Ammon Hillman

Ammon Hillman
Born	1971 (age 53–54) Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Arizona (BA) University of Wisconsin–Madison (MA, MS, PhD)
Occupations	Classicist author commentator
Notable work	The Chemical Muse
Children	2
YouTube information
Channel	Lady Babylon
Years active	2022–present
Genre	Biblical commentary
Subscribers	46 thousand
Views	3.2 million
Last updated: September 26, 2025

David Charles Ammon Hillman (born 1971) is an American classicist and author. He is the author of The Chemical Muse: Drug Use and the Roots of Western Civilization (2008), a trade-press book arguing for widespread non-medical drug use in Greco-Roman antiquity that received critical reviews in scholarly and trade venues.

In 2015, following a dispute over stage props in a campus production of Medea and a student sexual-harassment complaint that he denied, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota declined to renew his adjunct contract. Free-expression groups criticized the university's handling of the matter and the restrictions placed on the production. In 2024 he began promoting unconventional readings of the Septuagint and the New Testament on podcasts and YouTube. These interpretations have been rejected by academic specialists, with detailed rebuttal published by historian Richard Carrier in 2025.

Early life and education

Hillman was born to Baptist parents in Tucson, Arizona, and as a teenager taught Sunday school while studying Koine Greek and Latin. He completed a BA in classics at the University of Arizona and later studied at the Dallas Theological Seminary. He pursued graduate study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where publisher documentation lists an MS in bacteriology and an MA and PhD in classics with a specialization in Ancient Greek and Roman pharmacy. His 2004 UW–Madison dissertation, Representations of Pharmacy in Roman Literature from Cato to Ovid, treated pharmacology in Roman texts.

Career

Publications and The Chemical Muse

Hillman's trade-press book The Chemical Muse (2008) argues that psychotropic drug use was pervasive in classical antiquity and shaped cultural and political developments. Reviews in academic and trade outlets were skeptical of the book's evidentiary base and argumentative method, with Bryn Mawr Classical Review faulting its generalizations and use of sources and Kirkus Reviews characterizing it as polemical.

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Hillman taught as an adjunct at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. In late 2015 he provided a translation for a campus staging of Medea that initially incorporated handheld phallic amulets (fascina) as stage props. Administrators objected to the props during production, while students and faculty protested the decision as censorship. Shortly thereafter a student involved in the production filed sexual-harassment complaints against Hillman. Hillman denied the allegations and the university informed him that his teaching contract would not be renewed. He was also dismissed from a custodial position. The university stated that sexual-harassment complaints were investigated and acted upon under federal law, and that outcomes are confidential. FIRE and the National Coalition Against Censorship criticized the university's actions as raising academic-freedom concerns related to artistic expression.

Public court documents reveal a pattern of overt sexual commentary directed at both female and male students, and perceived stalking of female students. In a January 22, 2019 memorandum (Index #35), Dr. Hillman openly admitted to sexual harassment during conversations with Judy Myers, the director of the Medea play. His full deposition from the same date (Index #38) provides extensive sworn testimony detailing the harassment allegations, his mental state, and his perspective on the situation.

Online commentary and podcast appearances

Beginning in 2024 Hillman discussed his readings of the Septuagint and the Gospels on long-form podcasts and on his YouTube channel, including several appearances on the Danny Jones Podcast. Among other claims, he has argued that the Septuagint is the original text of the Hebrew Bible and that certain gospel passages have been mistranslated or misunderstood. These interpretations have been disputed by scholars. Carrier's 2025 critique rejects Hillman's philological and historical premises and contends that mainstream exegesis does not support his readings.

Bibliography

• The Chemical Muse: Drug Use and the Roots of Western Civilization (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2008) ISBN 0-312-35249-2.
• Original Sin: Sex, Drugs, and the Church (San Francisco: Ronin Publishing, 2012) ISBN 1-57951-165-1.
• Hermaphrodites, Gynomorphs and Jesus: She-Male Gods and the Roots of Christianity (San Francisco: Ronin Publishing, 2014) ISBN 1-57951-185-6.