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Prof Catharine Edwards

Positions held:
  • Professor of Classics & Ancient History, School of Historical Studies
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  • Overview

    Overview

    Professional memberships

    • Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (member of the editorial board for聽Journal of Roman Studies聽2009-2014)

    • Classical Association

    Honours and awards

    • Fellow of the British Academy , July 2021

    ORCID

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • 鈥 Subjectivity, gender, self-construction
    • 鈥 The younger Seneca, especially his Letters
    • 鈥 Cicero, especially his letters
    • 鈥 Roman cultural history
    • 鈥 Responses to the city of Rome in antiquity and later periods
    • 鈥 Classical receptions in the nineteenth century

    Research overview

    My work focuses on the cultural history of the Roman world, particularly Rome in the late republic and early principate.聽The complex literary strategies of Roman texts (I have worked particularly on Seneca, Ovid and more recently Cicero) are an intrinsic part of that world鈥檚 fabric. I am interested in the ways in which conceptions of gender and other aspects of personal and social identity operate through, and are inflected by, language.

    Another important strand in my research has been聽the聽reception of antiquity in later centuries, particularly the C19th, and how receptions of antiquity聽are implicated in聽strategies of cultural formation and self-construction (I have published on the reception of Rome in Gibbon, in Mme de Stael, T.B.Macaulay, Nathaniel Hawthorne and in C19th guidebooks, particularly the work of Augustus Hare).

    Research clusters and groups

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within 糖心logo入口:
    5

    I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.

    Current doctoral researchers

    • ANDREW REGAN
      Nature of supervision:
      JOINT PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      The Reception of Classical Texts in the Works of Robert Burton and Sir Thomas Browne
    • ALEX SMITH
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      Introduction and Commentary on Selected Epistles from Ovid's Heroides, beginning with Epistle 4.
    • LUCIA 艩VANTNEROV脕
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • ALEXANDRA ATKINS
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Classical Portrait Busts in the Country House, 1700-1850
      Description:

      Using eight case studies from the long eighteenth century (defined here as 1715-1832) I examine the classical portrait bust, neoclassical versions and copies, as well as contemporary busts which drawn on antique modes of representation. Far from being passive, decorative objects, my thesis aims to demonstrate the meaning and importance of these bust in the country house setting.

      Awarded:
      2023
    • STEFANIE ULRICH
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor,
      Awarded:
      2025

    Teaching

    I contribute to a wide range of modules on Roman history, Latin literature and the reception of classical antiquity. 

    Teaching modules

    • Approaching the Past
    • Museum Cultures - Approaches, Issues, Skills
    • Mastering Ancient Rome
    • Latin set book (A)
    • The Empire of Letters: Correspondence in the Roman World
    • The Politics of Culture in Neronian Rome
    • Writing the Past: Dissertation
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Edwards, Catharine (2026) . Antichthon 58, pp. 143-63. ISSN 0066-4774.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2022) . Lucius Annaeus Seneca 2, pp. 103-126. ISSN 2785-2849.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2021) . Classical Antiquity 40 (2), pp. 221-248. ISSN 鈥0278-6656.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2021) . Eugesta - Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity 11, pp. 131-151. ISSN 2265-8777.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2011) . European Review of History 18 (5/6), pp. 645-661. ISSN 1350-7486.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2005) . Economy and Society 34 (2), pp. 200-222. ISSN 0308-5147.
    • Edwards, Catharine (1997) . Greece & Rome 44 (1), pp. 23-38. ISSN 0017-3835.

    Book

    • Edwards, Catharine (2025) . Cambridge Classical Classics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781009464062.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2019) . Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521460118.
    • Edwards, Catharine, ed. (2008) . Oxford World's Classics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199537563.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2007) . London, UK: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300112085.
    • Edwards, Catharine, ed. (2007) . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521036177.
    • Edwards, Catharine and woolf, G., eds. (2006) . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521030113.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2002) . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521893893.
    • Edwards, Catharine (1996) . Roman Literature and its Contexts. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521559522.
    • Liversidge, M. and Edwards, Catharine, eds. (1996) . London, UK: Merrell Holberton Publishers. ISBN 9781858940298.

    Book review

    • Edwards, Catharine (2020) .
    • Edwards, Catharine (2020) .
    • Edwards, Catharine (2020) .
    • Edwards, Catharine (2007) .
    • Edwards, Catharine (2007) .

    Book section

    • Edwards, Catharine (2024) . In: Xinyue, B. (ed.) Temporalities, Texts, Ideologies: Ancient and Early Modern Perspectives. London, UK: Bloomsbury. pp. 177-194. ISBN 9781350257221.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2023) . In: Fuhrer, T. and Soldo, J. (eds.) Fallibility and Fallibilism in Ancient Philosophy and Literature. Philosophie der Antike. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. pp. 127-145. ISBN 9783111314358.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2023) . In: Jackson, C.R. and Soldo, J. (eds.) Res vera, res dicta: fictionality in ancient epistolography. Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes. Berlin, Germany and Boston, U.S.: De Gruyter. pp. 69-86. ISBN 9783111308128.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2021) . In: Geue, T. and Giusti, E. (eds.) Unspoken Rome. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 165-184. ISBN 9781108843041.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2021) . In: Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199381135.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2020) . In: Niehoff, M. and Levinson, J. (eds.) Self, Self-Fashioning and Individuality in Late Antiquity. Culture, Religion and Politics in the Greco-Roman World. Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 227-252. ISBN 9783161589904.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2018) . In: Fitzgerald, W. and Spentzou, E. (eds.) The Production of Space in Latin Literature. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 169-194. ISBN 9780198768098.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2018) . In: O'Brien, K. and Young, B. (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Edward Gibbon. Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 62-77. ISBN 9781107625020.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2018) . In: Ceccarelli, P. and Doering, L. and F枚gen, T. and Gildenhard, I. (eds.) Letters and Communities: Studies in the Socio-Political Dimensions of Ancient Epistolography. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 325-351. ISBN 9780198804208.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2017) . In: Dufallo, B. (ed.) Roman Error: Classical Reception and the Problem of Rome's Flaws. Classical Presences. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 127-152. ISBN 9780198803034.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2017) . In: St枚ckinger, M. and Winter, K. and Zanker, A. (eds.) Horace and Seneca: Interactions, Interests, Interpretations. Beitr盲ge zur Altertumskunde. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. pp. 73-89. ISBN 9783110524024.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2014) . In: Damschen, G. and Heil, A. (eds.) Brill's Companion to Seneca. Brill's Companions in Classical Studies. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 9789004154612.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2013) . In: Erdkamp, P. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rome. Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521720786.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2012) . In: Saunders, T. and Martindale, C. and Pite, R. and Skoie, M. (eds.) Romans and Romantics. Classical Presences. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 183-202. ISBN 9780199588541.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2009) . In: Bartsch, S. and Wray, D. (eds.) Seneca and the Self. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 139-159. ISBN 9780521888387.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2009) . In: Bartsch, S. and Wray, D. (eds.) Seneca and the Self. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 139-159. ISBN 9780521888387.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2008) . In: Lives of the Caesars. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199537563.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2008) . In: Hardwick, L. and Stray, C. (eds.) A Companion to Classical Receptions. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 345-359. ISBN 9781405151672.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2008) . In: Fitch, J. (ed.) Seneca. Oxford Readings in Classical Studies. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199282098.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2007) . In: Easterling, P.E. and Hall, E.M. (eds.) Greek and Roman actors. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521045506.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2007) . In: Edwards, Catharine (ed.) Roman Presences: receptions of Rome in European culture, 1789-1945. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 70-87. ISBN 9780521036177.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2006) . In: Bartsch, S. and Bartsherer, T. (eds.) Erotikon: essays on eros ancient and modern. Chicago, USA: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226038391.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2005) . In: Harrison, S. (ed.) A Companion to Latin Literature. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 270-283. ISBN 631235299.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2005) . In: Hopkins, A. and Wyke, M. (eds.) Roman bodies: Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century. London, UK: British School at Rome. ISBN 9780904152449.
    • Edwards, Catharine (2003) . In: Edwards, Catharine and Woolf, Greg (eds.) Rome the cosmopolis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 44-70. ISBN 9780521030113.
    • Edwards, Catharine (1999) . In: Porter, J. L. (ed.) Constructions of the Classical Body. Michigan, USA: Michigan University Press. pp. 252-268. ISBN 9780472109081.
    • Edwards, Catharine (1998) . In: Dupont, F. and Auvray-Assayas, Clara (eds.) Images Romaines. Etudes de litt茅rature ancienne. le comptoir des presses d'universit茅s. pp. 235-245. ISBN 9782728802432.
    • Edwards, Catharine (1997) . In: Hallett, J.P. and Skinner, M. (eds.) Roman Sexualities. Princeton University Press. pp. 66-95. ISBN 9780691011783.
    • Edwards, Catharine (1996) . In: Liversidge, M.J.H. (ed.) Imagining Rome: British artists and Rome in the nineteenth century. London, UK: Merrell Holberton Publishers. ISBN 9781858940298.
    • Edwards, Catharine (1994) . In: Elsner, J. and Masters, J. (eds.) Reflections of Nero: culture, history & representation. Duckworth. pp. 83-97. ISBN 9780807821435.
  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Outreach

    I have taken part on many occasions in BBC Radio 4's 'In our time', 聽contributing to episodes on:

    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Agrippina the Younger


    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Cleopatra


    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Roman Britain


    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Virgil鈥檚聽Aeneid


    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Tacitus and the decadence of Rome


    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Pliny the Younger


    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Augustan Age聽

    聽 聽 聽 聽
    路聽聽聽聽聽聽 Seneca the Younger


    I presented a TV聽series 鈥楳others, murderers and mistresses: empresses of ancient Rome鈥 (3 episodes, each 60 minutes, Hotsauce TV) first broadcast BBC Four.

    Because of my expertise on Seneca, I am regularly asked to speak or write on the applicability of Stoic practices to modern life, as in this piece I wrote for London's Evening Standard: