Staff profile
| Affiliation | Telephone |
|---|---|
| Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History |
Biography
I was born in Birmingham, went to school in Nottingham, university (BA/MA and DPhil) in Oxford, and taught at London, Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Leiden and Northwestern Universities, before rejoining the department at Durham on New Year’s Day 2022. Besides academic research, I advise theatre companies, contribute to radio and television programmes, and campaign to improve access to classical subjects in state schools across the UK.
Esteem Indicators
- 2023 Classical Association Prize
- 2022 Fellowship of the British Academy
- 2019 Honorary Citizenship of Palermo
- 2017 Honorary Doctorate, University of Athens
- 2015 Erasmus Prize Medal of the European Academy for contribution to international research.
- 2015 Goodwin Award of the Society for Classical Studies for Adventures with Iphigenia in Tauris.
PhD Supervision
I have supervised over thirty doctoral students on topics in ancient Greek and Roman literature, ancient performance culture, ethnicity, slavery, gender, and social class, and classical reception. I won the KCL Supervisory Excellence Award 2021. I welcome applicants, including those from unconventional backgrounds.
Current PhD Students include:
Anactoria Clarke
Aaron Quill
Devan Turner
Emma Bentley
Ken Warman
Publications; Authored Books
2021 Tony Harrison’s Radical Classicism. Bloomsbury.
2020 A People’s History of Classics: Class and Greco-Roman Antiquity in Britain 1689-1939. Routledge Taylor Francis. Co-authored with Henry Stead.
2018 Aristotle’s Way. Penguin/Random House. Much translated.
2014 Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind. Norton/Bodley Head. Much translated.
2013 Adventures with Iphigenia in Tauris: A Cultural History of Euripides’ Black Sea Tragedy. OUP.
2010 Greek Tragedy: Suffering under the Sun. OUP.
2008 The Return of Ulysses: A Cultural History of Homer’s Odyssey. IB Tauris & Johns Hopkins UP.
2006 The Theatrical Cast of Athens: Interactions between Ancient Greek Drama & Society. OUP.
2005 Greek Tragedy & the British Theatre 1660-1914. With Fiona Macintosh. OUP.
1996 Aeschylus’ Persians, ed. with Introduction, Translation & Commentary. Aris & Phillips/Oxbow.
1989 Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self-Definition through Tragedy. OUP.
Publications: Edited Books
2021 Greek Theater in Ancient Sicily, posthumous volume by the late Kathryn Bosher, co-edited and co-prepared for publication with Clemente Marconi. CUP.
2020 Aristophanic Humour (co-ed. with Peter Swallow). Bloomsbury. Self-authored chapters:
2019 Greek Theatre & Performance around the Ancient Black Sea (co-ed. D. Braund & R. Wyles). CUP.
2018 New Light on Tony Harrison. OUP for the British Academy.
2017 The Inky Digit of Defiance: Selected Prose Works of Tony Harrison, ed., Foreword & Notes. Faber.
2016 Women Classical Scholars (co-edited with Rosie Wyles). OUP.
2016 Ancient Greek Myth in World Fiction since 1989 (co-ed. with J. McConnell). Bloomsbury.
2016 Greek & Roman Classics in the British Struggle for Social Reform (co-ed. H. Stead). Bloomsbury.
2011 Ancient Slavery and Abolition: From Hobbes to Hollywood (co-ed. R. Alston, J. McConnell). OUP
2010 Reading Ancient Slavery (co-ed. with R. Alston & L. Proffitt). Duckworth.
2011 India, Greece & Rome 1757-2007 (BICS suppl. 108, co-ed. P. Vasunia). London.
2010 Theorising Performance: Greek Drama & Critical Practice (co-ed. S. Harrop). Duckworth.
2009 Sophocles & the Greek Tragic Tradition (for Pat Easterling, co-ed. with Simon Goldhill). CUP.
2008 New Directions in Ancient Pantomime (co-ed. Rosie Wyles). OUP.
2007 Aristophanes in Performance (co-ed. with A. Wrigley). Legenda.
2007 Cultural Responses to the Persian Wars (co-ed. E. Bridges & P.J. Rhodes). OUP.
2005 Agamemnon in Performance (co-ed. F. Macintosh, P. Michelakis, O. Taplin). OUP.
2004 Dionysus since 69: Greek Tragedy at the Dawn of the Third Millennium (co-ed.) OUP.
2002 Greek & Roman Actors (co-ed. with Pat Easterling). CUP. Portuguese translation 2008.
2000 Medea in Performance 1500-2000 (co-ed. F. Macintosh and O. Taplin). Legenda.
1994 Sophocles’ Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra (ed. with Intro. & Notes). OUP World’s Classics.
Related Links
AHRC-funded Classics and Class website
Leverhulme-funded research project Aristotle beyond the Academy https://aristotlebeyond.co.uk/
Personal website https://edithhall.co.uk/
Edith Hall full CV
Member of the Durham Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
Member of the Durham Centre for Classical Reception
Co-Leader, Advocating Classics Education
Consultant Director, the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama
Research project Classical Presences in the North-East https://classicsandclassinthenortheast.co.uk/
Research interests
- Ancient Theatre
- Ancient Greek Literature
- Aristotle
- Classical Reception
- Gender, Ethnicity, Slavery and Social Class
Schools Talks
Visiting and talking virtually to schools, sixth-form colleges and adult educational initiatives forms an important part of my work. As leader of the project Advocating Classics Education I am always happy to suggest a topic, but also welcome requests relating to specific syllabuses such as the OCR GCSE and A-Level curriculums.
Esteem Indicators
- 2023: Fellowship of the British Academy:
- 2022: Honorary Doctorate, Durham University:
- 2021: Supervisory Excellence Award KCL:
Publications
Chapter in book
Journal Article