Dan-el Padilla Peralta

Dan-el Padilla Peralta, author of Undocumented: A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League (2015), is associate professor of classics at Princeton University, where he is also affiliated with the program in Latino studies. His teaching and research interests focus on the Roman Republic and early Empire. His recent book, Divine Institutions (2020), examines how temples and pilgrimage sites held the “Imperial Republic” together at a time of rapid expansion. His research agenda also includes the reception of classical texts and culture in the Americas; his recent essay in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Political Theory explores the reception of the classics in Santo Domingo. Peralta says that his scholarship in both fields reflects “an enduring concern with patterns of cultural and intellectual exchange.” In addition, Peralta writes for popular audiences. His work has appeared in Newsweek, the Guardian, Vox, and The New York Times. He says that he loves “to proselytize for classics and the humanities.” Peralta earned a BA summa cum laude from Princeton University, an MPhil in Greek and Roman history from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in classics from Stanford University.