Kelli Rudolph, Head of Department
You’ll meet Kelli in Fresher’s Week at our introductory Departmental meeting, and may subsequently encounter her in her role as Head of Department. She specialises in the study of ancient philosophy and science. You may be taught by Kelli in second- and third-year modules on ancient philosophy, ancient languages, and Greek and Hellenistic literature and history. She decided to study classics when she read the Presocratics in her third week at Uni, and only then started studying Greek and Latin. She has spoken Latin sub arboribus (under the trees) with Father Foster on Rome’s Janiculum Hill, and loves sleeping under the stars in the Rocky Mountains.
This coming year, Anne is teaching on first year module CL359 ‘Beginners’ Greek 1’ and will give the literature lectures for CL368 ‘Introduction to Greek Civilisation’. Her research focuses on the worlds of Late Antiquity and Byzantium, especially the ‘lives’ (biographies) of saints, as well as gender and narrative. Anne became interested in the Classical world by reading the Greek myths when in primary school. Aged nine, when asked to write an essay on her hero, she chose Odysseus (she’s changed her mind since). She detests the film ‘Troy’, and once camped in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya with Masai tribesmen.
You can here her talk about Virgil here:
Or about ancient plagues & St. Sebastian here:
You may meet Efrosyni through her teaching on the first year module CL366 ‘Classical Mythology’. She is a classical archaeologist with research interests in Greek religion, ritual experience, monumental architecture, mythology and ancient astronomy, some of which she discussed in the recent TV documentary for National Geographic ‘Chasing the Equinox’. She once spent 3 weeks excavating in the Borneo jungle.
Christopher is a specialist in the history and historiography of the Roman Republic, and is especially interested in political history, rhetorical aspects of historiography, and ancient education. You may be taught by Christopher in second- and third-year modules on Republican and Imperial Roman history, or on ancient language modules. He has a debilitating addiction to hummus and cheese of all kinds, and secretly loves playing geeky turn-based strategy PC games when he has the time. Aged ten, he attended his primary school leavers’ disco in drag with lipstick and brightly-coloured floral wraparound.
Evangelos has research interests in Mycenaean administration, Minoan religion and iconography, and heritage management. Currently based at our Athens Centre, he teaches on our MA in Heritage Management. He was once responsible for a 54-ton ship, HMS Raider, on an overnight shift. Not knowing anything about tides, he tied it up close to the dock at high tide, but during the course of the night, the tide went out. In the morning, the ship was left hanging a metre out of the water. He decided not to specialise in maritime archaeology.
This coming year, Sophia is teaching on first year CL329 ‘Introduction to Archaeology’, CL700 ‘Museum Studies’ and on the MA module CL805 ‘Contemporary Archaeology’. Much of Sophia’s research has focused on how heritage sites and museums can address some of the most pressing global challenges, including social justice, gender equality and sustainable development. A jazz fanatic and slide trombone player, she became interested in the heritage field after she worked on the 1995 exhibition ‘Jazz’, of collages by Matisse. This was part of voluntary work at the Grenoble Jazz Festival.
This coming year, Csaba is teaching on the first year module CL369 ‘Introduction to Roman Civilisation’. He also teaches courses on pharaonic and Graeco-Roman Egypt (e.g. hieroglyphs), Hellenistic Greece and the Near East and the Greek and Latin languages. Csaba’s research is wide-ranging but mainly concentrates on the Hellenistic and early Roman world. His particular interests are in Papyrology and Hellenistic and Roman Egypt.
In the academic year 2020-21, Luke is teaching on second and third year modules CL638/640 ‘From Rome to Byzantium’ and ‘CL674/675 Everyday Life in the Roman Empire’. Research-wise, he is particularly interested in the everyday use of space in the Late Antique and Early Medieval city (AD 300-700), drawing on archaeological, textual, and inscription evidence from across the Roman Empire. Aged 11, he became interested in archaeology as a way to escape from Middle Earth, somewhat unsuccessfully. He read Gibbon’s seminal work ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’, first published in the 18th century, when he was twelve, resulting in a lifelong passion for Late Antiquity.
This coming year, Dunstan is teaching on first year module CL358 ‘Words are Weapons: Insults in Classical Literature’. He got seriously interested in Latin when he realised all the puzzle-solving eventually lets you enjoy ancient works of genius. Most of Dunstan’s research is on Roman literature, especially the poets Virgil and Ovid. His other specialism is the role of classical antiquity in modern culture, especially in video games and other entertainment media. He once played ‘Titan Quest’ as part of a research talk (he was ambushed by a wild boar).
Ada’s research focuses on the everyday life, the material culture and the social status of women and children in the Graeco-Roman world. You may be taught by Ada first-, second- and third- year modules on Greek and Roman History, and the archaeology of Ancient Egypt. When she was a child, Ada loved Cleopatra, but soon wanted to move beyond imitating Cleopatra’s bob haircut, and began to study ancient Egypt instead. She also enjoys baking bread and growing her own vegetables.
Ellen has wide research interests in artefact studies, the late to post-Roman transition in the West, and Roman and late antique art. She has worked on artefacts from both the north-western provinces of the Roman empire, and from Roman and Late-Antique Egypt. You may be taught by Ellen in second- and third-year modules on Roman archaeology, Roman art, and Late Antiquity. Aged five, Ellen attended a street party dressed as Britannia, and she developed an interest in the Roman period by reading children’s fiction about the Romans. She once flew over Vilnius in a hot-air balloon.
This coming year, Matthijs is teaching on first year modules CL364 ‘Latin for Beginners 1’, CL369 ‘Introduction to Roman Civilization’, and CL370 ‘Mediterranean Empires from Carthage and Rome to the Indus’. Matthijs’ research interests lie in the intellectual culture and literature of the Roman Empire, including Late Antiquity. He is fascinated by how texts and information circulated. Reading a lot of Asterix books in his childhood made him identify with Rome’s opponents at first. But unlike Asterix and the other indomitable Gauls, he immediately surrendered to the Romans at age twelve, when he participated in a Roman excavation for children. As a postgraduate student, he used to be woken up on Sunday mornings by a cohort of Roman soldiers (in kilts!) engaged in a role-playing game just outside his window.
You can listen to a podcast about Matthijs’ teaching and research here:
Steve Willis
This coming year Steve will be convening the stage one module ‘Introduction to Archaeology’ and presenting the lectures and some seminars. He runs fieldwork skills training and instruction courses as part of his research programmes which many students get involved with.
Steve writes: ‘I was fortunate enough to learn something of archaeology in classes at my school, but it soon got better than that when I discovered the ancient authors had written down not only ‘the facts’ about their times but all the vivid war and gore, the politics and intrigue, tales awash with salacious gossip and outrageous acts and claims (most of it probably true). I knew I was in for a good ride with that lot to read. Embarking, then, as a student volunteer in practical archaeology, my first dig was at a Roman theatre; I was intrigued to find imported marble at that site which is now on public display. Soon after, on my second dig, as legend has it, I was myself in danger of being literally petrified, as I turned over a Roman roof tile I had unearthed only to find myself starring at the Gorgon’s Head: a rare 3D image of Medusa fashioned by the Romans (following the footsteps of Perseus) to ward off evil; that was a really special find and I was hooked. I knew this would be my future when I went into the Finds Shed and someone was sticking together excavated fragments of wine amphorae that once held the ancient vintages from Rhodes, Tarragona and Campania, sometimes with faint Latin inscriptions painted on them telling you so, and with the fingerprints of the slaves who made them still there in the fired clay. I realised then that you can literally pick up the past and begin to understand its many narratives.’
This coming year Rosie will teach you the history portion of CL368 ‘Introduction to Greek Civilisation’. In second- and third year, you may be taught by her for Greek drama and ancient Greek modules. Rosie’s research interests include Greek and Roman theatre, costume, reception within antiquity and beyond it, and gender. Here’s a fun fact – Rosie once enjoyed seeing Palmyra from on top of a camel.