PhDs
Completed PhDs
MA
Completed MAs
BA (Honours)
Classics PhD
Dean Alexander BA (Hons), MA (Otago)
Ultimus Romanorum: The Rise of Cassius the Tyrannicide
Supervisors: Professor Jon Hall and Professor Robert Hannah (Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Waikato)
Kara Braithwaite-Westoby PgDip, BA (Otago)
Epameinondas and the Theban Hegemony
Kara is researching the famous general Epameinondas (c. 420-361 B.C.), who was instrumental in establishing Theban Hegemony during the early fourth century B.C. His Thesis will attempt to assess, in its entirety, his life and times with particular interest in his capacity as a statesman and general.
Supervisors: Associate Professor Pat Wheatley and Dr Sean McConnell
Charlotte Dunn BA (Hons), MA (Otago)
The Career of Demetrius Poliorcetes
Supervisors: Associate Professor Pat Wheatley and Professor Jon Hall.
Joel Gordon BMus, BA(Hons), MA (Victoria), GradDip (App Theol)
Imagining the Underworld: Topography Versus Eschatology
Supervisors: Dr Arlene Allan and Dr Sean McConnell
Thomas Köentges BA, MA (Leipzig)
A Commentary on the "pre-Cena" Section of Petronius' Satyrica
Supervisors: Dr John Garthwaite and Professor William Dominik
Kyle Gervais BSc (Hons), MA Classics (Queen's University)
A Commentary of Statius, Thebaid 2
Supervisors: Professor William Dominik and Dr John Garthwaite
Maria Mackay BA, Dip Tchng, DCE, PGDipArts (English, Classics), Dip Grad (English, Classics), MA (Otago)
Klytaimestra: Gene and Gender Conflict in Greek Tragedy.
Supervisors: Dr Arlene Allan and Professor Brian Boyd (University of Auckland)
Cameron McPhail BA (Hons), MA (Otago)
The Continents and Panhellenism: From Homer to Herodotus.
Supervisors: Professor Robert Hannah (Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Waikato) and Associate Professor Pat Wheatley
Stefan Pedersen BA (Massey), PGDipArts, MA (Otago)
Regularly Irregular Motion in Proclus’ Celestial Physics
Supervisors: Professor Robert Hannah (Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Waikato), Dr Peter Anstey (Department of Philosophy)
Susan Pelechek BA (Coe College), PG Dip (Otago)
Representations and Receptions of Scipio Africanus
Supervisors: Professor William Dominik, Professor Jon Hall, and Associate Professor Pat Wheatley
Alessandra Pugliese BA, MA (Università Cattolica)
The Greek World and Rome in the Late Hellenistic Period
Supervisors: Associate Professor Pat Wheatley and Professor Robert Hannah (Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Waikato)
Bill Richardson BA (Hons) (UTAS)
The Origin of Philip II's Panhellenism
Supervisors: Associate Professor Pat Wheatley and Professor William Dominik
Constance Sleeth BA (Hons) (Trent), MA (Royal Holloway, U. of London)
Euripides' Zeus, Seneca's Jupiter: The Tragic 'Father of Gods and Men'
Supervisors: Dr Arlene Allan and Professor William Dominik
Andrew Stopyra BA (Hons) (Otago), MPhil (Cambridge)
Diodorus Siculus on Alexander
A transalation and commentary of Diodorus Siculus Book 17 on Alexander the Great.
Supervisors: Associate Professor Pat Wheatley and Professor Jon Hall
Classics MA
John Blackler
Laughter in Plato
Supervisor: Dr Sean McConnell
Chloe Bray
The Many Faces of the Moon: Lunar Mythology and Religion in the Ancient World
Supervisors: Dr John Garthwaite and Professor Robert Hannah (Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Waikato)
Campbell Calverley
The Rhetoric of Incest in Senecan Drama and Histories of Nero
Supervisor: Dr Gwynaeth McIntyre
Supun Ekanayake
‘Ruling “the other”: Roman provincial administration and its hegemony during the Late Republic as reflected in selected works of Cicero’
Provincial administration played a significant role in Roman expansion and imperialist propaganda. This thesis explores how Cicero’s portrayal of the provinces and provincials employs the notion of ‘the other’ and how this ideology functioned as a mechanism of control in the dissemination of Roman imperial propaganda. Furthermore, the thesis seeks to understand how alterity, while undeniably playing a key role in defining the relationship between Rome and her empire, also led to the ‘othering’ of the Romans themselves in the eyes of the provincials.
Supervisor: Jon Hall
Will Harvey
Reflections on the Enigmatic Goddess: The Origins of Hekate and the Development of her Character to the End of the Fifth Century B.C.
Supervisor: Dr John Garthwaite
Chelsea Johnston
Beware of that Cup!: The Role of Food-tasters in Ancient Society
Supervisor: Associate Professor Pat Wheatley
Lila Knight
From Commodus to Constantine: The Function and Administration of the Roman Imperial Mints in the Third Century CE
Supervisor: Dr Dan Osland
Amanda Macauley
Plutarch and the Virtues of the Roman matrona: Feminine First Person Discourse in the Parallel Lives
Supervisor: Professor Jon Hall
John Matthews
Ovid's Tristia 2: a self-defence and contrite plea for mercy or a derisive critique of Augustan realpolitik?
Ovid's Tristia comprises 5 books of elegiac verse letters, written after Augustus relegated him to Tomis on the west coast of the Black Sea in AD 8, apparently for teaching adultery in his Ars Amatoria and for an undisclosed misdemeanour. All the verse letters in the Tristia, except one, are addressed to unnamed recipients. The interesting exception is the second book which contains a single and lengthy poem of 289 couplets (578 lines) addressed to the emperor Augustus. This thesis will accept that on one level, Ovid is in this poem merely defending himself and his poetry to Augustus, particularly his Ars Amarotia, and making a plea to Augustus for a reduction of his sentence of relegation. It will argue, however, that on another level, Ovid is bringing his familiar ironic wit to bear (although without the irreverent and amusing flippancy of his pre-exilic writing) to expose to a wide readership the deception, hypocrisy and even brutality that Augustan policy, based on power rather than ideals, demanded. It will further argue that in doing this, Ovid demonstrates a fresh understanding of the values for which the practice of monarchy and empire stood.
Supervisor: Professor Jon Hall
Jacqui Moate
'Alleviating Death Anxiety in Epicureanism'
Epicurus famously claimed that “death is nothing to us” and not to be feared. The Epicureans were also hedonists, believing that pleasure was inherently good and pain inherently bad. Fears and anxieties were viewed as a form of mental pain, and were thus seen as a threat to human happiness. The eradication of the fear of death was therefore a core component of Epicurean ethical theory.
The Epicureans employed a multitude of arguments in order to demonstrate that death is not harmful, and therefore need not be feared. This thesis will map out such arguments and engage with modern scholarship on the subject. Of particular focus is the ‘Symmetry Argument’, which equates post-mortem and pre-natal non-existence. The practical consistency and psychological effectiveness of the arguments against the fear of death will also be examined.
Supervisor: Sean McConnell
Jon Rolfe
The Politics and Social Prestige of Priesthoods in the Late Republic
Supervisor: Professor Jon Hall
Nathan Watson
From Philosophising Ass to Asinine Philosopher: Satire in Book 11 of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses
Supervisor: Dr John Garthwaite
Classics BA (Honours) 2019
Tyler Broome
‘Moral decline in Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae and Bellum Iugurthinum’
Supervisor: J. Hall
Madeleine Fountain
‘Life on the Northern Frontier of Roman Britain’
Supervisor: D. Osland
Pia Huston
‘Gender in the Underworld’
Supervisor: A. Allan
Helena Jones
‘Aristophanes’ wives and lovers’
Supervisor: A. Allan
Sarah MacManus
‘On the side of man: Athena as a civilizing force’
Supervisor: G. McIntyre
Jacqui Moate
‘Homer and the Presocratics on the soul’
Supervisor: S. McConnell
Classics BA (Honours) 2018
Samantha Ball
‘“...the Macedonians would never tolerate being governed by a woman” (Plut. Alex. 68.4). The Macedonian royal women as successors’
Supervisor: Pat Wheatley
John Blackler
‘Deface the philosopher: a consideration of Lucian’s contribution to Cynicism’
Supervisor: Sean McConnell
Robyn Cooper
‘The archaeological evidence of Roman household religion’
Supervisor: Dan Osland
Heather Hutchings
‘Form and function in Vergil’s Georgics’
Supervisor: Sean McConnell
Charlotte Murray
‘Mistresses, priestesses, and wives: an analysis of female power in fifth century Athens’
Supervisor: Arlene Allan
Jessy Ruiter
‘The development of the Roman military shield’
Supervisor: Dan Osland
Matthew Watts
‘Silver and sand: economic policies of Ptolemy I Soter’
Supervisor: Pat Wheatley
Classics BA (Honours) 2017
Tom Brown
Creating an Emperor: Examining the Augustan Persona through Time and Author
Supervisor: Dr Gwynaeth McIntyre
Mallory Heslop
‘Dying with Artemis: Greek women’s lives, liminality, and encounters with death’
Supervisor: Dr Arlene Allan
Lila Knight
Perceptions of Caligula's Relationship with the Roman Army on Imperial Coinage
Supervisor: Dr Gwynaeth McIntyre
Tabitha Moe
Minoan Prowess
Supervisor: Dr Dan Osland
Classics BA (Honours) 2016
Serena Gold
Deciphering Lost History: Arrian’s τὰ μετὰ Ἀλέξανδρον and its Historical Significance
Supervisor: Associate Professor Pat Wheatley
Gene Haggie
Origins of felicitas in Sulla’s Reign
Supervisor: Dr Gwynaeth McIntyre
Libby Neumann
Seen but Not Heard: An Exploration of Childhood and the Role of Children in the Art and Archaeology of Campania
Supervisor: Dr Dan Osland
Rowan Newton
Cognitive Spectatorship in Greek Theatre and Performative Ritual
Supervisor: Dr Arlene Allan
Classics BA (Honours) 2015
Campbell Calverley
A Woman Scorned: Literary Representations of Phaedra
Supervisors: Professor William Dominik and Professor Jon Hall
Katie Greene
Iambic Invective: The Protest Music of Archaic Greece
Supervisor: Dr Arlene Allan
Christopher Hawtin
An innovative proof of concept webpage featuring the first one-hundred lines of Virgil's Aeneid with digital annotations
Supervisor: Dr Dan Osland
Ruth Tae'iloa
The Value of a Virtue: Homeric Masculinity in Traditional Tonga
Supervisor: Dr Sean McConnell
