AN INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTERDEPARTMENTAL PROGRAM AT COLUMBIA

Susan Rahyab

Susan joined the Classical Studies doctoral program in 2020. Trained as a historian, she focuses on the administrative, social, and cultural history of Roman Egypt. Considering both public and private writing, she is interested in urban offices, public archives, municipalization, and other aspects of Roman administration in Egypt such as censorship and book-burning. In addition to her historical work, Susan received training in Greek documentary papyrology through the summer institute of the American Society of Papyrologists and is preparing editions of papyri and ostraca from Roman Egypt. Her work integrates papyrological and epigraphic evidence in an effort to enhance our understanding of the ancient Mediterranean without boundaries between the two disciplines.

A daughter of Afghan immigrants, Susan was born and raised in New York City, where she received both her BA (2018) and MA (2020) in history from Hunter College, CUNY. Her undergraduate thesis explored the office of agoranomos in Greco-Roman Egypt and has been published in the New England Classical Journal (2019). This paper revealed a wider trend in the Greek world regarding the office’s evolution into a compulsory public service, and her master’s thesis considered censorship and book-burning in imperial Rome and Egypt. Returning to the agoranomoi, Susan’s master’s thesis at Columbia (2022) explored the role of these urban officials in two policies commonly imposed by Roman authorities in the provinces of the empire: municipalization and public archive-keeping.

At Columbia, Susan has served as a teaching assistant in the History and Classics departments for Roman and Egyptian history courses.

For Susan’s publications and conference presentations, see her Academia.edu page. Email Susan Rahyab.