Staff profile

I studied Classics at Oxford and then completed postgraduate work at Nottingham, emerging from the latter with a Ph.D. and then taking up a post at Durham.

Research

Research interests: Greek comedy, tragedy and paratragedy (5^_th – 3^_rd centuries BCE); 20th and 21st c. popular culture and ancient Greek literature, especially children's media and animation; the popularisation of Greek drama in the ancient world; classical reception of Greek drama in 4^_th c. BCE philosophy;

Current research

1. I love to explore the form and use of paratragedy in fragments of Old Comedy and considers how this can be viewed as a mode of reception and popularisation of Greek drama in its earliest performance contexts. I am currently working on a monograph on the topic: Greek Tragedy and its Reception in the Fragments of Old Comedy. This builds on the work of my thesis, which focused on one poet: "Strattis, Tragedy, and Comedy", available at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10887/

2. I am delighted to be an organiser on the 'Plato on Comedy Project in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham: https://www.dur.ac.uk/platooncomedy/. This is the 2018-19 Departmental Research Project. My co-organisers are Dr. Anthony Hooper (Durham - Classics), Assoc. Prof. Andrea Capra (Durham - Classics), Dr. George Gazis (Durham - Classics), as well as Ms Marta Antola and Ms Maddalena Ruini. The project takes a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to the study of Plato's relationship with comedy, drawing on the expertise both of philosophers and classicists to explore the complexities of Plato's views on, treatment of and interactions with comedy. We are holding research seminars in 2018-19. We have held an international workshop in March 2019, a conference in July 2019, currently planning publication, and we hope to continue these conversations in future meetings. 

School Talks

I am more than happy to give talks in schools on topics related to Greek literature. Topics include: all things Aristophanes!, Greek drama, Greek Comedy, Greek Tragedy, Greek literature in contemporary pop. culture. Just get in touch, and feel free to suggest other topics.

Book review

• Miles, Sarah (2023). Interactions Between Greek Tragedy and Comedy. Jendza (C.) Paracomedy. Appropriations of Comedy in Greek Tragedy. Pp. xii + 341. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. Cased, £47.99, US$74. ISBN: 978-0-19-009093-7. The Classical Review 73(1): 63-65.
• Miles, Sarah (2022). Sells, Donald. Parody, Politics and the Populace in Greek Old Comedy. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. Pp. 291 £85. 9781350060517. Journal of Hellenic Studies
• Miles, Sarah (2018). Matthew Wright. The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy. Vol 1: Neglected Authors. Bloomsbury Academic: London & New York, 2016. Pp. xxix + 277. Price: £21.99. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-47-25256775-8. Hermathena 195(Winter 2013): 93-97.
• Miles, Sarah (2017). S. Halliwell, Aristophanes, Clouds, Women at the Thesmophoria, Frogs: A Verse Translation with Introduction and Notes, Oxford 2015. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 137: 231-232.
• Miles, Sarah (2017). The Afterlife of Greek Comedy in Roman Times - Marshall (C.W.), Hawkins (T.) (edd.) Athenian Comedy in the Roman Empire. Pp. vi + 295. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Paper, £25.99 (Cased, £90). ISBN: 978-1-4725-8883-8 (978-1-4725-8884-5 hbk). The Classical Review (New Series) 67(2): 1-3.
• Miles, Sarah (2014). Menander. C. Austin (ed.) Menander. Eleven Plays. (Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, Supplementary Volume 37.) Pp. xviii + 84. Cambridge: The Cambridge Philological Society, 2013. Paper, £20. ISBN: 978-0-9568381-2-4. The Classical Review (New Series) 64(02): 409-411.
• Miles, Sarah (2012). Review of: (G.W.) Dobrov Ed. Brill's Companion to the Study of Greek Comedy. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Pp. xv + 579, illus. €189. 9789004109636. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 132: 193-194.
• Miles, Sarah (2011). Review of: E. Bakola, Cratinus and the Art of Comedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. xiv + 380, illus. £65. 9780199569359. The Journal of Hellenic Studies 131: 187-188.
• Miles, Sarah (2009). Myths of Lemnos - Masciadri(V.)Eine Insel im Meer der Geschichten. Untersuchungen zu Mythen aus Lemnos. (Potsdamer Altertumswissenschaftliche Beiträge 18.) Pp. 412, maps. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2008. Paper, €68. ISBN: 978-3-515-08818-3. The Classical Review (New Series) 59(2): 506-507.

Chapter in book

• Miles, Sarah (Forthcoming). Aristophanes' Fragmentary Contemporaries. In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Aristophanes. Farmer, Matthew & Lefkowitz, Jeremy Wiley-Blackwell.
• Miles, Sarah (2021). Performing Mime in the Idylls of Theocritus: Metrical Mime, Drama, and the “Everyday” in Theocritus, Idylls 2, 14, 15. In Brill's Companion to Theocritus. Kyriakou, Poulheria Sistakou, Evina & Rengakos, Antonios Brill. 154-175.
• Miles, Sarah (2020). Animating Antiquity on Children’s Television: The Visual Worlds of Ulysses 31 and Samurai Jack. In Happily Ever Ancient: Visions of Antiquity for Children in Visual Media. Cisneros Abellán, Irene Cristina de la Escosura Balbás, María, Duce Pastor, Elena, del Mar Rodríguez Alcocer, María, Serrano Lozano, David, & Tarancón Huarte, Nerea JAS Arqueología Editorial. 95-112.
• Miles, Sarah (2020). Euripidean Stagecraft. In Brill’s Companion to Euripides. Markantonatos, A. Brill. 726-748.
• Miles, Sarah (2019). 'Paratragedy' and 'Strattis'. In Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Greek Comedy. Sommerstein, A.H. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Miles, Sarah (2018). The Odyssey in the ‘Broom Cupboard’ Ulysses 31 and Odysseus the Greatest Hero of them All on 'Children's BBC', 1985-86. In Ancient Greece on British Television. Wrigley, A. & Hobden, F. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 147-167.
• Miles, Sarah (2017). Cultured Animals and Wild Humans? Talking with the Animals in Aristophanes’ Wasps. In Interactions Between Animals and Humans in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Fögen, T. & Thomas, E.V. Berlin: De Gruyter.
• Miles, Sarah (2016). Greek Drama in the Hellenistic world. In A Handbook to the Reception of Greek Drama. van Zyl Smit, B. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 45-62.
• Miles, Sarah (2013). Staging and Constructing the Divine in Menander. In Menander in Contexts. Sommerstein, A.H. New York: Routledge. 75-89.
• Miles, Sarah (2013). Accessoires et para-tragédie dans les Skeuai de Platon et l’Électre d’Euripide. In L'appareil scénique dans les spectacles de l'Antiquité. Le Guen, B. & Milanezi, S. Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes. 183-200.

Journal Article

• Miles, Sarah (2018). Ancient Receptions of Euripides in Comedy: the Phoenissae of Euripides, Aristophanes and Strattis. Frammenti sulla Scena. Studi sul dramma antico frammentario 1: 175-200.
• Miles, Sarah (2011). Gods and heroes in comic space: a stretch of the imagination? Dionysus ex machina 2: 109-133.