skip to content

Faculty of Classics

 

Biography

I was an undergraduate at Durham University and a postgraduate at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. I am working on a project which aims to re-evaluate the Letter of Aristeas, a text describing the translation of the Hebrew Torah into Greek, and to demonstrate its importance for Jewish and Greek literary history.

Research

My research broadly circles around Hellenistic Greek literature with a particular focus on scientific literature and Second Temple Jewish literature. I am interested in exploring ancient conceptualizations of literary and textual culture (e.g. ideas of authorship, of textual unity and originality, of reading practices) and modern (mis)uses and (mis)understandings of these notions.

While my central project focuses on the Letter of Aristeas, current side-projects include: a study of the proem of Ps.-Manetho Apotelesmatica Book 5 and an analysis of the Hellenistic background to the pseudo-Virgilian Culex.

I would be happy to present on any of these topics as well as to discuss my work more informally. 

 

Publications

Key publications: 

(2017) ‘Eratosthenes’ Letter to Ptolemy: The Literary Mechanics of Empire’, American Journal of Philology 138: 43-84.

(2015) ‘Counting on Epic: Mathematical Poetry and Homeric Epic in Archimedes’ Cattle Problem’, Ramus 44: 200-221.

Affiliated Lecturer, Faculty of Classics
Dr Max  Leventhal

Contact Details

Faculty of Classics
Sidgwick Avenue
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Classifications: 

Latest news

New appointment in Latin literature

15 May 2024

The Faculty is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Elena Giusti as a new Assistant Professor of Latin literature. She will join the Faculty in the new academic year. Elena will be joining from the University of Warwick, where she is currently Associate Professor of Latin . She works broadly on Roman literature and...

AHRC CDP studentship - Acquiring the Mediterranean: exploring local agencies in the acquisition of antiquities from Greece and the Ottoman Empire by Charles Newton at the British Museum, 1861–1886.

9 May 2024

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship Acquiring the Mediterranean: exploring local agencies in the acquisition of antiquities from Greece and the Ottoman Empire by Charles Newton at the British Museum, 1861–1886. The Faculty of Classics and the British Museum are excited to announce a fully funded...

Celebrating ECR successes

1 May 2024

The Faculty of Classics would like to congratulate our Early Career Researchers who have secured new positions elsewhere in the UK and abroad. We thank Il-Kweon, Michael, Tom and Ludo for all their contributions to our Classics community and wish them the very best for the next steps in their careers. Dr Il-Kweon Sir has...

Professor Caroline Vout's Olympic Exhibition in the News

18 April 2024

This summer Professor Caroline Vout is co-curating an Olympic Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, 'Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body' which looks back on the pivotal moment, 100 years ago, when traditions and trailblazers collided, fusing the Olympics’ classical legacy with the European avant-garde spirit. It was a...