Emma Stafford
Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Leeds
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Emma Stafford is Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Leeds.[1] Her work focuses on Heracles/Hercules and his reception.
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Emma Stafford | |
|---|---|
Professor Stafford in 2022 | |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge, University College London |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Culture of Greece, Classical reception studies |
| Institutions | University of Leeds |
Notable works | Worshipping Virtues: Personification and the Divine in Ancient Greece |
Education and early career
Stafford read classics at New Hall, University of Cambridge (1987–90) and began her PhD at University College London in 1991.[1] Following appointments at Royal Holloway, Birkbeck, the University of Leicester, and the University of Wales, Lampeter, Stafford moved to the University of Leeds in 2000 and became a Senior Lecturer in 2005.
Stafford was appointed Professor of Greek Culture in 2020, becoming the first female professor of Classics at the University of Leeds.[2]
Work
Stafford's work focuses on Greek cultural history and she specialises in myth, allegory, personification, religion, and the reception of Greek culture.[3] She has worked extensively on the myth and reception of Hercules, including numerous publications through research at the University of Leeds, much of which, like Herculean Labours: enriching the public understanding of our classical mythological heritage (2005-2012) has a public engagement dimension.[4]
Building on previous work on Hercules, Stafford now leads the AHRC funded Hercules: a Hero for all Ages project, which aims to chart the significance of the reception of Hercules from the late antique period to modern times.[5][6] As part of her work, Stafford has spoken widely on the subject including public lectures at Leeds City Museum.[7]
The Hercules Project has extensive public outreach activities, including a new musical drama, Herakles, composed by Tim Benjamin which premiered in Todmorden Town Hall in April 2017.[8][9][10][11] Stafford also coordinated The Labours of Herakles touring exhibition, displayed at Leeds City Museum and the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge, featuring the work of Marian Maguire.[12][13]
Publications
- ed. with Alastair Blanshard, The Modern Hercules: Images of the Hero from the Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century (Metaforms: Studies in the Reception of Classical Antiquity 21, Brill, 2020). ISBN 978-90-04-44006-7.
- ed. with Valerie Mainz, The Exemplary Hercules: from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and Beyond (Metaforms: Studies in the Reception of Classical Antiquity 20, Brill, 2020)[14]
- ed. with Arlene Allan and Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides E, Herakles Inside and Outside the Church From the First Apologists to the End of the Quattrocento (Metaforms: Studies in the Reception of Classical Antiquity 18, Brill, 2020)
- Herakles, Gods and Heroes in the Ancient World (Routledge, 2012)[15][16]
- ed. with Herrin JE, Personification in the Greek World: from Antiquity to Byzantium, Centre for Hellenic Studies King's College London Publications 7 (Ashgate, 2005)
- Ancient Greece: life, myth and art (Duncan Baird, 2004)
- Worshipping Virtues: personification and the divine in ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales and Duckworth, 2000)[17]