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Emily Kneebone
Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
I completed my undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Cambridge, after which I held a Research Fellowship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and a Lectureship at the University of Edinburgh. Before coming to Nottingham in 2018 I was Co-Investigator of an AHRC-funded project exploring the cultural history of imperial Greek epic, and College Lecturer and Director of Studies in Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge.
Expertise Summary
I am currently Director of Postgraduate Admissions for the Department of Classics and Archaeology, and always welcome enquiries from potential applicants about any of our postgraduate courses.
Teaching Summary
I enjoy teaching a wide range of topics in Greek and Latin literature, language, and culture. My recent teaching has included Interpreting Ancient Literature; Intermediate and Advanced Greek modules… read more
Research Summary
I work primarily on Greek literature written under the Roman empire, with a particular focus on Greek epic poetry of the 1st-6th centuries CE. My 2020 monograph explored Oppian's Halieutica, a… read more
Recent Publications
2025. Fallen Pines: Deforestation in Nonnus' 'Dionysiaca' Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism. 29(2), 221-234 EMILY KNEEBONE, 2024. Didactic (and) Epic. In: E. GREENSMITH, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Epic Cambridge University Press. 58-78 EMILY KNEEBONE, 2024. In Praise of the Fly. In: The Cambridge Companion to Lucian Cambridge University Press. 163-185 EMILY KNEEBONE, 2024. The politics of place in Colluthus’ 'Abduction of Helen'. In: M. CARIOU, ed., Poésie, histoire et société aux époques impériale et tardive Edizioni dell’Orso. 103-132
I enjoy teaching a wide range of topics in Greek and Latin literature, language, and culture. My recent teaching has included Interpreting Ancient Literature; Intermediate and Advanced Greek modules on Homer, Greek tragedy and Plato; Latin language and literature modules; and a module on the representation of animals in the ancient world.
Current Research
I work primarily on Greek literature written under the Roman empire, with a particular focus on Greek epic poetry of the 1st-6th centuries CE. My 2020 monograph explored Oppian's Halieutica, a second-century Greek didactic epic on the sea and the wily, hostile sea-creatures that inhabit it; I have also written articles on heroic ethics in posthomeric Greek epic; diaspora Jewish identity in Josephus' adaptation of the Hebrew Bible for a Greco-Roman audience; the representation of mortal expertise in didactic poetry; and animals in later Greek poetry and prose. I have also written several forthcoming articles on ancient ecological thought, and I am currently editing a volume of translations of imperial Greek didactic and Christian poetry. My current research explores new ways of reading imperial Greek epic poetry as a literary corpus, examining the role of space, place, and ecology in these extraordinary texts.
2025. Fallen Pines: Deforestation in Nonnus' 'Dionysiaca' Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism. 29(2), 221-234 EMILY KNEEBONE, 2024. Didactic (and) Epic. In: E. GREENSMITH, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Epic Cambridge University Press. 58-78 EMILY KNEEBONE, 2024. In Praise of the Fly. In: The Cambridge Companion to Lucian Cambridge University Press. 163-185 EMILY KNEEBONE, 2024. The politics of place in Colluthus’ 'Abduction of Helen'. In: M. CARIOU, ed., Poésie, histoire et société aux époques impériale et tardive Edizioni dell’Orso. 103-132
EMILY KNEEBONE, 2020. Oppian's 'Halieutica': Charting a Didactic Epic. Cambridge University Press.
EMILY KNEEBONE, 2020. Oppian and Aelian in dialogue. Philologia Antiqua. 13, 85-97
EMILY KNEEBONE, 2017. The limits of enquiry in imperial Greek didactic poetry. In: J. KÖNIG and G. WOOLF, eds., Authority and Expertise in Ancient Scientific Culture. Cambridge University Press. 203-230
EMILY KNEEBONE, 2013. Josephus’ Esther and diaspora Judaism. In: T. WHITMARSH and S. THOMSON, eds., The Romance Between Greece and the East. Cambridge University Press. 165-182
EMILY KNEEBONE, 2008. The poetics of knowledge in Oppian’s 'Halieutica'. Ramus. 37, 32-59
EMILY KNEEBONE, 2007. Dilemmas of the diaspora: Josephus 'Antiquities' 11.184-296. Ramus. 36, 51-77
EMILY KNEEBONE, 2007. Fish in battle? Quintus of Smyrna and the 'Halieutica' of Oppian. In: M. BAUMBACH and S. BÄR, eds., Quintus Smyrnaeus: Transforming Homer in Second Sophistic Epic. De Gruyter. 285-305