Quick Facts
Biography
Barbara Graziosiis an Italian Professor of Classics at Durham University. Her interests lie in ancient Greek literature, and the way in which readers make it their own. She has written extensively on the subject of Homeric literature, in particular the Iliad, and more generally on the transition of the Twelve Olympians from antiquity to the Renaissance. Her most recent research was a project entitled 'Living Poets: A New Approach to Ancient Poetry, which was funded by the European Research Council.
Early life
Barbara was born in Trieste, Italy, and lived there with her mother and brother until she was 17. She attended a local liceo classico, and then the United World College of the Adriatic. There, on the advice of a teacher, she applied for both a local government scholarship and to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, to read Literae Humaniores, and was successful in both.
Education
She graduated with a First in 1994, and then with a distinction in her MA in 1995, both from University of Oxford. She then conducted her doctorate research at Cambridge under the tutelage of P.E. Easterling, which she completed in 1999.
Career
After a brief spell back in Oxford, as a Cox Junior Research Fellow at New College, and then in Reading, as a Lecturer in Greek Literature, she settled in Durham in 2001, first as a Lecturer, and then as a Senior Lecturer in Classics. She is also a doctorate supervisor for the university.
In 2003, she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship. Also in 2003, she was a Summer Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, D.C. (under the umbrella of Harvard University).
She has also been consulted on her work on a number of popular radio stations and television shows, including: discussing the Iliad with poets Carol Ann Duffy and Ruth Padel (BBC Radio 3, Proms Interval Talks), assessing the discovery of the Oxyrhynchus papyri together with a team of classicists, scientists and journalists (on BBC Channel 4 and Channel 2); arguing about the location of Ithaca with Quentin Cooper and John Underhill (Material World, BBC Radio 4), discussing her work with Bill Buschel on US Public Radio, and talking about Homer and Sappho on BBC Radio 3 (The Essay: Greek and Latin Voices).
Publications
Author
- Homer. (Oxford University Press: 2016).
- The Gods of Olympus: A History. (Profile Books: 2013).
- (with Johannes Haubold) Homer: Iliad Book VI. Cambridge University Press: 2010).
- (with Johannes Haubold) Homer: The Resonance of Epic. (Duckworth: 2005)
- Inventing Homer: The Early Reception of Epic. Cambridge University Press: 2002)
Chapter in Book
- Theologies of the family in Homer and Hesiod. In Theologies of Ancient Greek Religion. Eidinow, Esther, Kindt, Julia & Osborne, Robin Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 35-61 (2016).
- Vivere da poeti. In L'esilio della bellezza. Camerotto, A. & Pontani, F. Mimesis. 125-38 (2014).
- 'The poet in the Iliad'. In The author's voice in classical and late antiquity. Hill, J. & Marmodoro, A. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 9-38 (2013).
- 'Hesiod in Classical Athens: Orators and Platonic Discourse'. In Plato and Hesiod. Boys-Stones, G. & Haubold, J. H. Oxford: 111-132 (2010).
- 'Commentaries'. In The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 788-801 (2009).
- 'Horace, Suetonius and the Lives of the Greek Poets'. In Perceptions of Horace: A Roman Poet and His Readers. Houghton, L. & Wyke, M. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 140-160 (2009).
- (with Johannes Haubold) . 'Greek Lyric and Early Greek Literary History'. In The Cambridge Companion to Greek Lyric Poetry. Budelmann, F. Cambridge University Press. 95-113 (2007).
- 'Homer in Albania: the geography of literature'. In Homer in the Twentieth Century: Between World Literature and the Western Canon. Graziosi, Barbara & Greenwood, Emily Oxford: Oxford University Press (2007).
- 'The ancient reception of Homer'. In The Blackwell Companion to Classical Receptions. Hardwick, L. & Stray, C. Oxford (2007).
- 'L'autore e l'opera nella tradizione biografica greca'. In L'autore e l'opera nella Grecia antica. Lanza, D. & Roscalla, F. Pavia (2006).
- 'Homer: Die Erfindung des Autors'. In Mythen Europas: Schluesselfigurern der Imagination. Hartmann, A. & Neumann, M. Regensburg: Pusted Verlag. 44-65 (2004).
- 'La definizione dell'opera omerica nel periodo arcaico e classico'. In Momenti della ricezione omerica: poesia arcaica e teatro. Zanetto, G., Canavero, D., Capra, A. & Sgobbi, A. Milan: Cisalpino. 2-17 (2004).
- 'Competition in Wisdom'. In Homer, tagedy and beyond essays in honour of P.E. Easterling. Budelmann, F. & Michelakis, P. London: Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. 57-74 (2001).
Edited Book
- Boystones, George, Graziosi, Barbara & Vasunia, Phiroze. The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies. (Oxford University Press: 2009).
- Graziosi, Barbara & Greenwood, Emily. Homer in the Twentieth Century: Between World Literature and the Western Canon. Classical Presences. (Oxford University Press: 2007).
Journal Articles
- ‘On Seeing the poet: Arabic, Italian and Byzantine portraits of Homer’. Scandinavian Journal of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 1: 25-47 (2015).
- ‘Homer: from reception to composition’. Letras Clássicas 14: 21-33 (2014).
- (With Carol Ann Duffy) Homeric encounters. Omnibus 6-8 (2005).
- (With Johannes Haubold) 'Homeric Masculinity: ΗΝΟΡΕΗ and ΑΓΗΝΟΡΙΗ'. Journal of Hellenic Studies 123: 60-76 (2003).
- Gods and poets in the Odyssey. Omnibus 43: 4-6 (2002).
- Homer, espionage and Albanian complexities. Omnibus 41: 6 (2001).
- P.Oxy.4569. 'Demosthenes XIX 1-7, 9-13, 208-22, 309-10, 314-15'. Papyri of Oxyrhynchus 67: 66-80 (2001).
- Per uno studio di Omero tra il sesto e il quarto secolo. Posthomerica 3: 7-22 (2001).