About us | Beyond Alexandria

Jacqueline Klooster - University of Groningen

Jacqueline Klooster is Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen. Her area of expertise is Greek and Latin literature, in particular Hellenistic poetry. She is furthermore interested in the intersection of leadership values and literary genre in the ancient world and in modern retellings of Greco-Roman myth from a female perspective.

 

Jacqueline leads the project 'The Revisionist Muse: Modern retellings of Greco-Roman Myth from a female perspective', which surveys the recent literary trend of adapting classical mythology in order to show its female characters' perspective. She is organizer to the Hellenistic workshop Beyond Alexandria.

Annette Harder - University of Groningen

Annette Harder is Professor of Greek Language and Literature at the University of Groningen. Her interests include Hellenistic poetry (especially Callimachus), Greek tragedy, Greek literature in its cultural and political context, and literary and mythographic papyri.

 

Annette is furthermore chair of the board of the research school OIKOS. She is organizer to Beyond Alexandria, and has been for every edition of the Hellenistic workshop since 1992.

Marijn Visscher - University of Bergen

 

Marijn Visscher is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Bergen. Her research interests include the history of the Greek world, Greek literature and culture, and Middle Eastern history.

 

Marijn's contribution to the Hellenistic workshop is part of the panel 'Courts and Kings', and she will be presenting on Antigonus Epimanes, who is styled 'the madman'.

James Oakley - University of Oxford

 

Dr. James Oakley is Stipendiary Lecturer in Classics at St John's College in Oxford. He is both a Classicist and Egyptologist, and as such, his work always takes a multicultural approach, with a particular focus on literature and its sociocultural context.

 

To James, it is at the intersection of various literary voices from across the Mediterranean where nuance can be found, and where our perspectives on the ancient world can best be diversified. As part of the Hellenistic workshop, James will compare Greek and Egyptian views on kingship ideology outside Alexandria.

    Thomas Nelson - University of Oxford

     

    Dr Thomas Nelson is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College in Oxford. His research interests, spanning widely across Greek and Latin literature, include but are not limited to Hellenistic poetry, intertextuality and allusion, citation and quotation, aesthetics, Hellenistic royal ideologies, and Roman receptions of Greek (esp. Hellenistic) literature.

     

    Thomas is particularly interested in rethinking traditional narratives of literary history. In 2023, he published his first book: Markers of Allusion in Archaic Greek Poetry. He is currently working on Hellenistic epic fragments, as well as co-editing volumes on Hellenistic aesthetics, among other activities. At Beyond Alexandria, Thomas will be presenting on Heracles, Euphorion and Seleucid Ideology in the Aetion of Apamea-on-the-Orontes. 

    Rotem Avneri Meir - University of Helsinki, Harvard University

     

    Rotem Avneri Meir is a doctoral student at the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires (ANEE) within the University of Helsinki. He is also Fellow in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, and his research areas include Jewish society and religion in antiquity, the Hellenistic Period, Second Temple Judaism, the Seleukid Empire, and anthropology of religion.

     

    Rotem has devoted his dissertation to the study of the Hasmonean dynasty, which rose to power in the Seleukid Empire around the mid-second century BCE. Besides unveiling the intricate movements of the Hasmonean court, specifically, his research also offers further insight into the dynamics of ancient empires in general. At the Hellenistic workshop, Rotem will be talking to us about his dissertation.

    Davide Massimo - University of Nottingham

     

    Davide Massimo is Teaching Associate in Ancient Literature at the University of Nottingham. He is primarily interested in Greek literature and culture of the Hellenistic and Imperial age.

     

    He wrote his doctoral thesis on the Hellenistic poet Leonidas of Tarentum; his current main project continues on this, as he has set out to comment on all of Leonidas of Tarentum's extant epigrams. Epigraphic poetry as a whole is an interest of Davide, as well as cross-cultural contact in the Hellenistic and Imperial age, and at Beyond Alexandria he will be presenting his findings on the Seleucid Singing Stones.

    Daniel Anderson - Coventry University

     

    Dr. Daniel Anderson is Research Fellow at Coventry University. A major part of his research pertains to Old Comedy, and his monograph discusses both individual and collective innovation among the comic playwrights in Athens before the generation of Aristophanes.

     

    However, Daniel's research also focuses on Ancient Greek book culture. He is currently working on a project within this paradigm, and has previously published on pseudepigraphic themes in Callimachus’ epigrams, among other themes. During the Hellenistic workshop, he will be discussing premodern book cultures beyond Alexandria.

    Hanna Golab - New York University

     

    Dr. Hanna Golab is Adjunct Lecturer at New York University. Her main area of research is Ancient Greek choral performance and ritual, and she has published a plethora of material on the subject.

     

    Her current book project highlights ritual choral poetry as it is preserved in the extant epigraphic material. It interprets stone inscriptions from an angle of ritual performance, and as such, offers a unique and novel perspective on chorality and its role in shaping the sacred and therapeutic landscape in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. As part of Beyond Alexandria, Hanna will be discussing women’s poetry in the service of the Aitolian League.

    Chiara Pesaresi - Ca'Foscari University of Venice

     

    Chiara Pesaresi is Subject Expert at the Ca'Foscari University of Venice. Her research interests include Greek epigraphy of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, the female voice in poetry and the history of Ancient Greek.

     

    Chiara completed her PhD on Anyte of Tegea in 2022 in Venice. She has previously been respondent at the conference When the Light Goes On: Exploring 'Female' Poetry in Ancient Greece in Berlin, as well as the 14th edition of the Hellenistic workshop in Groningen. This year, she will be hosting a session of her own within the panel 'Epigram Beyond Alexandria', in which she will be reassessing Anyte’s votive epigrams.

    Matthew Chaldekas - Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

     

    Matthew Chaldekas is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. His research focuses on Hellenistic poetry, perception and aesthetics in Antiquity, and gender and ethnicity in Antiquity.

     

    His current research project, 'The Semantics of Ekphrasis in the Hellenistic Period', is dedicated to the analysis and interpretation of ekphrasis and heuristically assumes a broad conceptual spectrum of 'ekphrasis'. The work discusses the aesthetic as well as intellectual properties of ekphrasis, and devotes special attention to authenticity as a descriptive category. At the Hellenistic workshop, Matthew will be presenting on Theodoridas of Syracuse’s Rewritings of Callimachus.

    Marcie Gwen Persyn - University of Pittsburgh

     

    Marcie Gwen Persyn is Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests are Roman satire, Latin literature of the Late Republic and Early Imperial period, Hellenistic poetry, ancient bilingualism and code-switching, and digital textual criticism.

     

    Marcie's work centers around the interplay between Hellenistic and Augustan poetry, and answers questions of how Roman poets read, reflected, and responded to the literary tradition and linguistic heritage of Greece. Roman Satire forms the epicentre of Marcie's research, and for her doctoral dissertation, she analyzed the fragments of the first Roman satirist, Lucilius, determining the influence of the Greek terms and citations found there. She will be discussing her findings at Beyond Alexandria.

    Veronica Piccirillo - University of Cagliari

     

    Veronica Piccirillo is PhD Researcher at the University of Cagliari. Her research areas include Greek Hellenistic epigram, erotic literature, ancient mythology, and Greek-Latin intertextuality.

     

    As of the time of writing, Veronica is working on Dioscorides' Hellenistic epigrams as part of her dissertation. She has previously described Dioscorides as a 'hitherto neglected poet'. At this year's Hellenistic workshop, Veronica will be joining forces with Elly Polignano, whose research is focused on Marcus Argentarius; they will combine their areas of expertise into a new and unique perspective on Alexandrian poetry.

    Elly Polignano - Newcastle University

     

    Elly Poligano is PhD Researcher at Newcastle University. Her areas of interest include papyrology, Hellenistic and Imperial literature, Greek poetry, and Latin elegy.

     

    Elly is currently working to publish a critical edition with commentary and translation of Marcus Argentarius’ 37 epigrams. At the Hellenistic conference, she will be presenting with Veronica Piccirillo; together, they will provide us with an example of dialogue between Alexandrian poetry and non-Alexandrian poetry by showing Dioscorides and Marcus Argentarius side by side.

    Max Leventhal - Cambridge University

     

    Max Leventhal is Research Fellow at Trinity Hall and a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Classics within Cambridge University. His research area includes but is not limited to Hellenistic Greek literature, with a particular focus on scientific literature, and Second Temple Jewish literature.

     

    Max is currently conducting research into the Letter of Aristeas, which describes the translation of the Torah from Hebrew into Greek. This project highlights the text's importance to both Jewish and Greek literary history. At Beyond Alexandria, Max will be presenting on the pseudo-Orphic Testament as Hellenistic Hymn.

    Michele Solitario - Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

     

    Michele Solitario is Postdoctoral Researcher and research assistant at the Chair of Greek Studies at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. His research interests include Greek epigram, Lucian of Samosata and Imperial literature, and Platonic reception in the Imperial period.

     

    Michele has previously published an edition of Lucian's Hermotimus, which differs from Lucian's usual satirical work and discusses altogether more serious matters: the foundations of true philosophy. At the Hellenistic workshop, Michele will be discussing paradoxography from Alexandria to Pergamon.

    Jason Nethercut - University of South Florida

     

    Jason Nethercut is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of South Florida. Works under Jason's name include publications on a broad range of Latin literature, especially poetry.

     

    Jason's first book, Ennius Noster: Lucretius and the Annales, was published in 2021, and presents the first study of this size devoted to the literary relationship between the two most important Latin epic poets of the Roman Republic. A second book, Homer Reborn: Ennius' Annales and the Traditions of Ancient Poetry, is currently in progress. At Beyond Alexandria, Jason will be discussing whether the earliest Roman poets may be considered Hellenistic.

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