Languages, Literatures, & Cultures

My research explores the impact of Greek philosophy on Latin literature. I am currently completing my first monograph The Cosmic Text from Ovid to Plato (under review in CUP), which examines the impact of Platonic philosophy on Latin poetry, especially that of Ovid. My most recent article also on this topic, 'Crafting Chaos: Intelligent Design in Ovid Metamorphoses 1 and Plato's Timaeus', was recently published in Classical Quarterly (February 2021): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/abs/crafting-chaos-intelligent-d... I am part of new cohort of Ovidian scholars focusing on the philosophical dimensions of Ovid's work. I am part of a landmark volume, Philosophy in Ovid, Ovid as Philosopher (forthcoming in OUP).        

I have also recently published an article on the influence of Lucretius on Galileo, https://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/COL/article/view/4675. This forms part of my new research agenda, exploring the impact of Lucretius on scientific works from the early modern period to the first exponents of Quantum Mechanics.

My wider research interest include the meeting of poetic, philosophical and scientific discourses in the ancient and early modern worlds, concepts of language and identity, and the visual reception of Ovid's Metamorphoses in the Renaissance and its mediation through the Second Sophistic.

 

I am currently teaching a variety of courses across the spectrum of Classics, including courses on Greek Tragedy, Language and Cognition in the ancient world, and ancient Greek and Latin. In my Intermediate Latin course, we are currently developing a digital commentary of the Apollo and Daphne passage from book 1 of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

In the Autumn semester (2021), I am teaching a new course on the History of Science, which asks when and where did science begin to resemble the disciplines it encapsulates
today, taking as its focal points the so-called ‘Scientific Revolution’ in the 16th century, and the dawn of Quantum Mechanics in the early 20th century.

In the version of my Greek Tragedy course from Spring 2020, I developed a website with the students using their coursework to ask whether ancient tragedy be used to explore our current political environment: https://antigoneanew.wordpress.com/

My teaching focuses on experiential learning opportunities, which empower students and encourage them to take intellectual risks. I try to utilize the classroom, lecture hall, or even a zoom meeting as a creative space, where I use role playing games to engage students and enrich their learning experiences. In particular, I have utilized the platform, Reacting to the Past, developed in Barnard college (https://reacting.barnard.edu/), to create games based on trial of Galileo and the besiege of Athens in the 5th century BC.