I am an Ancient Historian and Classicist, specialising in the history of autocracy and the civil wars, and in Roman historiography. After completing my PhD at the University of St Andrews (2021), I worked as a Teaching Fellow in Roman History and Epigraphy at the University of Warwick (2021-22) and as a Teaching Fellow in Ancient History at Durham University (2022-23). From 2023 to 2026, I was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Edinburgh (School of History, Classics and Archaeology). Since 2023, I am an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Research interests

• Cultural History of Autocracy, Civil War and Regime Change
• Political Discourse and Thought in the Roman empire
• Roman Historiography and Biography (esp. Caesar, Livy, Tacitus, Suetonius)
• Classical Reception

I am a cultural historian specialising in the Roman empire, working across historiography and biography. My research sits at the intersection of Latin historiography, political thought and the cultural history of autocracy, examining how regimes emerging from civil war craft and legitimise authority by shaping cultural memory, and how literary and non-literary narratives of war and trauma take shape in the process. I draw on both literary texts and material culture (coinage, statuary, inscriptions) to trace these dynamics across different kinds of evidence.

My first monograph, "Suetonius and the Politics of Memory in the Roman Empire", has been accepted by Cambridge University Press and will be published next year. It offers the first political analysis of Suetonius' "Lives of the Caesars", set within the political discourse of the Trajanic age.

Alongside my work on the ancient world, I research its afterlives in the modern political imagination, focusing on how ancient history has been mobilised in the service of autocratic regimes.

Teaching

My teaching is informed by my research on Roman history, literature and culture, as well as my expertise in Greek history, literature and culture. I teach modules in Ancient History and Archaeology, Classical Literature in Translation and Classical Reception.

Expertise and public engagement

I have organised and taken part in various public engagement and outreach activities. These include events at public schools, screenings of the theatrical performances of “Trojan Women” by “The Trojan Women Project,” and a concert (“Chords of Courage”). In 2026, I was invited to chair and introduce an event on Tacitus’ Agricola, hosted by the Istituto di Cultura Italiana di Edimburgo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIyGE9RHi3Y).

Additionally, I am a guest editor for the Classical Reception Studies Network's blog takeover, "The Dark Side of Power: Weaponised Antiquity and Strategies of Resistance," set to launch in Fall 2026, and I am a speaker for the Classical Association Speaker List (2025–).

Selected publications

Martino, C. (Forthcoming 2027a) "Suetonius and the Politics of Memory in the Roman Empire", CUP (under contract)

Martino C. and Christoforou, P. (Eds.) (Forthcoming) "Unveiling the Optimus Princeps. New Trends and Approaches in the Age of Trajan", Liverpool University Press (under contract)

Martino, C. (2026) “The Die Has Been Cast!’: Suetonius’ Caesar and the (G)looming Fate of Rome", Classical Quarterly, doi:10.1017/S0009838826101438

Martino, C. (Forthcoming 2027b) “Rewriting the Past: Autocracy and the Memory of Civil Violence in Augustan and Fascist Rome” in Damtoft Poulsen A. and Gerschewski J. (Eds.) "Languages of Autocracy: Ancient and Modern" CUP

Martino, C. (Forthcoming 2027c). “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: Antonia the Younger in History and Historiography” in Webb L. and Elder O. (Eds.) "Women in Roman Historiography", Brill.