Emma Stafford

University of Leeds, Classics, Faculty Member

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My research interests lie in various aspects of Greek cultural history, especially religion and myth, approached via a combination of literary and material evidence.

I studied for my BA in Classics at New Hall, Cambridge (1987-90), and moved to University College London to start my PhD in 1991. While writing up the thesis I had part-time teaching jobs at Royal Holloway, Birkbeck and the University of Leicester (1994-5), but I started my first full-time job at the University of Wales, Lampeter in September 1995. While at Lampeter I completed my PhD (1999), as well as gaining useful experience in teaching and conference organisation, before moving to Leeds in January 2000. I became a Senior Lecturer at Leeds in 2005.

I have about 20 articles in print, and several more in progress, on a variety of topics in Greek myth, religion, iconography and social history. The book-of-the thesis is Worshipping Virtues: Personification and the Divine in Ancient Greece (Swansea 2000) and I am co-editor (with Judith Herrin) of Personification in the Greek World (Aldershot 2005). My most recent book is Herakles, in Routledge's Gods and Heroes in the Ancient World series (London 2012). My commitment to spreading the word beyond academia is demonstrated in the lavishly-illustrated Life, Myth and Art in Ancient Greece (London 2004). Work currently in progress includes a book-length study of the concept and the cult of Nemesis personified, a short book about the Trojan War (Bristol Phoenix Press), and four edited volumes on post-classical receptionsof Herakles-Hercules (see the Hercules project's website at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/homepage/401/hercules_project).

In 2015-16 I am on research leave; from August 2016 I shall be Deputy Head of Leeds' School of Languages, Cultures and Societies. In addition, I am Honorary Secretary of the Classical Association.

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Books by Emma Stafford

Herakles

There is more material available on Herakles than any other Greek god or hero. His story has man... more There is more material available on Herakles than any other Greek god or hero. His story has many more episodes than those of other heroes, concerning his life and death as well as his battles with myriad monsters and other opponents. In literature, he appears in our earliest Greek epic and lyric poetry, is reinvented for the tragic and comic stage, and later finds his way into such unlikely areas as philosophical writing and love poetry. In art, his exploits are amongst the earliest identifiable mythological scenes, and his easily-recognisable figure with lionskin and club was a familiar sight throughout antiquity in sculpture, vase-painting and other media. He was held up as an ancestor and role-model for both Greek and Roman rulers, and widely worshipped as a god, his unusual status as a hero-god being reinforced by the story of his apotheosis. Often referred to by his Roman name Hercules, he has continued to fascinate writers and artists right up to the present day.

Emma Stafford has successfully tackled the ‘Herculean task’ of surveying both the ancient sources and the extensive modern scholarship in order to present a hugely accessible account of Herakles. Covering both Greek and Roman material, the book highlights areas of consensus and dissent, indicating avenues for further study on both details and broader issues. The book is easy to read, being perfectly suited to students of classics and related disciplines, and of interest to anyone looking for an insight into ancient Greece’s most popular hero.

Personification in the Greek World: from Antiquity to Byzantium

The twenty papers presented here cover personification in Greek literature, art and religion from... more The twenty papers presented here cover personification in Greek literature, art and religion from its pre-Homeric origins to the Byzantine period. Classical Athens features prominently, but other areas of both mainland Greece and the Greek East are well represented. The papers reflect the enormous range of contexts in which personification occurs, indicating the ubiquity of the phenomenon in the ancient Greek world.

Ancient Greece: Life, Myth and Art

The essential introduction to this powerful and captivating civilisation, examining the art and m... more The essential introduction to this powerful and captivating civilisation, examining the art and mythical creations that have long enthralled our imaginations. Ancient Greece celebrates the diverse, innovative nature of Hellenic culture - a society that inspired the ideals of democracy and the rule of law; that developed forms of art and temple architecture which remain models of perfect harmony and beauty; and whose philosophers offered insights into the human condition of such universal significance that they are still persuasive even today. Ancient Greece is a richly illustrated introduction to this fascinating civilisation and its art, ranging from magnificent buildings and sculptures of gods, goddesses and heroes, to exquisite ceramics and jewellry. The book covers themes that have long inspired the Western imagination, including: the powerful deities; the sacred rites of the Greek temple; important ideas about knowledge, logic, democracy, science and mathematics; the human ideal and the cult of the hero, embodied in mythical figures such as Herakles and the warrior Achilles

Worshipping Virtues: personification and the divine in ancient Greece

A scholarly investigation of the worship of abstracts and allegorical personifications in ancient... more A scholarly investigation of the worship of abstracts and allegorical personifications in ancient Greece. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, Emma Stafford considers the ways in which Greeks perceived incarnations of abstractions or non-human ideals in religion, poetry, drama, in architectural sculpture and figurative statues. The book also discusses why the majority of personifications were female and explores the relationship between grammatical and biological gender. The useful introduction is followed by six case studies: Themis, Nemesis, Peitho, Hygieia, Eirene and Eleos. Literary and epigraphic evidence is presented in English translation.

Papers by Emma Stafford

Olive Oil, Dildos and Sandals: Greek Sex Toys Reassessed

Sex and the Ancient City

Nemesis, Hybris and Violence

La violence dans les mondes grec et romain, 2005

What has the goddess Nemesis to do with violence? She is the personification of an abstract νοῦν ... more What has the goddess Nemesis to do with violence? She is the personification of an abstract νοῦν νέμεσις which is variously translated into English as “retribution”, “retributive justice”, “righteous anger” or “indignation”; into French as rancune, vengeance, jalousie; into German as Vergeltung. What I want to explore here are the kinds of behaviour which arouse Nemesis’anger, many of which involve violence at some level, and the ways in which that anger is expressed, which vary from silent w..

12 Herakles Between Gods and Heroes

The Gods of Ancient Greece, 2010

Clutching the Chickpea

Sociable Man

Worshipping Virtues

Ancient Greece : Life,Myth and Art

Hercules’ Choice: Virtue, Vice and the Hero of the Twentieth-Century Screen

The Reception of Ancient Virtues and Vices in Modern Popular Culture, 2017

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Exhibiting Maguire’s Herakles: a Dialogue between Old and New Worlds

The Modern Hercules, 2020

Hercules, the Modern Man: an Introduction

The Modern Hercules, 2020

The Exemplary Hercules from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and Beyond

Herakles Inside and Outside the Church

Herakles Inside and Outside the Church, 2020

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Hercules, Putin, and the Heroic Body on Screen in 2014

Epic Heroes on Screen, 2018

This chapter places the two recent 2014 Hercules films, The Legend of Hercules and Hercules, incl... more This chapter places the two recent 2014 Hercules films, The Legend of Hercules and Hercules, including the lesser known “mockbuster” Hercules Reborn (2014), in dialogue with the Hercules display of Russian president Vladimir Putin. It focuses particularly on aesthetic elements: the visual presentation of their central figure – his costume, his accoutrements, and the type of action shots that showcase the heroic body – and the settings against which the heroic action occurs. The chapter shows more broadly the importance of examining the place of Hercules and classical mythology in modern political discourse.

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Personification in the Greek World

Personification in the Greek World, 2005

Cocks to Asklepios : sacrificial practice and healing cult

Le sacrifice antique

Rather than looking at a particular element of sacrificial practice, this paper will survey the v... more Rather than looking at a particular element of sacrificial practice, this paper will survey the variety of sacrificial behaviour known to have been associated with a particular cult. Asklepios makes an especially interesting case-study because of the relative abundance of iconographical evidence supplied by votive reliefs, and because of his ambiguous status as a hero only promoted to divinity at a relatively late stage in the development of the Greek pantheon. While the main aim of the paper..

The Curse of 300? Popular Culture and Teaching the Spartans

Journal of Classics Teaching, 2016

I teach Spartan history at the University of Leeds both as part of an introductory course about t... more I teach Spartan history at the University of Leeds both as part of an introductory course about the Greek World and also as part of a range of more closely-focused Special Subject modules for second and third year undergraduates, includingImage of SpartaandClassics on Screen. I use the film300, and other modern popular culture material, in different ways in each of these modules: as a subject in its own right forClassics on Screen, focusing on questions around what the material says about contemporary culture; and, inImage of Sparta, as a coda to the course's survey of ancient ‘images’, which allows for reflection back over the ancient material. Blanshard and Shahabudin suggest that cinematic output can be ‘…an important vehicle for discussing the values, history, and cultural politics of the classical past. It demands that we think about what are the key elements that make the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean so distinctive and worthy of study’ (Blanshard & Shahabudin, 201...

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From the Gymnasium to the Wedding: Eros in Athenian Art and Cult

Erôs in Ancient Greece, 2013