Roman republican or Augustan poetry

Career overview

Dr Elena Theodorakopoulos holds a PhD from the University of Bristol and is a Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Birmingham. Her research interests primarily focus on two areas: Roman poetry from the Republic and Principate periods, and the reception of classical culture and literature in contemporary film and literature. Dr Theodorakopoulos teaches various courses, including those on Roman poetry and prose, Athenian Drama, Latin language, and the intersection of Classics with contemporary literature and film. She is open to supervising research proposals related to women’s writing and classical reception, as well as any aspect of Roman republican or Augustan poetry. Current doctoral students under her supervision are exploring topics such as feminist reception through Achilles and the gendered reception of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Dr Theodorakopoulos has previously supervised research on subjects including Tacitus’ Agricola, Ovid’s Fasti, and postmodernism in classical reception. Her current research projects include examining the reception of classical literature by women writers and a book focusing on the performative aspects of Catullus''s work. She has published extensively, with notable works including edited volumes on women''s responses to Homer and studies on the representation of Rome in film. Dr Theodorakopoulos has contributed to various academic journals and has written on topics such as closure in Roman poetry and the influence of classical myth in contemporary writing.

Research interests

Dr Elena Theodorakopoulos''s research interests focus on two main areas: Roman poetry of the Republic and Principate, and the reception of classical culture and literature in contemporary film and literature. Current projects include the reception of classical literature and myth in contemporary writing by women, and the translation/adaptation of classical literature by women writers, as well as a book on Catullus with an emphasis on the performative aspects of his work. She welcomes research proposals on women''s writing and classical reception, and on any aspect of Roman republican or Augustan poetry. Past research topics supervised include Tacitus’ Agricola and the politics of fama, Romulus and Numa in Ovid’s Fasti, Speech and Silence in Ovid’s Heroides, and Postmodernism and Classical Reception.