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Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Cardiff University historian

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Professor of Ancient History

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones was born in Bridgend and raised in Cefn Cribwr, a small village just outside Bridgend in South Wales. A Welsh speaker, he studied at Cardiff University where he completed both his MA and PhD, before going on to become one of the most distinctive and publicly celebrated historians in Britain. Since 2016 he has held the Chair of Ancient History at Cardiff University returning, as an alumnus, to the institution that educated him. He lives in Taffs Well, Wales.

His specialisms are extraordinary in their range. He is one of the world's leading authorities on the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BC) the first great superpower of antiquity, which at its height ruled over 44% of the world's population. He is also a leading expert on ancient Greek social and cultural history, gender and dress in antiquity, the ancient Near East, and the reception of the ancient world in Hollywood cinema. He travels extensively throughout Iran, the Middle East and Egypt, often leading cultural tours -- and has acted as historical consultant for major Hollywood movies and television documentaries. He has worked closely with the British Museum, the Smithsonian, and other world-leading cultural institutions.

Before joining academia, Lloyd enjoyed a successful career as a theatre and opera director and designer, a detail that explains much about the vivid, theatrical quality of his historical writing. He is also an ordained priest in the Church in Wales. He is a regular contributor to BBC History, History Today, and World History, and has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 and Netflix. He is a regular guest on major history podcasts including Empire (hosted by William Dalrymple) and The Ancients.

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Born in Bridgend, raised in Cefn Cribwr, Lloyd holds the Chair of Ancient History at Cardiff University and is one of the world's leading authorities on the Persian Empire, ancient Greece and the reception of antiquity in Hollywood cinema

His books combine scholarly rigour with a storyteller's flair that reaches far beyond the academy. Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (2022) was praised by Simon Sebag Montefiore as "superb, authoritative and compelling" and by Tom Holland as "a brilliant feat of resurrection." It draws on original Achaemenid sources, inscriptions, art, and recent archaeological discoveries in Iran to tell the Persian story from the Persian perspective, rather than through the distorting lens of Greek writers such as Herodotus. The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt (2024) tells the dramatic story of the seven women who bore that name not just the famous last Cleopatra, but her six predecessors who wielded absolute power across the Ptolemaic dynasty. Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (2018) examines how the great Hollywood epics of the Golden Age from Ben-Hur to Cleopatra shaped the modern world's understanding of antiquity.

Since 2025 he has co-hosted the Biblical Time Machine podcast with biblical scholar Helen Bond exploring the social and political history of the Bible and related texts with the same wit and accessibility that characterises his books. He is the director of the Ancient Iran Program at the British Institute of Persian Studies, general editor of Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Persia and co-editor of Screening Antiquity, both for Edinburgh University Press. Wales should be very proud of him.

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Career Highlights

  • Prior to academia enjoyed a successful career as a theatre and opera director and designer
  • Professor of Ancient Greek and Iranian Studies at the University of Edinburgh (2015)
  • Chair of Ancient History at Cardiff University since 2016, returning as an alumnus to the university that educated him
  • Director of the Ancient Iran Program, British Institute of Persian Studies
  • Historical consultant for major Hollywood movies and television documentaries
  • Ordained priest in the Church in Wales, co-host of the Biblical Time Machine podcast (2025)
ℹ️ Born in Bridgend, raised in Cefn Cribwr, South Wales

Born and raised in South Wales -- holds the Chair of Ancient History at Cardiff University since 2016

Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (hardback)
Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (hardback)
Praised as superb, authoritative and compelling by Simon Sebag Montefiore and a brilliant feat of resurrection by Tom Holland -- this is the definitive history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, told for the first time from the Persian perspective using original Iranian sources.
Available at Amazon
The paperback edition of Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones's landmark history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire
Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (paperback)
The paperback edition of Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones's landmark history of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, drawing on inscriptions, art and recent archaeological discoveries in Iran to restore the Persian voice to its own history.
Available at Amazon
The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt
The dramatic story of the seven women named Cleopatra who ruled Egypt before the fall to Rome -- vividly recapturing the lost world of Hellenistic Egypt across three centuries of power, intrigue and dynastic murder.
Available at Amazon
Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World
Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World
How the great Hollywood epics of the Golden Age -- from Ben-Hur to Cleopatra -- shaped the modern world's understanding of antiquity. A unique study by the man who has himself acted as historical consultant for major Hollywood productions.
Available at Amazon
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