Louis Polcin joined the Ancient History program in the fall of 2023, after completing his BA in 2021 at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and his MA in 2023 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Louis’ interests broadly encompass Hellenistic Judaism and Greco-Jewish cultural interactions, with a specific focus on the self-presentation of Judean elites to their Jewish constituency, Hellenistic colleagues, and Roman supporters. Often isolated from the larger fields of Hellenistic and early Roman political history, the study of Hasmonean and Herodian authorities, as well as their opponents, both provide rich evidence for the many manifestations of Judaism and Jewish theology in this period, while also serving as well-documented case studies for patterns of Hellenistic kinship and Roman client kingship more broadly. His undergraduate history thesis, which examined the diplomatic relations between the Hasmonean Kingdom and the Roman Republic, sought to place this alliance within the wider geopolitical context of the second-century Mediterranean. His master’s thesis re-considered Herodian self-presentation to local constituencies (Jewish and non-Jewish alike) throughout the Levant, and the regime’s full-throated adaptation of Hellenistic practices of localized cultic toleration. At Penn, Louis’ work intersects with both ancient Jewish Studies and Classical Studies; placing these fields into dialogue can help questions traditional disciplinary divides and make way for more nuanced analysis of Jews in the Greco-Roman world. Beyond the study of Hellenistic Judaism, Louis enjoys examining political history across the ancient world broadly defined, including (but certainly not limited to) fourth-century Rome, the Ur III dynasty in third-millennium Mesopotamia, and the Seleucid administration. His even more tangential interests involve Pentateuchal source-criticism, and specifically the grammatical oddities of the Priestly Source.