Après des études classique au Trinity College de Cambridge, Michael Grant fut professeur à l’université d'Édimbourg. Auteur prolifique, il n’écrivit pas moins de 50 livres (essais ou traductions commentées), sur des questions s’étendant de la numismatique romaine à l'éruption du Vésuve ou les Évangiles. Lui-même se décrivait comme « l’un des très rares auteurs freelance de l'histoire ancienne : un oiseau rare. » Il fut reçu officier (1946) puis commandeur (1958) de l'ordre de l'Empire britannique, fut vice-président de l'université Queen's de Belfast et de l'université de Khartoum. L’éloge funèbre du journal The Times indique qu’il était « l’un des rares historiens de l’Antiquité à gagner l’admiration des universitaires et du grand public ».
Ouvrages traduits
Michael Grant et John Hazel (trad. Etienne Leyris), Dictionnaire de la mythologie [« Who’s Who in classical mythology »], Paris, Marabout, coll. « Savoirs », (ISBN2-501-00869-3), p. 6-10.
Ouvrages
From Imperium to Auctoritas (1946/Rev ed, 1971?), Treatise on bronze coins
Ancient History (1952)
Roman Imperial Money (1954)
Who’s Who in classical mythology (1955)
Roman History from Coins (1958/ Rev ed, 1968)
The World of Rome (1960/ Rev ed, 19??/1974/1987)
The Ancient Mediterranean (1961/ Rev ed, 1969)
Myths of the Greeks and Romans (1962/new biblio:1986) (ISBN0-452-01162-0)
Greece and Rome: The Birth of Western Civilization (1964/ Rev ed, 1986)
The Civilizations of Europe (1965)
The Gladiators (1967)
The Climax of Rome: The Final Achievements of the Ancient World, AD 161-337 (1968/ Rev ed, 19??/1974)
Julius Caesar (1969)
The Ancient Historians (1970)
The Roman Forum (1970)
Nero (1970)
Herod the Great (1971)
Roman Myths (1971)
Cities of Vesuvius: Pompeii and Herculaneum (1971)
Atlas of Classical History (1971/ Rev ed, 1974/1986/1989/1994) [AKA Ancient History Atlas]
Cleopatra (1972)
The Jews in the Roman World (1973/ Rev ed, 1984) [AKA *The Jews and the Roman World]
Caesar (1974)
Army of the Caesars (1974)
The Twelve Caesars (1975)
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1976/ Rev ed, 1990) (ISBN0-02-028560-4)
Paul (1976)
Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels (1977)
Greece and Italy in the Classical World (1978/ Rev ed, 19??)
The Etruscans (1980)
Greek and Latin Authors: 800 BC - AD 1000 (1980)
Dawn of the Middle Ages (1981) -- coffee table book
From Alexander to Cleopatra: the Hellenistic World (1982) [AKA The Hellenistic Greeks (1990)]
The History of Ancient Israel (1984)
The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome 31BC - 476 AD (1985)
A Guide to the Ancient World: A Dictionary of Classical Place Names (1986)
The Rise of the Greeks (1987)
The Classical Greeks (1989)
The Visible Past: Greek and Roman History from Archaeology, 1960-1990 (1990) [AKA The Visible Past: An Archaeological Reinterpretation of Ancient History]
Founders of the Western World: A History of Greece and Rome (1991) [AKA A Short History of Classical Civilization]
Greeks and Romans: A Social History (1992) [ AKA A Social History of Greece and Rome]
The Emperor Constantine (1993) [AKA Constantine the Great: The Man and His Times (1994)]
The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition (1994)
St Peter: A Biography (1994)
My First Eighty Years (1994), Autobiography
Greek and Roman Historians: Information and Misinformation (1995)
The Severans: The Changed Roman Empire (1996)
Art in the Roman Empire (1996)
From Rome to Byzantium: The Fifth Century (1998)
Sick Caesars (2000)
Saint Paul (2000)
Traductions
Cicero, Selected Works (1965)
Cicero, Selected Political Speeches (1969)
Cicero, Murder Trials (1975)
Cicero on the Good Life (1971)
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome (1956/ Rev ed, 1977)
Cicero, On Government (1993)
Éditeur
Roman Readings (1958/67) [AKA Latin Literature: An Anthology (1979/new biblio 1989)]
Roman Literature (19??/ Rev ed, 19??/1964)
Greek Literature (19??)
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars: An Illustrated Edition (1979; Trad. Robert Graves, 1957)
Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean (en coll. avec Rachel Kitzinger, 1988)
