Introduction
I grew up in continental Europe and west Africa. In 2003 I came to Britain to study classical and ancient Near Eastern languages in Edinburgh, Oxford and London, graduating with a DPhil in Classics from the University of Oxford in 2013. My first academic appointment was at SOAS, University of London, where I taught as a substitute for the Professor of Babylonian, A R George, in 2012-13. I returned to Oxford as Junior Research Fellow in Lesser Known Languages and Scripts of the Ancient World at Wolfson College (2013-16), and held a postdoctoral research fellowship awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany, before joining Queen’s in October 2016.
Teaching
My interest in classical literature was sparked many years ago by a memorable passage in book III of Homer’s Iliad and an enigmatic saying attributed to the philosopher Heraclitus; today I feel immensely fortunate to continue exploring and enjoying a wide range of Greek and Roman authors as a tutor. My teaching, which I seek to adapt to students’ needs and interests, covers the literary elements of the initial (‘Mods’) part of the Classics curriculum, as well as other papers related to early Greek poetry.
Research
In past research I have explored the relationship between early Greek poetry and the literatures of the ancient Near East, in particular Mesopotamian and Anatolian texts (The Gods Rich in Praise: Early Greek and Mesopotamian Religious Poetry, OUP 2015). My interest in the history of ancient literature and religion, and in detailed textual work, then led me to publish a first edition of Sumerian literary manuscripts of the early second millennium BC (Sumerian Literary Texts in the Schøyen Collection: Literary Sources on Old Babylonian Religion, Pennsylvania State UP 2019).
I have recently completed a large-scale piece of research on myths of kingship in early Greece and the ancient Near East. The aim of the resulting book (Three Myths of Kingship in Early Greece and the Ancient Near East: The Servant, the Lover, and the Fool, CUP 2024) is to identify several recurring story-patterns about ancient kings that have not been noticed by scholarship so far. The royal figures involved include Sargon of Akkad, David of Israel and Judah, Cyrus of Persia and Gyges of Lydia; Shulgi of Ur, Cinyras of Cyprus and Anchises of Troy; Saul of Israel, Agamemnon of Mycenae and Hector of Troy; and many other rulers in ancient Mesopotamian, Anatolian, Biblical and Greco-Roman history and myth.
At the moment I am at work on a book on a related theme, but aimed at a general audience (provisional title: A New Story of Ancient Myth: From the Origins to the End of Time). I also continue to undertake editorial work on unpublished literary (especially Sumerian) texts from ancient Mesopotamia.
Publications
Please see my Faculty of Classics profile page for research updates and a full list of publications.