Stories · evidence · audiences
Ancient worlds. Better stories.
I’m Ayelet Haimson Lushkov, a classicist, writer and historical story consultant. I help creative teams use the history, literature and competing source traditions of Greece and Rome with confidence—and find the stronger story inside the evidence.
University of Texas at Austin · Yale · Cambridge University Press · History Channel · CNN · The Guardian · Los Angeles Review of Books · NPR
Historical story consulting
History is rarely one clean story.
Ancient sources contradict one another. Their silences matter. Familiar scenes may rest on a late tradition, while an overlooked detail can open a richer dramatic possibility.
I work with writers, producers, podcasters and publishers to distinguish what the evidence requires, what it allows, and where historically responsible invention can make a project more compelling.
This is not costume-detail policing. It is story judgment grounded in sources, politics, narrative and audience.
Ways to work together
Expert consultation
For early development, focused historical questions or a conversation that helps a team choose its next move.
Story review
A targeted review of a treatment, script or chapter, with concise written notes and a follow-up conversation.
Project consultation
Ongoing or larger-scale advice for longer scripts, episodic development, writers’ rooms and publishing projects.
Writing & media
Classical stories in public life
My public work ranges from Roman history and classical reception to politics, higher education, books and family life. I have written for The Guardian, CNN, USA Today, The Hill, the Los Angeles Review of Books and other outlets, and appeared on podcasts and radio.
I also write Classics. Lit., a newsletter about classical literature, books and the pleasures of reading across periods.
The connecting thread
How stories become authoritative
Whether I am reading Livy, writing about a modern adaptation, or advising a creative team, I return to the same questions: Who tells the story? What evidence survives? What has been left out? Why does one version persuade an audience more than another?
That combination of close reading, historical judgment and attention to audience sits at the center of my academic work, public writing and consulting.
Working on a story involving Greece or Rome?
Tell me what you are making, where you are in the process, and what historical questions are slowing you down.
