Christopher S.M. Lyon teaches history and the classics to high school and middle school students. Before the classroom, he served in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry machine gunner, in which role he did two combat tours in Iraq. He has at various times also been a cook, dishwasher, charter boat crewman, convenience store clerk, phone operator, research assistant, NFL security guard, freelance writer, rugby player, and athletic director.
He is a singer of sacred and secular repertoire, a singer-songwriter and arranger, and a performing musician on the violin, mandolin, bouzouki, and bodhrán. He runs a podcast with his brother Patrick entitled “The Bards With Beards“, and has recently recorded an album with his band “Basil & the Wrath Bones“, to be released on Spotify in Fall 2026. His linguistic enthusiasms range from a command of Latin through functional if rough Arabic (passable in the various souks of Al Anbar but of lesser utility elsewhere), a smattering of Old English and Old Norse (sufficient to read a saga at gunpoint), and a passing acquaintance with Italian, Spanish, and French (enough to get him patronizing smiles in half of Europe). On the rugby pitch he has coached his boys’ high school team to a state championship; in his off-hours he commands painted legions in tabletop wargames, as well as causing havoc in his bi-monthly DND sessions. He also enjoys board games, hiking, and generally being a font of marginally useful information that his children call “Mr. Google”.
He lives in Illinois with his wife Jaimie and their seven children. These children are both unimpressed with all of the above, and the finest of his works in progress.
Works in the Collaboratory:
- A Slow and Secret Poison: The Fall of the Roman Republic 146-31 BC