Staff Profiles

Marta García Morcillo holds a PhD in Ancient History by the University of Barcelona. Her research focuses mainly on ancient economic history and the history of economic mentalities. She is particularly interested in the dialogues and conflicts between wealth, money and morality in Roman society. Marta also works on the reception of antiquity in modern visual media. Previous to her appointment at Newcastle University, she was Senior Research Fellow at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities (University Alliance Ruhr, Essen), Research Fellow at the University of Turin (2024), Assistant Professor (research) at Durham University (2023), and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Classical Studies (London) (2022-23). Marta has lectured Ancient History and Classics at the Universities of Roehampton (London) (2013-22), Wales TSD (Lampeter) (2010-12), Leicester (2008-9), Dresden (2006-8) and Heidelberg (2005-6), and was Senior Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Heidelberg, 2012-13, and Potsdam, 2023). She has been UK PI of the project Twisted Transfers: Discourses of Corruption in Ancient Greece and Rome (AHRC/DFG) (2020-24), and co-investigator of EtiamEgo: Violence against women in ancient Rome (Università degli Studi di Torino, 2024).

Marta's research projects and publications revolve around topics such as trade and markets, concepts of value, wealth, morality and social inequality, as well as economic corruption in the Greco-Roman world. She is also interested in the intersections between Roman law and economic history, ancient and modern. Recent publications include the journal issue Discursive Constructions of Corruption in Ancient Rome (Cultural History 13.1, 2024, ed. with F. Carlà-Uhink); and the volumes The Real Estate Market in the Roman World (Routledge, 2023), and Managing Information in the Roman Economy (Palgrave-MacMillan 2021) (both ed. with C. Rosillo-López). Marta is cofounder of Imagines Project and member of the Engendering Ancient Economies Network. She is coeditor of the book series: RomeScapes (Edizioni Quasar), Twisted Transfers (De Gruyter), and Elements in the City of Rome (CUP).

Research interests:

• Ancient economic mentalities
• Roman financial history
• Markets and trade in Ancient Rome
• Social and gender inequalities in ancient Rome
• Ancient corruption
• Uses and reception of antiquity in modern media and popular culture

Semester 1, 24-25:

CAH2006: Hellenistic Empires from Alexander to Cleopatra (module leader)

HCA1008: Global Ancient Histories (contributor)

CAH2009: Portfolio in Ancient History I (contributor)

CAH/CAC3000: Dissertation (contributor)

CAH1015: The Roman World: From Romulus to Trajan (contributor)

CAH2020: Greek and Roman Religions (contributor)

CAH2208: Issues in Ancient History (contributor)

• Articles

  • Carlà-Uhink, F, Garcia Morcillo, M. Problemas y desafíos de la investigación histórica sobre la corrupción. La República romana. EUNOMÍA. Revista En Cultura De La Legalidad 2024, 26, 146-164.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Mercati, aste, banchieri e la costruzione del valore nella Roma antica. Imagines. The Magazine of the Uffizi Galleries 2024, (11), 13-33.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Financial Wealth, Value and Moral Corruption in Seneca´s Economic Thinking. Cultural History 2024, Discursive Constructions of Corruption in Ancient Rome(13.1), 71-93.
  • Carlà-Uhink, F, Garcia Morcillo, M. Discursive Constructions of Corruption in Ancient Rome. Introduction. Cultural History 2024, Discursive Constructions of Corruption in Ancient Rome(13.1), 1-11.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Mentality, Motivation and Economic Decision-Making in Ancient Rome: Cicero and Tullia's Shrine. The Economic History Review 2020, 73.3, 623-643.

• Book Chapters

  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Suspect Inheritances: The Dark Business of Death in Ancient Rome. In: Carlà-Uhink, F; Faber, E, ed. Corruption in the Graeco Roman World: Re-Reading the Sources. Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 2024, pp.165-195.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Sacred gifts, Profane Uses? Transfers and the Roman Religious Sphere. In: A. Trentacoste; Ray, N; Wilson, A, ed. The Economy of Roman Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023, pp.245-266.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M, Carla-Uhink, F. Rhetorik antiker und mittelalterlicher Werbung. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023, pp.193-214.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Markets on the Move: The Commercialization of Spoils of War in the Roman Republic. In: Helm, M; Roselaar, S, ed. Spoils in the Roman Republic: Boon and Bane. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2023, pp.249-265.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M, Rosillo-Lopez, C. Embedded, Eclectic, Elusive: The Real Estate Market and the Roman Economy. In: García Morcillo, M; Rosillo-López, C, ed. The Real Estate Market in the Roman World. The Real Estate Market in the Roman World: Routledge, 2023, pp.1-22.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Beyond Price: Constructions of Value and the Real Estate Market in Ancient Rome. In: Garcia Morcillo, M; Rosillo-Lopez, C, ed. The Real Estate Market in the Roman World. 2023, pp.42-65.
  • García Morcillo M. Managing Uncertainty and Asymmetric Information in Roman Auctions. In: Rosillo-López, C; García Morcillo, M, ed. Managing Information in the Roman Economy. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, pp.61-88.
  • García Morcillo M, Rosillo-López C. Managing Information in the Roman Economy: Introduction. In: Rosillo-López, C; García Morcillo, M, ed. Managing Information in the Roman Economy (Palgrave Studies in Ancient Economies). Cham: Palgrave-McMillan, 2021, pp.3-20.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Hasta infinita? Financial Strategies in the Triumviral Period. In: Pina Polo, F, ed. The Triumviral Period: Civil War, Political Crisis and Socioeconomic Transformations. Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, 2020, pp.379-397.
  • Garcia Morcillo, M. Exotic, Erotic, Heroic? Women of Carthage in Western Imagination. In: Carlà-Uhink, F. Wieber, A, ed. Orientalism and the Reception of Powerful Women from the Ancient World. London-New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025, pp.134-158. In Preparation.

• Edited Book

  • Rosillo-López, C, García Morcillo, M, ed. Managing Information in the Roman Economy (Palgrave Studies in Ancient Economies). Cham: Palgrave-McMillan, 2021. In Preparation.