EFIMIA D. KARAKANTZA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT GREEK LITERATURE

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF PATRAS, GREECE

karakantza@upatras.gr, ekarakant@chs.harvard.edu

CURRENT TEACHING AND RESEARCH POSITION

• Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Literature, University of Patras.
• Fellow in Ancient Greek Literature.

Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University, in Washington DC.

Editor of the online and in print publication of the Greek Epic Cycle.

 RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Epic poetry, lyric poetry, attic drama, reception of the genres
• Approaches to Greek myths
• Construction of the notion of gender in archaic and classical poetry
• Sophoclean drama and the ideology of the polis

EDUCATION

• 1986: Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki, Department of Classics
• 1993: University of Reading, U. K., Department of Classics. Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
• 1990-1991 (spring semester): École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Seminars on ancient Greek tragedy and myths with P. Vidal-Naquet and Nicole Loraux.
• 1996-1997: University of Texas at Austin, postdoctoral research.

SCHOLARSHIPS

• 1991-1992: University of Reading, UK. Scholarship granted during the last year of my PhD research on the basis of academic achievement.
• 2010-2011: University of Harvard (Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington DC) Fellowship during the fall semester (September through February).  

ACADEMIC CAREER

• 2010-2011: Center for Hellenic Studies (Washington DC), Fellow in Ancient Greek Literature.

• 2007- present: University of Patras, Department of Philology
• 2000-2009, 2011 - present: Hellenic Open University
• 2003-2006: Research Center for the Greek Language, Thessaloniki – Athens
• 2004-2005: Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki, Department of History and Archaeology
• 1997-2000: University of Patras, Department of Philology
• 1998-1999: University of Thessaly, Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology (IAKA).     

OTHER ACADEMIC ACTIVITY

• Coordinator of the project Kyklos, an educational and research project on the Greek Epic Cycle. The Center for Hellenic Studies, University of Harvard.  
• Member of the scientific Committee of the Center for the Study of Myth and Religion in Greek and Roman Antiquity. Department of Philology, University of Patras.
• Member of the board of editors of the e-journal Electra. Department of Philology, University of Patras.

PUBLICATIONS

A. DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Homo Heroicus. Prometheus, Herakles and Philoktetes. A Structural and Semantic Analysis of their Mythologies, University of Reading, UK, 1993.

B. BOOKS

2. Ancient Greek Myths. The discourse of the 20^th century on their nature and interpretation. Athens: 2004. (in Greek)

(as editor)

3. Classics@, issue 6, 2010, Reflecting on the Greek Epic Cycle (on the site of the CHS).
4. E. D. Karakantza (ed), The Greek Epic Cycle, on-line and in-print edition with the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington DC (Harvard University) (forthcoming)

(as co-editor)

5. M. Christopoulos, E. D. Karakantza, O. Levaniouk (eds), Light and Darkness in Myth and Religion in Greek Antiquity,Lexington Books, Lanham MD, 2010.

C. PAPERS IN JOURNALS, PROCEEDINGS, AND CHAPTERS IN COLLECTIVE VOLUMES 

6. «Odysseia or Penelopeia? An assessment of Penelope’s character and position in the Odyssey», MÈTIS,Revue d’ anthropologie du monde grec ancient, 12 (1997), 161-179

 http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/revue/metis

7. «The sexual servitude of Odysseus; An interpretative approach to Κirke and Κalypso episodes in the Odyssey», Proceedings of the 11^th Conference of the Fédération International des Études Classiques (FIEC) [Kavala, August 1999], Athens 2001, v. Ι, 468-481.
8. «The semiology of rape; The meeting of Odysseus and Nausikaa in book 6 of the Odyssey», Classics Ireland 10 (2003), 8-26.

http://www.classicsireland.com/2003/karakantza.html

9. «FivewaysofreadingtheOdyssey»,Palimpsiston 18 (2003), 29-53. (in Greek)
10. «Literaryrapesrevisited. Astudyinliteraryconventionsandpoliticalideology»MÈTIS,Revued’ anthropologiedumondegrecancient, n.s. 2 (2004), 29-45.
11. «Frommythostopolis; mythical narratives in ancient Greek polis. Case studies: Sophocles’ Philoctetes, Euripides’ Bacchae» Proceedings of the Symposium on Myth and Logos(Ikaria, June 2005), Athens 2007, 99-124. (in Greek)
12. Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion, Lexington Books, Lanham MD, 2010, Preface ix-xiii (with M. Christopoulos).
13. «Dark skin and dark deeds; Danaids and Aigyptioi in a culture of light» in M. Christopoulos, E. D. Karakantza, O. Levaniouk (eds)Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek Myth and Religion, Lexington Books, Lanham MD, 2010, 14-29.
14. «Eating from the tables of others. Sophocles’ Ajax and the Greek Epic Cycle» Classics@ (e-journal of the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University), issue 6, 2010, titled Reflecting on the Greek Epic Cycle.

http://chs.harvard.edu/wa/pageR?tn=ArticleWrapper&bdc=12&mn=3233

15. «In quest of the Father in the narratives of origin and movement in Oedipus Tyrannus» forthcoming in MÈTIS,Revued’ anthropologiedumondegrecancient, n.s. 9 (2011), 149-164.   
16. «To befriend or not to befriend? A note on lines 678-683 of the deception speech in Ajax», Logeion 1 (2011). 41-47.

http://www.logeion.upatras.gr/

17. «Throwing out the menos with the bath water. The Sophoclean text vsPeter Stein’s Electra (2007)» forthcoming in 2011, A. Bakogianni (ed.) Dialogues with the Past; Classical Reception Theory and Practice, vol. I, Institute of Classical Studies, London (Editor in chief: M. Edwards).
18. «Polisanatomy. Reflecting on polis structures in Sophoclean tragedy», forthcoming in Classics Ireland.
19. «Oedipus revisited. Lévi-Strauss or Sophocles?», Proceedingsof the Symposium on Re-reading the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss, University of Ioannina, 20-21 April, 2010 (forthcoming as a special issue of Dodone).

CONFERENCES

• 1998: «An open reading of book 19 of the Odyssey; The Penelope question»,Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Britain, University of Wales, at Lampeter, April 1998.
• 1999: «The sexual servitude of Odysseus; An interpretative approach to Κirke and Κalypso episodes in the Odyssey», 11^th Conference of the Fédération Internationale des Études Classiques (FIEC), Kavala, Greece, August 1999.  
• 2001: «The meeting of Odysseus and Nausikaa in book 6 of the Odyssey. A semiotic approach», Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Britain, University of Manchester, April 2001.
• 2002: «The topography of rape in archaic and classical literature» as a member of a panel on: «Rape; Towards a History?», Joint Meeting of the Classical Association of Britain and the Classical Association of Scotland, University of Edinburgh, April 2002.
• 2005:«From mythostopolis; mythical narratives in ancient Greek polis. Case studies: Sophocles’ Philoctetes, Euripides’ Bacchae», Symposium on Myth with Logos,Ikaria, Greece, June 2005. 
• 2007: «Dark skin and dark deeds; Danaides and Aigyptioi in a culture of light» International Conference on Light and Darkness in Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology and Religion, University of Patras, July 2007.
• 2008: «Electra’s menos; Sophocles vs Stein in the 2007 production of Electra by the National Theatre of Greece», International Conference on the Reception of ancient Greek and Roman drama, Institute of Classical Studies, London, June 2008.  
• 2010: «Oedipus revisited. Lévi-Stauss or Sophocles?», Symposium on Re-reading the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss. University of Ioannina, 20-21 April, 2010.  
• 2010: «Eating from the tables of others. Sophocles and the Greek Epic Cycle», The Greek Epic Cycle Conference, co-organized by Harvard University and the University of Patras, Ancient Olympia, 9-10 July, 2010.

LECTURES / PRESENTATIONS

• 1991:University of Wales atAberystwyth, UK.

«AncientGreekandModernGreece»

• 1997:University of Texas at Austin, USA.

«What does Penelope know?»

• 1997:College Year inAthens.

«Psychoanalysis and Greek Mythology»

• 2000: NationalUniversityofAthens, School ofEducation.

«Odysseus and Penelope; a study of the reversal of the traditional relationship of the sexes in Homer»

• 2001: AristoteleionUniversityofThessaloniki, School of Theology.

«The presence and interpretation of nature in Sophocles’ Philoctetes and Euripides’ Hippolytos».

• 2002: UniversityofCopenhagen,Odenseand Århus (Denmark) at the Departments of Classics.

 «Literary Rapes revisited.Narrative techniques and political ideology in ancient Greek literature ».

• 2002: UniversityofThessaly, Polytechnic School, DepartmentofArchitecture

«Thetopographyofrapeanditsmanipulationintheideologicaldiscourse of the Greek polis».  

• 2006: Center for Inter-cultural Studies, Athens

«ReligioninancientGreekpoleis»

• 2008: University of Illinois at Chicago, and University of Ohio at Athens, USA.

«On Oedipus and the win(k)ling of his eye. Ancient evidence and modern approaches to Oedipus myth»

http://www.uic.edu/las/clas/confrences.html

http://www.classics.ohiou.edu/?p=166

• 2008: Association of Classical Teachers of Patras.

«Homeric Epic Songs: A Presentation of book 6 of the Iliad, and book 5 of the Odyssey»

• 2010: Rothman Distinguished Lectures in Classics, University of Florida at Gainesville, 29 November. 

«Sophocles’ Ajax: An Unfit Hero» or (on second thought)«Ajax the Best of the Achaeans».