Trained in Egyptology and Papyrology, Manning's research focuses on economic and legal history. Broadly interested in comparative law and historical sociology, Manning is concerned with the ways in which Egypt is related to larger debates about the history of the state, the development of social relationships on the land, and the role of private property in history. He is the author most recently of Land and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Structure of Land Tenure (Cambridge 2003). With Ian Morris, he has co-edited The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models (Stanford in press). He is currently engaged in the editing of Greek and Demotic Egyptian papyri in the department’s collection, and in a new book project on private property and private contracting in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt.
