Dr Viola Periti

Teaching Fellow in Latin

Biography

Background

I received my BA in Literature and my MA in Classics at the University of Pavia, where I also attended the Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS), as well as the Almo Collegio Borromeo. During my Master I was lucky enough to spend a semester as Erasmus student at the LMU in Munich (2017) and at Leiden University (2019). Then, I decided to pursue my doctoral degree at the University of Edinburgh where I have worked on Valerius Maximus. 

I am currently a Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh where I am teaching Latin language and literature.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Teaching Fellow in Latin

Undergraduate teaching

Latin 1C (lecturer)

Latin 1D (lecturer)

Topic in Classical Literature (course organiser)

Latin Langauge (lecturer)

 

Postgraduate teaching

Elementary Latin 2

Research summary

My major interests concern Latin prose and poetry of the Late Republic and Early Empire with a focus on authors of the Tiberian age (Valerius Maximus, Velleius Paterculus, Seneca the Elder), the interrelation between memory, exemplarity, history, as well as on the creation, transmission and politics of memory.

My PhD thesis developed the current trend in scholarship that examines the Facta et dicta memorabilia as a work of literature in its own right. It gave credit to Valerius Maximus’ artistry, narrative strategies, and ideas, and to his role in the transmission of history. The thesis investigated how Valerius deals with the dynamics of power between individuals – how these are established, maintained, or subverted – with a particular focus on the relationship between power and the art of speaking, as well as silence and inability to speak.

Current research interests

As current project, I am working on converting my doctoral thesis into a book, as well as writing and finalising several articles.

Journal Articles:

“Quale Antonio? Analisi di un “ritratto paradossale” nei Facta et dicta memorabilia di Valerio Massimo”, La Biblioteca di Classico Contemporaneo 13, 2022, 213-230.

 

Reviews:

Review of “ Bauer (S.), Brockkötter (P.) (eds.) Exemplarität und Exzeptionalität in der griechisch-römischen Antike. Göttingen: Verlag Antike, 2022” in Classical Review, 1-4 (first view).

Review of “Tschögele (T.), Die Erzählungen des Valerius Maximus, Heidelberg, 2022” in Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft 76, 135-140.

Review of “Murray (J.) and Wardle (D.) (edd.) Reading by Example: Valerius Maximus and the Historiography of Exempla.(Historiography of Rome and Its Empire) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2022” in Classical Review 72.2, 531-534

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