Emilie van Opstall

After studying Classics at the University of Amsterdam, I taught Greek, Latin and Ancient Culture in secondary education for ten years (1996-2006). In 2006, I obtained my PhD in Byzantine Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Currently, I am an assistant-professor in Ancient Greek at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. At ACASA (Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology), I teach Ancient Greek language and literature on BA- and MA-level. I am not only interested in philological questions (textual transmission and literary interpretation), but also in the cultural context of texts and in their reception. My research focuses on Late Antique and Byzantine poetry.

I am particularly fascinated by Late Antique and Byantine poetry, since there are still many texts from these periods in need of proper editions, translations and commentaries. I am interested in philological and literary aspects of these texts (editions, ekphrasis, metaphors, satire, letter poems, etc.), but also in their more general cultural context, preferably from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Currently, I am working an an Anthology of Late Antique and Byzantine Poetry (Greek texts, translation and commentary), which will be published by Routlegde.

I am also editing an interdisciplinary book, entitled Sacred Thresholds. The Door to the Sanctuary in Late Antiquity, which will be published by Brill in 2018. This is the follow-up of a international conference I organized at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in May 2015.

I published the poems in hexameters and elegiacs by the 10th century poet John Geometres (Brill 2008) and articles on various other poets, e.g. Gregory of Nazianzen, Nonnus, Collouthos, Paul the Silentiary, Leo the Philosopher, John Geometres, as well as on many other topics.

I teach courses at BA- and MA-level for students in Classics and Ancient Studies:

BA 1: Greek Language (on the basis of Greek novels, Lysias, Lucian, Aristophanes, Plato)

BA 2: epic: Homer, Historians (Herodotus, Thucidydes), History of Classical literature, Methodology, Greek Mythology

BA 3: Tragedy (Euripides, Aristotle, Sophocles)

MA and ReMA: MA-courses on The Greek Epigram and on Late Antiquity (epic, siants' lives, Nonnus, literature from the 4th century), etc., ReMA-course text & matter, tutorials (on demand, for ex. Late Antique poetry, Classics in translation, Byzantine literature, etc.)

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