After studying at the Universities of Kent and Leeds, Dr. Tracey Rihll held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship jointly in the Schools of History and of Geography at Leeds, working with Sir Alan Wilson on the application of modern urban theory models to historical situations. She was appointed to a Lectureship in Classics at University of Wales Lampeter in 1990. She moved to Swansea University in 1995 and now teaches in History and Classics.

Dr. Rihll is a co-editor of Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science (Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science, Princeton, USA), and was the Deputy Director of the Callaghan Centre for the Study of Conflict (Swansea University) until 2009. She serves on the editorial advisory boards of Vulcan: The Journal of the Social and Cultural History of Military Technology (editor: Barton Hacker, Smithsonian Institute) and Interpretatio, Sources and Studies in the History and Philosophy of Classical Science (Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science), and was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Anglo-German Table Ronde on Ancient Slavery, Edinburgh, 2005–2009.

Current research

Dr Rihll is currently writing a book on invention, innovation and technical education that is focused on antiquity but comparative throughout. Her work on slingshots continues, enriched by the inclusion of hundreds of specimens in Greek museums that have been added recently to her database of these objects

Principal research projects

Dr Rihll was awarded an Onassis Foreigner's Fellowship in 2010-2011, to study the glandes in the National Archaeological Museum and the War Museum in Athens, and in the Archaeological Museum in Thessaloniki, and to undertake fieldwork at various fortified sites around Greece.

Principal publications

Books

• The catapult: a history, Yardley: Westholme Publishing, 2007, pp. 381 + xxiii.
• Science and mathematics in ancient Greek culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 379 + xvi. [ed., with C. J. Tuplin]
• Greek science, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 163 + xii.  (although published by OUP, the series in which this appears is now distributed by CUP)

Book chapters and journal articles

• V. Wang, J.V.Tucker and T.E.Rihll, ‘On Phatic technologies for creating and maintaining human relationships’, Technology in Society, 33 (2011), 44-51.
• ‘Classical Athens,’ in K.Bradley and P.Cartledge (edd) Cambridge World History of Slavery, vol. 1, 2011, 48-73.
• ‘Skilled slaves and the economy: The silver mines of Laurion,’ in Beiträge zur antiken Sklaverei im Spiegel der Forschungsgeschichte und der archäologischen Zeugnisse, edited by A. Binsfeld, J. Deissler and H. Heinen, Forschungen zur antiken Sklaverei. Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 2010, 203-220.
• ‘Alexandrian Science and Technology,’ in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, edited by A. B. Lloyd, Oxford: Blackwell., 2010. pp: 409-424
• ‘Lead “slingshot” (glandes),’ Journal of Roman Archaeology (2009) 146-169
• ‘Slavery and technology in pre-industrial contexts,’ in Slave Systems: Ancient and Modern, edited by E. Dal Lago and C. Katsari. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 127–147.
• J.P. Oleson (ed) Oxford Handbook of engineering and technology in the ancient world, Aestimatio, 5 (2008) 93-132 (12,600 word review essay). 
• ‘Catapult sizes and artillery towers,’ Annals of the British School at Athens 101 (2006 [2007]) 379–383.
• [with J. V. Tucker] ‘Practice makes perfect: knowledge of materials in classical Athens,’ in Science and Mathematics in Ancient Greek Culture, edited by C. J. Tuplin & T. E. Rihll. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. 274–305.
• ‘The origin and establishment of ancient Greek slavery,’ in Serfdom and slavery: Studies in legal bondage , edited by M. Bush. New York: Longman Press, 1996. 89–111.

Electronic publications

• Greek and Roman Science and Technology website. Version 1 was launched in August 2000. Version 2 went live in July 2004. Version 3 began in July 2008. The site aims to provide a fundamental resource for students and scholars; accurate and detailed information on Greek and Roman Science and Technology, with references to further reading. It currently consists of over 450 files, mostly text.

Forthcoming publications

• 'Slavery and production' in The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries edd. S. Hodkinson, M. Kleijwegt and K. Vlassopoulos, Oxford University Press, 2012.
• 'Technology in Aineias Taktikas' in Aineias the Tactican ed. M. Pretzler.
• 'Military technology' in Omnibus 2011

Recent conference papers and invited lectures

• ‘Ancient Greek Military Technology’ Onassis Cultural Centre, 5th Avenue, New York, 6 October 2011.
• ‘Technology in Aineias Tacticus’ EMAET seminar Athens, 9 April 2011; an earlier version was given at the Aineias Conference Gregynog, 2-4 September 2010.
• ‘The Antikythera Mechanism’ at Bridging Cultures: a workshop in honour of Mike Edmunds, Cardiff, 9 July 2010.
• ‘The service sector in ancient scientific texts’ Classical Association Annual Conference, Cardiff, 7-10 April 2010.
• ‘Defence against what? What machines were fortifications built to resist?’; Opening lecture at the third Fokus Fortifikation meeting, Grabungshaus, Selçuk (Ephesos), Turkey, 9–11 October 2009.

Principle research awards, fellowships, and prizes

• Foreign Fellow, 16th Annual programme, Onassis Foundation, Greece
• British Academy / Swan Hellenic Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Birmingham, 1990 [not taken up, as she secured a lectureship at the same time]
• Major State Studentship (DES/BA), 1983–1986
• Finals Prize, University of Kent, 1982

Please see Dr. Rihll’s Personal Homepage for additional information