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Staff Profiles

Dr John Holton

Director of Education (HCA), Senior Lecturer in Ancient History

  • Address: School of History, Classics and Archaeology
    Newcastle University
    Armstrong Building
    Queen Victoria Road
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    United Kingdom

    Armstrong 1.34
Background

Biography

I am originally from Bradford, West Yorkshire, though my family moved to Devon when I was young and adaptable enough to lose my northern accent. I attended a state comprehensive school before going to Swansea University, where I obtained BA (first class) and MA (distinction) degrees in Ancient History. This was my first formal exposure to the ancient world, as I did not have access to classical subjects at school. After my UG and MA, I took up the inaugural A.G. Leventis Scholarship in Hellenic Studies at the University of Edinburgh, where I wrote a doctoral thesis on early Hellenistic kingship under Prof. Andrew Erskine. I have held a permanent lectureship in Newcastle since 2015, and became Senior Lecturer in 2022.


I am a first-generation university entrant from a working-class background, which is an important part of my identity and informs my deep commitment to making university education work for everybody; in my experience, this background also gives a valuable perspective into longstanding challenges in the discipline and wider sector.


Research interests

I am interested in complex historical problems, particularly relating to political institutions, ideology, the role of media in society, and cultural change. I firmly believe in the contemporary cultural and societal importance of studying ancient history, but also value of 'applied ancient history' for interdisciplinary work and contributing to solving real-world challenges in the social, cultural, and political spheres. I have recently published (2025) two monographs, investigating the period of Alexander the Great's Successors and the development of Hellenistic kingship.



More on this topic will be pursued in my international project to produce a 400,000-word Companion to Hellenistic Monarchy for Routledge, aiming at 2029 publication. My next major project, which I am currently scoping, will focus on transhistorical approaches to autocracy and authoritarianism.

 

Recent roles and responsibilities


Internal work


Between 2021-2026 I have been Director of Education for the School of History, Classics and Archaeology (HCA), working as strategic lead for an education portfolio with approximately 1,000 students. Over five years, I have led significant enhancements to curricula and working practices across the multidisciplinary unit, delivered high-quality outputs from collaborative projects, and improved our major metrics and KPIs for both undergraduate and postgraduate provision. I have worked closely with colleagues and stakeholders across the school, faculty, university, and beyond in all of this, and have been able to influence good practice across different disciplines.


I am also undertaking a three-year term as Newcastle University's Academic Lead for Digital Assessment, where I chair the cross-unit Digital Assessment Group, support digital education across the institution, help drive and influence policy, and contribute to delivering the university's Education for Life strategy. Key responsibilities have been helping to lead on an institution-wide digital assessment review, planning the future of digital exams, and supporting effective practice in digital assessment across the university. This role involves a significant level of ongoing work with internal and external stakeholders.


My longer record of service and contribution to the school, faculty, and university includes the following roles.


  • REF preparation group, Classics and Ancient History sub-panel, HCA
  • Academic Lead for Canvas and Chair of the Canvas Management Group, Newcastle University
  • Professional Standards Framework (PSF) Mentor, Newcastle University
  • Member of School Executive Board, HCA
  • Chair of the School Education Committee, HCA
  • Chair of the School Employability Group, HCA
  • Member of the Digital Education Sub-Committee, Newcastle University
  • Member of Faculty Education Committee, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Degree Programme Director, Classics and Ancient History, HCA
  • Admissions Tutor and Selector, Classics and Ancient History, HCA


External work

Outside of the university, I am a member of Council and a Trustee for the Classical Association, the primary subject association for Classics and Ancient History in the UK, where I co-chair its Teaching Board (the CATB). Alongside acting as an officer for the organisation, in this role I help organise national efforts to support schools and teachers to deliver classical curricula, provide teacher CPD, engage in public policy work (including qualifications review and reform, and advocacy in parliament), and develop new partnerships. I feel very privileged to be able to use my skills and experience to influence in a national educational context; I'm delighted to be working to help shape a sustainable future for classics education in the UK and embed the importance of the discipline – which is a truly interdisciplinary Humanities field – in wider society.


I was part of the advisory group writing the new Subject Benchmark Statement for Classics and Ancient History (2022), for the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), collaborating with colleagues across the UK and helping to develop a vision for higher education in my discipline that evolves with the time and meets future demands.


Since 2023, I have been a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, in recognition of my body of work supporting and influencing educational practice within my institution and nationally. I am currently working towards the next step, Principal Fellowship.


I have served as a Governor of Emmanuel College, Gateshead, holding a role on Local Governing Body and a particular brief focusing on Sixth Form Curriculum and Student Experience.


I am also a Research Associate of the Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies (Canada), and a member of a number of external international research networks, including the Antigonid Network led by the University of Exeter and the University of Southampton and the Royal Studies Network led by the University of Winchester.


I have also served as an External Examiner for UG and PG programmes in Classics and Ancient History at Swansea University (2021-2026) and the University of Exeter (2024-2028).

 

I regularly review articles and proposals for a number of publishers internationally, including the key journals Journal of Hellenic Studies, Historia, Journal of the History of Ideas, Intellectual History Review, and Royal Studies Journal.

Teaching

Education expertise

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE) and have led numerous projects in major areas of student experience and teaching and learning, including redeveloping UG and PGT marking criteria in the School, designing a new HCA Canvas community interface, and developing models of continuous and formative assessments. I designed and introduced Newcastle's innovative Global Ancient Histories module (now compulsory for V110 Ancient History, and widely available for enrolment in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences). I have also sat on the programme committees for the University’s Learning and Teaching Conference and the Association for Learning Technology's annual conference.


A couple of my recent write-ups of my practice in the university's Case Studies of Effective Practice can be found here:



Feedback, Guidance, and Consultation hours, 2024/25


  • Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 11.00-12.00, Armstrong 1.36 (teaching weeks only)


Teaching experience, 2015-present


As module leader


  • HCA1008: Global Ancient Histories
  • CAH2006: Hellenistic Empires from Alexander to Cleopatra
  • CAH3010: The Life and Afterlife of Alexander the Great
  • CAG1011/1012: Intermediate Greek Language and Literature 1 & 2
  • CAC8000: Research Skills and Development
  • CAC8110: Ancient Cultures in Context
  • CAC8011: The Writing of History
  • CAH8020: Masterclass in Ancient History
  • CAC8106/8107: Independent Research Project 1 & 2
  • CAC8090: Dissertation for MA Classics and Ancient History
  • HCA8000: Independent Study with Language (ancient or modern)


As contributing lecturer:


  • CAC1015: How Should I Live? An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy
  • CAC3000/CAH3000: Dissertation (Classical Studies & Ancient History)
  • CAG2002: Special Study in Greek
  • CAH1012: West Meets East: Greek History and Society, 776-200 BC
  • CAH2009: Portfolio in Ancient History I: Commentaries
  • CAH2020: Greek and Roman Religions
  • CAH2208: Issues in Ancient History
  • CLA2002: Special Study in Latin
  • SEL1023: Transformations
  • SHS1000: HCA Academic Mentoring Stage 1
  • HIS3020: Reading History
Research



Recent activity


  1. Two monographs on Alexander's Successors and the creation of Hellenistic kingship, which examine the ideological development of kingship in the tumultuous period after Alexander the Great's death. (Published June 2025)
  2. A chapter about class struggle and regime change in connection with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the prolonged civil strife among the Macedonian armies in Babylon that followed, in a volume exploring intersectional approaches to the history of Alexander the Great. (Submitted 2025)
  3. An article reflecting on my experience of introducing and leading the innovative ancient history module HCA1008: Global Ancient Histories. This is supported by a grant from the Education Committee of the Council of UK Classical Departments (CUCD). (In progress 2025)
  4. Sole-editing a 400,000-word volume on Hellenistic monarchy, for Routledge. This exciting project is intended to facilitate new knowledge production about a crucial global historical phenomenon. It will promote a dynamic picture of ongoing research at the cutting edge of the field for professional researchers, while providing the number one scholarly resource, worldwide, for graduate students and for undergraduate university curricula. It will also offer interested publics access to a well-written and cohesive resource about a fascinating ancient history topic chronologically situated between, and historically entwined with, the periods of Alexander the Great and the Roman empire. (2025-2029)
  5. Scoping a bigger project on ancient autocracy and authoritarianism, during an upcoming research sabbatical. (2025-2026)



Postgraduate supervision and examination


I welcome potential PhD students wishing to work on political, social, and cultural history topics in ancient history, especially those involving:


  • Monarchy, royal states, and empires
  • Media, symbolism, and iconography
  • Political institutions
  • Autocracy and authoritarianism
  • Hellenistic history and literature (323-30 BC) more widely


I have examined research degrees within the UK and internationally. Recent PhD supervisions has included the following topics..


  • ‘Royal Ideology and the Hunt: Cultural interaction between Europe and Asia in the reign of Alexander the Great’
  • ‘The Exiles of the Sullan Regime and the Elites of the Empire: Interaction, Discourse, Politics, and Integration in the 70s BC’
  • 'Olympian Shackles: An examination of the relationship between Greek Mythology, Identity and Material Culture in Hellenistic Greece'
Publications