Graduate Student, Classics
Merton College
Thesis Title: History and the Making of the Orator in Demosthenes and Aeschines
|
Christopher Pelling (Regius Professor of Greek & Student of Christ Church)
Gunther Martin (Bern) |
About
I am interested in Greek and Roman rhetoric and oratory of all periods, but particularly in Athenian political oratory of the fourth century B.C. My doctoral thesis looks at how the extant public speeches of Demosthenes and Aeschines engage with the Athenian past for persuasive ends, and, in examining how historical argumentation enriches their rhetorical strategies in general, stresses the special place that such argumentation came to have in Demosthenes' self-representation and political thought.
This focus has meant that virtually any development in the study of fourth-century Greece will now interest me (especially anything stage-connected or historiographical). Meanwhile, on the Roman side, a very early enthusiasm for the study of late Republican aristocratic culture is perpetuated by some of my teaching (see below). I would like to do more on the reception of Classical political oratory (esp. in 18th/19th c. Britain and France). Certain Greek regions and islands have caught my attention in a little depth, and these include Messenia, Acarnania, Lesbos, and Samos.
I previously read for the Final Honour School of Literae Humaniores at Balliol College, finishing in June 2008, and for the M.St. in Classical Languages and Literature (having migrated to Merton College to take up a Domus Scholarship), finishing in June 2009 and leading directly to doctoral work. The first year was supervised by Gunther Martin; the second by Gunther Martin and Chris Pelling; the third by Chris Pelling. I expect to submit in September.
Since Trinity Term 2010, I have taught a wide range of subjects - Greek and Roman, Mods and Greats, historical and literary - for a number of colleges, particularly Jesus and New College. I am currently teaching for Jesus and Trinity. I am also currently acting as editorial assistant to Henriette van der Blom and Catherine Steel on their book 'Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome', due out with OUP early next year (and presenting the proceedings of 'Oratory and Politics in the Roman Republic', held in Oxford in September 2010).
The picture on the left is entitled 'Two Youths contemplating Statues of Demosthenes, Cicero and Pitt'.
Contact Information
| Address: | Merton College |
