In Seth Bernard, Lisa Marie Mignone and Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Eds.), Making the Middle Republic: New Approaches to Rome and Italy ca. 400-200 BCE, (pp. 38-63). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
2022
- Tan, J. (2022). Climate Change and Rome's Changing Republic. In Mattia Balbo and Federico Santangelo (Eds.), A Community in Transition: Rome between Hannibal and the Gracchi, (pp. 21-54). New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2022). Political Cohesion and Fiscal Systems in the Roman Republic. Frontiers in Political Science, 4, 803030-1-803030-10. [More Information]
2021
- Tan, J. (2021). The Fiscality of Foreign Relations in the Roman Republic (241-146 BCE). In Campbell, R., I. Soto and J. Valk (Eds.), Ancient Taxation : The Mechanics of Extraction in Comparative Perspective ISAW Monographs. New York: New York University Press.
2020
- Tan, J. (2020). The dilectus-tributum system and the settlement of fourth century Italy. In Jeremy Armstrong and Michael P. Fronda (Eds.), Romans at War: Soldiers, Citizens, and Society in the Roman Republic, (pp. 52-75). London: Routledge. [More Information]
2019
- Tan, J. (2019). How Do You Solve a Problem Like Marcus Agrippa? In K. Morrell, J. Osgood, K. Welch (Eds.), The Alternative Augustan Age, (pp. 182-198). New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
2018
- Tan, J. (2018). Gargola, D.J. The Shape of the Roman Order: The Republic and Its Spaces. American Historical Review, 123(5), 1715-1716. [More Information]
- Tan, J. (2018). Tributum. The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley Blackwell.
2017
- Tan, J. (2017). Power and Public Finance at Rome, 264-49 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
2016
- Tan, J. (2016). The Ambitions of Scipio Nasica and the Destruction of the Stone Theatre. Antichthon, 50, 70-79. [More Information]
2015
- Tan, J. (2015). The Roman Republic. In A. Monson & W. Scheidel (Eds.), Fiscal Regimes and The Political Economy of Premodern States, (pp. 208-228). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
2013
- Tan, J. (2013). Booty and the Roman Assembly in 264 B.C. Historia: Zeitschrift fur Alte Geschichte/revue d'histoire ancienne/journal of ancient history/rivista di storia antica, 62(4), 417-419.
- Tan, J. (2013). P. Clodius and the Boundaries of the Contio. In C. Steel & H. van der Blom (Eds.), Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in the Roman Republic, (pp. 117-132). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
2008
- Tan, J. (2008). Contiones in the Age of Cicero. Classical Antiquity, 27(1), 163-201.
Selected Grants
2024
- FASS humanities, AI and education collaboration with University of Toronto, Gulson K, McKenzie K, Hilliard C, Lehner J, Tan J, Flew T, Weatherall K, Bello Villarino J, Gray J, Freebody K, Mockler N, Markauskaite L, Rawlings V, Office of Global Engagement/Compact Agreement Global Research Partnerships