Dr Benjamin Cartlidge MA DPhil Oxon MA Köln

Personal Statement

I studied for a BA in Classics at Trinity College, Oxford, an MA in Ancient Greek and Comparative Philology (Indo-European linguistics) in Cologne, and a DPhil in Linguistics at Trinity College, Oxford.
My work looks at the role language and linguistics play in literary texts. My first project (MA thesis) examined Oscan and Umbrian onomastics, looking at word-formation patterns, etymology, and other historico-linguistic aspects of Italic names. My doctoral research (funded by the AHRC) was about the language of Menander, an Athenian comic poet in the 4th century B.C.; I was particularly interested in analysing what Menander's language tells us about the history of the Greek language in that period. My next major project (funded by the Leverhulme Trust) was an analysis of Athenaeus of Naucratis.
I have been involved in a project about early modern Latin marginalia on Arabic scientific manuscripts since 2020. This joins broader interests in the history of classical scholarship and the reception of philosophical ideas in literary texts.
I taught at St John's College and Christ Church, and the Faculty of Classics, Oxford, from 2014-2017 and 2020-2022. I was Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Liverpool from 2017-2020. My teaching has covered everything from the nuts and bolts of Greek and Latin language to the core texts of ancient literature (Homer, Virgil, tragedy, comedy, Hellenistic poetry, etc) to the reception of classical material in modern contexts.
In my spare time I enjoy playing the violin, swimming, cooking, and learning languages.