Oliver Thomas

Contact

• workRoom B13 School of Humanities
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work+44 (0)115 84 67355
• Oliver.Thomas@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

I studied Classics at Oxford University as both an undergraduate and a postgraduate student. In 2008-11 I held a research fellowship at Christ Church, Oxford, and in 2011-14 I was a lecturer at Cambridge University. I joined the University of Nottingham as a lecturer in February 2014.

When not immersed in ancient Greek literature, I can often be found on either a piano stool or a badminton court, or mentoring secondary school students in tricky bits of maths.

Expertise Summary

My previous research has focused on ancient Greek literature and religion, particularly tragedy, hymns and epic. My preferred method has been to take particular texts and apply an eclectic range of methodologies to their interpretation, from traditional philology to cognitive research on discourse-processing. I am currently working on two main projects, one on the reception of the Iliad within antiquity, and the other on the problem-solving techniques of the mathematician Diophantus.

Teaching Summary

I enjoy teaching a wide range of topics across Greek and Latin language and literature, so that I can keep thinking about some of the many interests I have in the ancient world. Particular favourites… read more

Research Summary

I have recently completed an edition and commentary on the Homeric Hymn to Hermes for Cambridge University Press, and previously co-authored a commentary on Aeschylus' Agamemnon (Oxford 2011). My… read more

Selected Publications

• O. THOMAS, ed., 2020. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes Cambridge University Press.
• O. THOMAS and D. RAEBURN, 2011. The Agamemnon of Aeschylus: A Commentary for Students Oxford University Press.
• 2016. Homeric and/or Hymns: Some Fifteenth-century Approaches. In: A. FAULKNER, A. VERGADOS and A. SCHWAB, eds., The Reception of the Homeric Hymns OUP. 277-99
• O. THOMAS, 2011. The Homeric Hymn to Pan. In: A. FAULKNER, ed., The Homeric Hymns: Interpretative Essays OUP. 151-72

• View all publications

I enjoy teaching a wide range of topics across Greek and Latin language and literature, so that I can keep thinking about some of the many interests I have in the ancient world. Particular favourites include Homer and tragedy.

My previous and upcoming teaching includes Interpreting Ancient Literature, Women in the Greek World, Homeric Epic, Reading the Iliad in Antiquity, Introduction to Ancient Greek Medicine, and Greek Tragedy and its Reception on the Modern Stage. I regularly teach Advanced Greek, including texts such as Thucydides book 2, Lucian, Euripides' Cyclops, Longus' Daphnis and Chloe; most recently we explored a range of ancient paradoxographical writers (think ghost stories and curious animals...). For Studying Classical Scholarship I have run a worksheet on Jean-Pierre Vernant's influence on the study of Greek mythology, and for Extended Source Study one on Limenius' Paean and Prosodion for the Athenians to perform at Delphi in the 2nd century BCE.

I next expect to be on research leave in Spring 2020.

Current Research

I have recently completed an edition and commentary on the Homeric Hymn to Hermes for Cambridge University Press, and previously co-authored a commentary on Aeschylus' Agamemnon (Oxford 2011). My current main projects focus on the scholia to the Iliad, and (separately) on how the problem-solving of Diophantus of Alexandria can be incorporated within a contemporary school maths curriculum.

I am happy to discuss potential PhD applications on any topics relating to ancient Greek literature and scientific texts, particularly to do with editions and commentaries. I expect to be on research leave next in Autumn 2025.

• O. THOMAS and M. PERISANIDI, 2021. Homeric Scholarship in the Pulpit: the case of Eustathius' sermons Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. (In Press.)
• O. THOMAS, 2021. Powers of Suggestions of Powers: attribute lists in Greek hymns. In: R. LAEMMLE, C. SCHEIDEGGER LAEMMLE and K. WESSELMANN, eds., Lists and Catalogues in Ancient Literature and Beyond De Gruyter. 145-67
• O. THOMAS, 2021. Satyrising Cynics in the Roman Empire. In: A. ANTONOPOULOS, M. CHRISTOPOULOS and G. HARRISON, eds., Reconstructing Satyr Drama De Gruyter. (In Press.)
• O. THOMAS, ed., 2020. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes Cambridge University Press.
• O. THOMAS, 2019. Representation and Novelty in Aeschylus' Theoroi Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. 62(2), 67-79
• O. THOMAS, 2019. Tippling but not toppling: Eubulus PCG fr. 123 Classical Quarterly. 69(1), 448-50
• O. THOMAS, 2018. Music in Euripides' Medea. In: A. D'ANGOUR and T.R. PHILLIPS, eds., Music, Text and Culture in Ancient Greece Oxford University Press. (In Press.)
• O. THOMAS, 2018. Hermetically Unsealed: Lyric Genres in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. In: F. BUDELMANN and T. PHILLIPS, eds., Textual Events: Performance and the Lyric in Early Greece OUP. 173-188
• O. THOMAS, 2017. Sparring Partners: Fraternal Relations in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. In: P. BASSINO, L.G. CANEVARO and B. GRAZIOSI, eds., Conflict and Consensus in Early Greek Hexameter Poetry Cambridge University Press. 62-83
• O. THOMAS, 2017. Sacrifice and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes 112-41. In: I.C. RUTHERFORD and S. HITCH, eds., Animal Sacrifice in the Ancient Greek World Cambridge University Press. 181-99
• 2016. Homeric and/or Hymns: Some Fifteenth-century Approaches. In: A. FAULKNER, A. VERGADOS and A. SCHWAB, eds., The Reception of the Homeric Hymns OUP. 277-99
• O. THOMAS, 2016. A Further Manuscript Source for Proclus' Hymns Classical Quarterly. 66(2), 828-31
• O. THOMAS, 2015. Creating problemata with the Hippocratic Corpus. In: R. MAYHEW, ed., The Aristotelian Problemata Physica: Philosophical and Scientific Investigations Brill. 79-99
• O. THOMAS, 2015. Sophocles, Seduction and Shrivelling: Ichneutai fr. 316 Radt Classical Quarterly. 65(1), 364-5
• O. THOMAS, 2015. Manuscript Readings in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter 389-479 Mnemosyne. 68, 465-9
• O. THOMAS, 2015. Greek Hymnic Spaces. In: E.T.E. BARKER, S. BOUZAROVSKI, C.B.R. PELLING and L. ISAKSEN, eds., New Worlds from Old Texts: Revisiting Ancient Space and Place OUP. 25-46
• O. THOMAS, 2014. Phemius Suite Journal of Hellenic Studies. 134, 89-102
• O. THOMAS, 2013. Nine Passages of Aeschylus' Agamemnon CQ. 63(2), 491-500
• O. THOMAS, 2012. Commentary as a medium: some thoughts on Homeric Hymn to Hermes, 103-141. In: R. BOUCHON, P. BRILLET-DUBOIS and N. LE-MEUR-WIESSMAN, eds., Hymnes de la Grèce antique: Approaches littéraires et historiques Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée. 183-90
• O. THOMAS and D. RAEBURN, 2011. The Agamemnon of Aeschylus: A Commentary for Students Oxford University Press.
• O. THOMAS, 2011. The Homeric Hymn to Pan. In: A. FAULKNER, ed., The Homeric Hymns: Interpretative Essays OUP. 151-72
• 2010. Ancient Greek Awareness of Child Language Acquisition Glotta. 86, 185-223
• 2007. Charting the Atlantic with Hesiod and Hellanicus ZPE. 160, 15-23
• 2006. Ephebes Reunited: A New Edition of IG II^2 1167 ZPE. 157, 71-6