Barry Strauss

Bestselling author Barry Strauss is a classicist and a military and naval historian and consultant. He is a recognized authority on leadership and the lessons that can be learned from the experiences of the greatest political and military leaders of the ancient world, among them, Caesar, Hannibal, and Alexander.

Strauss is the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies at Cornell University, where he is the former Chair of the Department of History as well as Professor of History and Classics. He is also the Corliss Page Dean Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Series Editor of Princeton’s Turning Points in Ancient History. He also served as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale and a B.A. from Cornell.

Professor Strauss has spent years researching and studying the leaders of the ancient world and has written and spoken widely of their mistakes and successes. He is also a widely acclaimed military and naval historian whose analyses of the strategies and campaigns of some of history’s great commanders reveal the successful rules of engagement that were true on the battlefield and resonate in today’s boardrooms and executive suites.

In recognition of his scholarship, he received Italy’s Lucio Colletti Journalism Prize for literature and he was named an Honorary Citizen of Salamis, Greece. Professor Strauss is a well-known television personality with appearances on The History Channel, Netflix, CNN, PBS and The Discovery Channel. He is the host of the popular podcast, "ANTIQUITAS: Leaders and Legends of the Ancient World," which is accessible on most platforms.

Professor Strauss is the author of ten books on ancient history which have been translated into twenty languages.

His latest book, The War that Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium (Simon & Schuster, March 2022) was a #1 amazon bestseller. Reviewers called it “splendid” (The Wall Street Journal), “a masterfully woven history” (Real Clear Politics), “both profoundly learned and highly readable” (National Review), “a gripping account” (Publishers Weekly), “engaging” (The New York Sun) and “this may be his best book in a distinguished career’ (First Things). The book was an Editor’s Pick: History at amazon.com and was named to four best books of the year lists.