Rosaria Munson
J. Archer and Helen C. Turner Professor
Classics
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Affiliations: Medieval Studies, Interpretation Theory, Classics, Comparative Literature
Interests: Greek historiography, narratology, Greek politics, ethnography, the Ancient Near East
"I like the idea of narrative in general, how it works structurally, as well as all sorts of particular narratives: myths, sagas, fictions, traditions and history from different times and places. Herodotus has all these things. You can carry his book around and it teaches you about the world."
Rosaria Munson is the J. Archer and Helen C. Turner Professor of Classics. She began to study Classics in Liceo in Italy, and has a Laurea from the Università degli Studi of Milan and a PhD in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Perhaps because she has moved between two worlds and likes both, Munson is interested in different peoples' representations of themselves and foreigners.
She is the author of numerous articles on Herodotus and two books: Telling Wonders: Ethnographic and Political Discourse in the Work of Herodotus (2001) and Black Doves Speak. Herodotus and the Languages of Barbarians (2005). She has edited the Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Herodotus, Vol. 1 (Herodotus and the Narrative of the Past) and Vol. 2 (Herodotus and the World). She is currently co-authoring a commentary to Book I of the Histories to be published by Cambridge University Press. Besides Greek and Latin at all levels, she regularly teaches Greek History and historiography.
She is also a member of the Medieval Study Program Faculty and offers a biennial course on the Divine Comedy, which explores Dante's appropriation and re-reading of the Classical poets.
