PhD project

Eustathios of Thessaloniki as literary critic and his commentary on the Iliad

The aim of my PhD project is to explore the Homeric criticism of the twelfth-century Byzantine scholar Eustathios of Thessaloniki by studying his commentary on Homer’s Iliad. First of all, I will study the proem to this work: what is it Eustathios has to say about his own commentary and criticism?

Next, I will explore the practice of Eustathios’ literary criticism by analysing his commentary on an entire book of the Iliad (Iliad 22). In order to paint a general picture of the work I will describe the different types of information included and illustrate each type with typical examples. Moreover, it will be shown how Eustathios presents his material to his reader.

 Finally, I will zoom in on several specific features of Eustathios’ literary criticism that occur throughout the commentary. I will, for instance, examine the ‘methods’ that Eustathios considers to be typically Homeric and Eustathios’ reasons for frequently designating passages in the Iliad as ‘daring’.

 Supervisors: Prof. dr. Irene de Jong, Dr. Emilie van Opstall (VU)

Education

2011 – 2012 MA, Teacher Training Programme (Classics), Leiden University (cum laude)

2009 – 2011 Research MA, Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of Groningen (cum laude)

2004 – 2009 BA, Greek and Latin Language and Culture, University of Groningen (cum laude)

No known ancillary activities