I received my Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from Harvard University in 1971, after a BA in Letters and MA in Latin from the University of Oklahoma. Since then, I have been the author of over 200 scholarly articles and 14 books, including Ancient Geography (London 2015), and Cleopatra's Daughter and Other Royal Women of the Augustan Age (Oxford 2018). Publications have appeared in journals such as the American Journal of Archaeology, Journal of Hellenic Studies, L'antiquité classique, and Echoes du monde classique. I have participated in or directed archaeological excavations and surveys in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and northwestern Africa, and have been the recipient of four Fulbright Awards for teaching in India, Poland, Malta, and Austria. I have also received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Geographic Society. While at Ohio State I directed a number of PhD dissertations and MA theses, and continue to advise students.

My current research is directed largely toward ancient geography and exploration, as well as the role of women in antiquity. I am currently engaged in a book on the Mithridatic dynasty of Pontos, under contract to Oxford University Press, and on the geography of the Elder Pliny, under contract to Cambridge University Press. In addition to these interests, I have published a number of articles on opera and the classics, in particular as it pertains to Richard Wagner, in journals such as Ars Musica Denver and Euphrosyne.

After leaving Ohio State in 2007, I was Karl-Franzens Distinguished Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Graz in Austria, in 2008. I am currently living in Santa Fe, NM, and pursuing an active program of research, as well as travelling throughout the US giving public lectures, particularly on the topic of Cleopatra and ancient women.