Anna Peterson
Tombros Early Career Professor of Classical Studies and Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
318 Weaver Building University Park , PA 16802Education:
- Ph.D. in Classics, The Ohio State University (2010)
- M.A. in Classics, The Ohio State University (2006)
- B.A. in Classics, Mt. Holyoke College (2000)
Biography:
I am a Hellenist with special interest in the literature of the “Second Sophistic” and in particular Lucian. My current book project explores the reception of Old Comedy in the rhetorical, philosophical, and satirical literature of this period. Shorter projects include articles on Lucian’s blending of biographical traditions in the Double Indictment, the significance of references to age in Lucian's dialogues, evidence for Imperial comic performances, as well as the reception of the comic tradition in late antiquity and Byzantium.
I enjoy teaching ancient Greek at all levels as well as courses in translation (Gender and Sexuality in Greece and Rome, Classical Mythology, and Greek Civilization). In addition, I also serve as a thesis advisor for Honors students who are interested in working further on aspects of ancient Greek literature and culture.
Select Publications:
“Chewing the Fat: Lucian’s Invention of the Comic Dialogue” in the International Symposium on Lucian, Adiyaman University 2008.
“Revoking Comic License: Aristides' Or. 29 and the Performance of Comedy. In: C. W. Marshall and T. Hawkins, eds. Athenian Comedy in the Roman Empire. London: Bloomsbury, 2015.
“Philosophers Redux: the Hermotimus, the Fisherman, and the Role of Dead Philosophers,” ICS 41.1 (2016).
“Lucian in Byzantium: the Intersection of the Comic Tradition and Christian Orthodoxy in the Anonymous Patriot” (under review)
