Monday, September 9, 2013
The Department of Classical Studies is this academic year (Sept. 2013 - April 2014) hosting two visiting researchers, whose work focuses on the history, literature and culture of Late Antiquity. Their visits are funded through an Early Researcher Award generously granted by the Government of Ontario.
Dr. Roberta Franchi, who has held research positions previously in Florence, Vienna and in Aarhus, Denmark, is visiting the department as a post-doctoral fellow. She has recently published a commentary on the sixth canto of Nonnus of Panopolis' poetic paraphrase of St John's Gospel. She has also worked more broadly on the influence of Greek myths and literature on Christian thought, the reception of Christian theology in Byzantine religious literature, biblical typology and exegesis, as well as gender studies. Her current project examines the problem of free will, the origin of evil and God’s providence, especially through the dialogue On Free Will by Methodius of Olympus.
Dina Boero, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Classics at the University of Southern California, is visiting the department as a doctoral fellow. She specializes in religion, history, and material culture in the Roman and Byzantine Near East. While at Waterloo, she will work on her dissertation project "Symeon and the Making of the Stylite," which examines the formation and development of Symeon the Elder’s (d. 459 CE) saint’s cult in the fifth and sixth centuries, shedding light on how the diverse participants of Symeon’s cult represented, administered, and spread the “charisma” of Symeon both during his lifetime and after his death. Dina has a specialization in Syriac language. During the winter semester 2014 she will teach a course on Pagans and Christians (CLAS 352).