The resemblance between the Gospel story about Jesus stilling a storm in the Sea of Galilee (Mt. 8:18, 23-27, Mk. 4:35-41, Lk. 8:22-25) and the Jonah story (Jon. 1:1-16) has been long acknowledged by scholars. This article contends that since the relations between the two stories are those of polar opposition, it should be possible, by way of…[Read more]

Review of Jenny Strauss Clay, Irad Malkin, Yannis Z. Tzifopoulos (ed.), Panhellenes at Methone: graphê in Late Geometric and Protoarchaic Methone.
Trends in classics – supplementary volumes, 44 .

During most of Antiquity, the Greek-speaking kingdoms in Cyprus used syllabic writing systems for the Cypriot dialect. Paphos, which was one of the most powerful kingdoms in the island, used a special variant of the Cypriot syllabary. Although the circumstances seemed to favour the adoption of the Greek alphabet as a writing system, the Paphians…[Read more]

The Middle Commentary on Aristotle’s Poetics by the Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) has been treated by commentators as wide-ranging as Borges, Renan, and Kilito as an exemplary case of the failure of translation. Critics who presume Ibn Rushd’s failure often concentrate on his rendering of Aristotle’s tragedy and comedy by praise…[Read more]

This paper has two parts. First, I examine Basil of Caesarea’s theological anthropology and show how he understands the human being as a body-soul unity. The body is the good instrument of the soul. It is marvelous because it has been molded by God’s own hands. In the second part, I examine what I call Basil’s theological physiology, which flows…[Read more]

Basil of Caesarea, in his polemic against astrology (Homiliae in hexaemeron 6,5−7), makes direct, creative uses of Origen’s anti-astrological treatise (Philocalia 23). My argument is based on an identical context, namely the interpretation of Gen 1:14b, and five close similarities in content, some verbatim, between Basil’s sermon and Orige…[Read more]

A basic sketch of the historical phonology of the Lycian language from Proto-Indo-European, originally compiled for a “Lycian Self-Help” reading group at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (Easter Term 2015), organised by Dr. Philippa Steele. The sketch is based primarily upon the accounts given in H. Craig Melchert’s Anatolian…[Read more]

Handout for a supplementary lecture to the course “Alexander’s Legacy: Greek as a World Language” (Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, 2014).

Document contains a complete parsing of R̥g-veda 2.33, originally compiled for a course on Vedic at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (Lent term 2014).

This document contains a brief survey of Sanskrit nominal compounds, originally compiled for personal use, later used as a teaching handout.

Document contains a now slightly outdated annotated bibliography of Vedic linguistics, originally compiled for a course on Vedic at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (Lent term 2014).

Document contains a complete parsing and etymological analysis of R̥g-veda 1.32, originally compiled for a course on Vedic at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (Lent term 2014).

Document contains an etymological glossary of R̥g-veda 1.1, originally compiled for a course on Vedic at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (Lent term 2014).

Document contains a preliminary partially annotated bibliography of key works on Ancient Greek dialectology, originally compiled in 2015.

Document contains a complete parsing and partial etymological analysis of R̥g-veda 1.85, originally compiled for a course on Vedic at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (Lent term 2014).

Aristotle’s account of kingship in Politics 3 responds to the rich discourse on kingship that permeates Greek political thought (notably in the works of Herodotus, Xenophon and Isocrates), in which the king is the paradigm of virtue, and also the instantiator and guarantor of order, linking the political microcosm to the macrocosm of the u…[Read more]

This course explores the art, archaeology, and culture of the Greek world from the prehistory to the Roman period. The course focuses on architecture, sculpture, painted pottery, and wall painting as its main object classes and situates artistic and stylistic developments within their social, political, and historical context. We will consider…[Read more]

This first-year seminar provides an introduction to the archaeology and urban development of the city of Rome from antiquity through to the present day. Students will survey the period from the foundation of the city through to the twenty-first century with an eye toward understanding the urbanism and material culture of the city of Rome. Case…[Read more]

This provocation contests the familiar construction of classical Athens as an ideal exemplar of democratic politics through a focus on the city’s material fabric, its visual artworks, and the performances which took place within its public spaces. It highlights the city’s ongoing process of material re-building (particularly following the Per…[Read more]