Professor Bowman is an historian of the Roman empire, Camden Professor Emeritus (2002-2010) and former Principal of Brasenose College (2010-2015). He has served as President of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (2001-5) and Vice-President (Humanities) of the British Academy (2014-2018).
His main research interests are Greek and Latin documents from the ancient Mediterranean, the Vindolanda writing-tablets, and the social and economic history of the Roman Empire, especially analysis of Roman economic activity. He was the founding Director in 1995 of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents in the Faculty of Classics, which has played a pioneering role in developing digital imaging technologies for damaged documents. His publications include works on the ancient agricultural economy, taxation, demography and literacy, as well as editions of unpublished Greek and Latin documentary texts on papyrus, wood and stone.