Hans Beck received his PhD in Ancient History from University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in 1996 with a thesis on Polis und Koinon. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Struktur der griechischen Bundesstaaten im 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. In 1997 he was hired to the position of Assistant Professor at Cologne University. In 2001-02 he was Junior Fellowin residence at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington DC. Finishing his Habilitation in Cologne in 2003 with a work entitled Karriere und Hierarchie. Die römische Aristokratie und die Anfänge des cursus honorum in der mittleren Republik, he moved on to Frankfurt University in 2004, where he held a , awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. In 2005 he was hired to the position of Professor of Ancient Greek History and John MacNaughon Chair of Classics at McGill University, which is his current employment. From 2007 to 2016 he was the Director of Classical Studies at McGill. Beck specializes in the history and culture of the ancient Greek world, with a thematic focus on federalism, polis governance, and notions of the local. His research also extends to the study of the political culture of ancient Rome, the exercise of aristocratic rule in antiquity, and ancient historiography. He contributed many entries to Brill’s New Pauly and , for which he has also served on the editorial board. He is co-editor of and co-director of , a research network on the comparative study of ancient Greece, Rome, and China, based at McGill University. In 2015, he was awarded the of the German Research Foundation.
Selected publications
Polis und Koinon. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Struktur der griechischen Bundesstaaten im 4. Jhdt. v. Chr., Steiner, Stuttgart 1997 .
Editor with Uwe Walter: Die Frühen Römischen Historiker I. Von Fabius Pictor bis Cn. Gellius, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2001,
Editor with Uwe Walter: Die Frühen Römischen Historiker II. Von Coelius Antipater bis Pomponius Atticus, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004,
Karriere und Hierarchie. Die römische Aristokratie und die Anfänge des cursus honorum in der mittleren Republik, Akademie, Berlin 2005, .
Editor with Peter Scholz und Uwe Walter: Die Macht der Wenigen. Aristokratische Herrschaftspraxis, Kommunikation und edler Lebensstil in Antike und Früher Neuzeit, Oldenbourg, München 2008
