Professor Speidel, born in 1963, studied Ancient History (including epigraphy and papyrology), Egyptology, and General History at the Universities of Zürich, Heidelberg and Oxford, and taught Greek and Roman history at the Universities of Lausanne, Bern, Zürich, Basel and Cologne. He held assistantships and senior assistantships at the Universities of Lausanne and Bern, and substituted full professorships in Ancient History at the Universities of Bern and Cologne. He was awarded several grants and fellowships by the Swiss National Science Foundation, was a board member of the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Provinzialrömischen Erforschung der Schweiz”, and is now on the board of the Zabern Series “Orbis Provinciarum”, as well as of the “Journal of Ancient Military History” and the “Revue des Etudes Militaires Anciennes”. Since 1994 he lectures Ancient History at the University of Bern where he was nominated assistant professor in 2002.

His research topics focus primarily on the history and the documents of the Roman army from the Republic to Late Antiquity. In particular, this includes topics on the Roman army on the Rhine and Euphrates frontiers, on the soldiers’ service, pay and daily lives, on the Roman army’s role in the integration of the Empire, on the army and the empire’s economy, as well as epigraphic and papyrological studies related to the Roman imperial army.

Professor Speidel is currently responsible for the Roman Army Documents" and “Army and the Integration ” projects. He is also assisting in the “Roman army at Zeugma” and "Roman Army Equipment" projects.