Lindsay Allen

Lindsay Allen is lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern history at King's College London. She received her BA in Classics from the University of Oxford and her MA and PhD in Near Eastern history from the University of London. Her research and teaching focus on pre-Islamic, particularly Achaemenid Iran and related topics (ranging from Alexander of Macedon in Asia to the early modern European 'discovery' of Persepolis). She has also become interested in broader, interconnected issues concerning the writing of imperial histories in the post-colonial era; most recently she has examined concepts of foreign and national antiquity in twentieth-century British children's literature.

At ISAW, she is adapting her doctoral thesis into the book, "Through the King's Gate: Images and reflections of Achaemenid Kingship"; she argues that a range of textual and material evidence shows an adaptive dialogue across cultures, between king and both subject and non-subject populations, about royal legitimacy and identity between the sixth and fourth centuries BC. She is also pursuing ongoing research into the shaping of Persepolis as an archaeological site through survey and excavation in the 1920s and 30s; the project 'At Home at Persepolis' looks specifically at the phenomenon of the reconstructed palace (or so-called harem) of Xerxes as an archaeologist's residence and museum at the heart of the site.