Ronald T. Ridley first taught at the University of Sydney, then at the University of Melbourne, retiring in 2005 from a personal chair. His research interests concentrate on Egyptian and Roman history, historiography and archaeology. He is the author of some fifteen books, including a history of Rome, a translation of Zosimus, biographies of Bernardino Drovetti and Carlo Fea, and The Eagle and the Spade (the archæology of Rome 1808-1814). He is a Fellow of the Antiquaries' Society, the Royal Historical Society, the Pontifical Academy of Roman Archaeology, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 2019, he was awarded the Premio Daria Borghese for his Prince of Antiquarians: Francesco de Ficoroni.