Lydia Barrett

A Gateway to Corruption? The Role of Gifts in Ancient Athenian Democracy.

Biography

Lydia was awarded a BA in Classical Studies with French, and an MA in Classics and Ancient History, both from the University of Liverpool.

She is a member of the PGR DevNet, working to improve student experience at the University. She also works on the organising team for the Department’s WiP (Work in Progress) seminar series, which invites researchers from both at home and around the world to present their current research at Liverpool.

Outside of university, she took a year abroad in 2020-2021 to teach English at disadvantaged schools in France under the British Council. She then later taught English again at the Université de Rouen Normandie in 2022-2023.

She began her PhD in October 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Colin Adams and Dr. Georgia Petridou. She is also working with Dr. Rachel Pope on the Penycloddiau and Eddisbury Hillfort Landscape Project, mapping Bronze Age and Iron Age finds across the two ranges.

Research Interests

Lydia’s thesis examines the changing relationship between gift-giving and corruption (specifically bribery) within the context of Athenian democracy. She will analyse the process, function, and contexts of gift-giving in the archaic period ‘before’ democracy and trace these changing practices alongside Athens’ developing democratic structure. Her research explores whether the development of Athenian democracy and its struggle to incorporate contemporary gift-giving practices provided gateways to corruption for its more ‘savvy’ citizens.