Dorothy J. Thompson

Dorothy J. Thompson is an historian specializing in Hellenistic (or Ptolemaic) Egypt. She has published three books on the subject: Memphis under the Ptolemies; Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt, a 2-volume study of the population based on tax registers; and Studies on Ptolemaic Memphis. Her other publications range widely over social, economic and cultural questions and most are based on papyri. At Girton College, Cambridge, she directed studies in Classics and was a College Lecturer in both Classics and History. In the Faculty of Classics, she held the post of Newton Trust Lecturer and lectured mainly in the field of ancient history. Since her retirement in 2006, she has been actively involved in the development of the Lawrence Room, the college museum with collections of Egyptian and Classical antiquities.