Eric Csapo

Eric Csapo served as Professor of Classics at the University of Sydney from 2005 to 2019, within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Humanities. He previously held positions as Assistant and Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2005. Csapo earned his BA Honours from the University of British Columbia, followed by an MA and PhD from the University of Toronto. He has held short-term visiting research positions at institutions including the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, the Institute for Advanced Study in Bristol, New College Oxford, the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Berlin, the Institute of Classical Studies in London, and the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies. Csapo participated in archaeological excavations at the Athenian Agora, Kommos in Crete, and Mytilene. He is currently Honorary Associate in the Discipline of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney.

Csapo's research centers on Classical mythology, literature, drama, philosophy, religion, art, and social history, with a primary focus on Greek drama and theatre history. He has pioneered reconstructions of ancient theatrical practices, including costume, acting, music, dance, and festival production. In collaboration with Peter Wilson, he co-directs the project Documents for a Social and Economic History of the Theatre to 300 BC, with volumes including Theatre Beyond Athens (Cambridge University Press, 2020), The Theatre Festivals of Athens (forthcoming, 2025), Theatre People and Patrons (in progress), and a synthetic volume. Key publications include The Context of Ancient Drama (University of Michigan Press, 1995, with W.J. Slater), Theories of Mythology (Blackwell, 2005), Actors and Icons of the Ancient Theater (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century BC (De Gruyter, 2014, editor). In 2016, he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, recognized as a leading authority on theatrical practice in Athens and the Greek world from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD. His work covers festivals, administration, finance, music, staging, actors, iconography, epigraphy, theatre buildings, and dramatic literature.