Dr Pavlos Avlamis

Biography

I took my first degree in Classics at the National University of Athens in Greece and went on to postgraduate studies in the US at the University of Virginia (MA) and Princeton University (PhD). In 2010 I moved to the UK and taught at St John’s and then Trinity College, Oxford. From 2014 Iworked as a postdoctoral researcher on the AHRC-funded project ‘Greek Epic of the Roman Empire: A Cultural History’ based in Cambridge, while I also held a Junior Research Fellowship at Trinity College in Oxford. I joined the Department of Classics at King’s in 2015.

Research Interests

• Hellenistic and Imperial Greek literature and culture
• Ancient popular culture
• Ancient wisdom traditions and fable

In my research I specialise in postclassical Greek literature and cultural history. My current research is focusing on three areas. Firstly, I am interested in the cultural functions and uses of Greek poetry from the Hellenistic period to Late Antiquity. Secondly, I am interested in popular culture, ancient everyday city life, and their representation in literature. I am currently writing a book on the representation and ideological function of everyday urban life in Imperial Greek literature (The City, the Popular, and the Everyday in Imperial Greek Literature). A third area of interest is ancient folk narrative forms and especially the world of fable and of Aesopic wisdom in Greek literature.

I am happy to supervise PhD students working in any of my areas of interest outlined above.

Expertise and Public Engagement

• In November 2014, I participated in a discussion about Aesop,on Radio 4’s ‘In our time’

• I have also collaborated with Greek artist Manolis Charos in an art exhibition on ‘Aesop’s Fables’ at the Benaki Museum in Athens in 2011.