dr. Emilie van Opstall

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Art and Culture, History, Antiquity

Assistant Professor, CLUE+

Personal information

I am lecturer in Ancient Greek at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Within ACASA (Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology), I teach Ancient and Medieval Greek language and literature on BA- and (Research)MA-level. I am interested in literature (textual transmission and literary interpretation), as well as its cultural context and reception. I like to approach the topics of my teaching and research from a crosscultural perspective and to link the past with the present.

After studying Classics at the University of Amsterdam, I taught Greek, Latin and Ancient Culture in secondary education for ten years (Ignatius gymnasium Amsterdam, 1996-2006). Meanwhile, I obtained a DEA at Paris Sorbonne (cum laude 2001) and a PhD in Byzantine Studies University of Amsterdam (cum laude 2006). I share my research with a broader audience in various ways (lectures, essays, documentaries; click e.g. here)

Research

Actually, I am working on the project Travelling Tales which focusses on the Medieval story of Sindbad the Philosopher / The Seven Sages of Rome, which travelled as an international bestseller through the Middle East and Europe, from the Middle Ages to Early Modernity, and was adapted to each new context.

Travelling Tales departs from the Greek version of Syntipas the Philosopher (11th cent.) and analyses cross-cultural interaction by comparing this version to other early versions. The story was transmitted in oral and written form and is known under various titles. By comparing its earliest versions in Greek, Latin and Arabic, this project for the first time applies an interdisciplinary perspective to the tale, analysing its frame story and the embedded tales. The aim is to show what kept it ever vibrant in Christian as well as Islamic contexts, and to give a nuanced insight into processes of cross-cultural interaction in different communities in the Middle Ages. Today, academic research calls for new perspectives, crossing linguistic and cultural borders and Travelling Tales ties in with the latest international research on the story of Sindbad the Philosopher / The Seven Sages of Rome (for an example of the project, click here)

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I love Classics, and I am fascinated by late antique and medieval literature, since there are still so many texts from these periods that merit to be studied more profoundly. Editions, translation commentaries to begin with, and all the rest that follows from it. I published on Late Antique and Byzantine poetry and prose (e.g. metaphors, ekphrasis, satire, creative reception) and on the experience of sacred space in Late Antiquity (combining Greek and Latin literature, archaeology, art history, and philosophy).

Education

see CV

Teaching

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

BA 1: Greek Language: Plato, Greek drama, Greek novels, Lysias, Lucian, Aristophanes.

BA 2: Greek epic (Homer, Colluthus, Quintus of Smyrna), Historians (Herodotus, Thucydides), History of Classical literature; Greek Mythology, Reception and creative writing, Methodology.

BA 3: Tragedy (Euripides, Aristotle, Sophocles).

MA: Prometheus, East and West: The fall of Constantinople, Classics in the classroom for secondary school teachers, Epic through the ages, Saints' lives and short stories, Literature from the 4th century CE, Nonnus, The Greek Epigram;

ReMA: Receptions of the Classics, Text & matter; Tutorials (e.g. late antique poetry, Classics in translation, Byzantine literature)

Prizes and Awards

see CV

Grants

see CV

Ancillary activities

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Ancillary activities are updated daily