Ryan Strickler

Dr Ryan Strickler serves as Honorary Associate Lecturer in Classics within the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland. From March 2018 to February 2020, he held the position of Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the same school, teaching courses in Greek and Roman history as well as Greek and Latin languages. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy at Macquarie University in September 2018, with a dissertation titled “Coping with Crisis: Invasion, Defeat, and Apocalyptic Discourse in Seventh-Century Byzantium.” Subsequently, Strickler was Lecturer in Classics at the Australian National University’s Centre for Classical Studies from February 2020 to February 2022, where he convened the Honours and Masters programs in Classics. He is currently Lecturer and Discipline Lead in Ancient History at the University of Newcastle, fluent in Greek and Latin.

Strickler’s academic interests focus on Late Antiquity, examining the intersection of religion, identity, and crisis responses in the Roman and Byzantine Empires, particularly apocalyptic discourses in sixth- and seventh-century Byzantine literature amid Sassanid Persian invasions and early Islamic expansions. He co-edited Dissidence and Persecution in Byzantium: From Constantine to Michael Psellos (Brill, 2022), authoring chapters including the introduction with Danijel Džino, “Monsters Dressed in Purple: Imperial Critique in Early 7th-Century Byzantine Literature,” and contributions to collaborative volumes. Key publications encompass “Dehumanisation, Apocalypticism, and Anti-Judaism: Reflections on Identity Formation in Seventh-Century Byzantium” in The Routledge Handbook on Identity in Byzantium (Routledge, 2022), “Letters of Maximus in the Collectanea of Anastasius Bibliothecarius” with Bronwen Neil (Brepols, 2022), “Paradise Regained? Utopias of Deliverance in Seventh-Century Apocalyptic Discourse” (Routledge, 2020), “Persecution and Apostasy: Christian Identity during the Crises of the Seventh Century” (Routledge, 2019), and “Dreaming of Treason: Portentous Dreams and Imperial Coups in Seventh-Century Byzantine Apocalyptic Discourse” (Brill, 2018). Journal articles include “A Dispute in Dispute: Revisiting the Disputatio cum Pyrrho Attributed to Maximus the Confessor” (Sacris Erudiri, 2017) and “The ‘Wolves of Arabia’: A Reconsideration of Maximus the Confessor’s Epistula 8” (Byzantion, 2016). His monograph Early Byzantine Apocalyptic Discourses: Coping with Crises in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries is forthcoming with Brill in 2026. Strickler organized the 2019 UQ workshop “Power and Legitimacy in the Roman and Byzantine Worlds” with Amelia Brown and has contributed reviews to The Classical Review.

Professional Email: r.strickler@uq.edu.au