David Ratzan

David Ratzan is the Head of the Library of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at NYU. He holds a PhD in Classical Studies from Columbia University and his main research and teaching interests lie in the social, economic, and legal history of the Greek and Roman worlds, particularly as illuminated through the papyrus manuscripts and documents that survive from Egypt. He is the author of several articles and chapters and is co-editor of two edited volumes, Growing up Fatherless in Antiquity (with Sabine Huebner; Cambridge University Press, 2009) and Law and Transaction Costs in the Ancient Economy (with Dennis Kehoe and Uri Yiftach-Firanko; University of Michigan Press, 2015). Ratzan is also a founding member of the Ancient Ink Laboratory in the Center for Integrated Science and Engineering at Columbia University, a interdisciplinary working group investigating the chemical composition and history of ancient inks (the AIL's most recent publication is: Goler, S., J. T. Yardley, A. Cacciola, A. Hagadorn, D.M. Ratzan and R.S. Bagnall. 2016. "Characterizing the age of ancient Egyptian manuscripts through micro-Raman spectroscopy." Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 47(10): 1185-93. DOI: 10.1002/jrs.4945). Current projects include an edited volume on mother absence in the ancient world, a volume of papyri, and several articles on the intersection of law, magic, and economics in the Roman Empire.   Before coming to NYU, Ratzan taught at Columbia, Hofstra, and Temple Universities. He teaches at ISAW and the NYU Core Curriculum, as well as at Gallatin. His honors include being the Yale Mellon Fellow to Clare College (1997-1999) and the Columbia University Core Curriculum Teaching Excellence Award for 2009. He currently serves as the Secretary for the Forum for Classics, Libraries, and Scholarly Communication and on the Society for Classical Studies selection committee for the Lionel Pearson Fellowship.