Andreas Serafim
I am a Classicist with a Ph.D. from University College London (October 2013). My active and ever-expanding research agenda, which I have conducted at leading research institutions across Europe, including Nicolaus Copernicus University, the Academy of Athens, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Trinity College Dublin, University of Cyprus, Open University of Cyprus, and University College London, is characterized by the combination of traditional philological analyses with interdisciplinary and contemporary approaches. My research portfolio includes five monographs and a contract for another currently in preparation with a top-tier academic publisher; ten edited volumes and special issues, with five more contracts for works also in preparation with internationally renowned publishers; twenty-two published chapters and four in progress; fourteen articles in journals; and six textbooks with the prospect of six more.
I began as a PhD student and early postdoctoral fellow with a focus on performance in relation to Attic oratory. Four of my five monographs (Attic Oratory and Performance, Routledge 2017; Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics, Routledge 2021; and two commentaries in Modern Greek on selected political speeches by Demosthenes and Lysias) and much of my other work (journal articles and book chapters) focus on aspects, themes and issues of oratory and discuss how it was used to articulate political arguments at crucial moments in the history of ancient Greece that formed the basis of European political culture.
In recent years, however, I have expanded my research by conducting several studies on (1) nonverbal communication and identity construction. A volume entitled Nonverbal Behaviour in Ancient Literature (De Gruyter 2023) and a monograph entitled Body Behaviour and Identity Construction in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature (New York and London: Routledge 2025) have been published; (2) ancient religion and oratory, with a recent monograph, Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics (Routledge 2021); (3) gender, sexuality, and sexual practices, especially with a focus on homosexuality, which is explored in a series of articles and most notably in Sex and the Ancient City: Aspects of Sexual Intercourse in Greco-Roman Antiquity (De Gruyter 2022); (4) invective as a cultural practice, the humorous/comic dimensions of which are discussed in the well-received volume Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory (De Gruyter 2021); (5) the reception of ancient rhetoric, culminating in the publication of Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Ancient Rhetoric (Brill 2021); (6) linguistics leading to the publication of research that changes the way we understand language (e.g., that imperatives in court are not impolite or overly authoritative, but rather a means for confident, persuasive speech); and (7) persuasion, leading to several publications, including the volume The Ancient Art of Persuasion across Genres and Topics (Brill 2019).
I have been a research fellow and principal investigator for projects funded by the National Science Centre of Poland (2022–2024), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019–2020), University of Cyprus (2017–2019), and a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship at Trinity College Dublin (2015–2016). Estimated total amount of awards: EUR 327,000. That my research has aroused the interest of the scholarly community is also evidenced by the fact that I have been or will be a reviewer for international publishers (Routledge) and journals (Graeco-Latina Brunensia, Herald of Legal History–University of Belgrade, Trends in Classics–De Gruyter, Illinois Classical Studies, NEO–The Classics Students’ Journal, Law Culture and the Humanities, and Classical Antiquity). I have also been invited to supervise and examine PhD students at the University of Crete; to offer my academic services as a book reviewer for the Journal of Hellenic Studies; and to serve as a reviewer for prestigious research funding programmes in Europe.
My publications, especially the edited volumes, and the academic events I have organized have brought me into contact with hundreds of scholars from all over the world and have enabled me to build an international cooperation network and carry out activities that promote links and cooperation between scholars. I have been involved in the organization of eighteen conferences, seminars, and lecture series in different locations around the world and in collaboration with scholars from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. I have also been invited to give thirty-four lectures at conferences, seminars, and university courses.
I began as a PhD student and early postdoctoral fellow with a focus on performance in relation to Attic oratory. Four of my five monographs (Attic Oratory and Performance, Routledge 2017; Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics, Routledge 2021; and two commentaries in Modern Greek on selected political speeches by Demosthenes and Lysias) and much of my other work (journal articles and book chapters) focus on aspects, themes and issues of oratory and discuss how it was used to articulate political arguments at crucial moments in the history of ancient Greece that formed the basis of European political culture.
In recent years, however, I have expanded my research by conducting several studies on (1) nonverbal communication and identity construction. A volume entitled Nonverbal Behaviour in Ancient Literature (De Gruyter 2023) and a monograph entitled Body Behaviour and Identity Construction in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature (New York and London: Routledge 2025) have been published; (2) ancient religion and oratory, with a recent monograph, Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics (Routledge 2021); (3) gender, sexuality, and sexual practices, especially with a focus on homosexuality, which is explored in a series of articles and most notably in Sex and the Ancient City: Aspects of Sexual Intercourse in Greco-Roman Antiquity (De Gruyter 2022); (4) invective as a cultural practice, the humorous/comic dimensions of which are discussed in the well-received volume Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory (De Gruyter 2021); (5) the reception of ancient rhetoric, culminating in the publication of Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Ancient Rhetoric (Brill 2021); (6) linguistics leading to the publication of research that changes the way we understand language (e.g., that imperatives in court are not impolite or overly authoritative, but rather a means for confident, persuasive speech); and (7) persuasion, leading to several publications, including the volume The Ancient Art of Persuasion across Genres and Topics (Brill 2019).
I have been a research fellow and principal investigator for projects funded by the National Science Centre of Poland (2022–2024), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019–2020), University of Cyprus (2017–2019), and a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship at Trinity College Dublin (2015–2016). Estimated total amount of awards: EUR 327,000. That my research has aroused the interest of the scholarly community is also evidenced by the fact that I have been or will be a reviewer for international publishers (Routledge) and journals (Graeco-Latina Brunensia, Herald of Legal History–University of Belgrade, Trends in Classics–De Gruyter, Illinois Classical Studies, NEO–The Classics Students’ Journal, Law Culture and the Humanities, and Classical Antiquity). I have also been invited to supervise and examine PhD students at the University of Crete; to offer my academic services as a book reviewer for the Journal of Hellenic Studies; and to serve as a reviewer for prestigious research funding programmes in Europe.
My publications, especially the edited volumes, and the academic events I have organized have brought me into contact with hundreds of scholars from all over the world and have enabled me to build an international cooperation network and carry out activities that promote links and cooperation between scholars. I have been involved in the organization of eighteen conferences, seminars, and lecture series in different locations around the world and in collaboration with scholars from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. I have also been invited to give thirty-four lectures at conferences, seminars, and university courses.
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Ο πρώτος θεματικός κύκλος της ΛΟΓΟ-ΔΗΜΙΑΣ φέρει τον γενικό τίτλο «Έχει το παρελθόν μέλλον; Η Κλασική Φιλολογία (στην εκπαίδευση) σήμερα». Ο κύκλος φιλοξενεί ανακοινώσεις από δύο σημαντικούς κλασικούς φιλολόγους:
1. τον κ. Θεόδωρο Παπαγγελή (Ομότιμο Καθηγητή Λατινικής Φιλολογίας στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης και Μέλος της Ακαδημίας Αθηνών). Κλασικά γράμματα: Από το πολιορκημένο παρόν στο «απανθρωπισμένο» μέλλον;
2. την κ. Εβίνα Σιστάκου (Καθηγήτρια Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης). Αρχαιογνωσία στον 21ο αιώνα; Πέντε σκέψεις και ένα επιμύθιo για το μέλλον των Κλασικών Σπουδών.
Publications by Andreas Serafim
Examining verse and prose texts, fragments, and scholia from the age of Homer to the second century AD, the central argument put forward in this volume is that semi-volitional bodily acts have the potential to betray individual or collective (ethnic/civic and cultural) identities centred on a variety of different themes. Discussions specifically focus on the following five aspects of the interplay between semi-volitional body language and identity construction: sexuality and gender; the link between sexuality and socioeconomic identity of individuals or groups; the embodied markers of civic/ethnic and cultural collectives and the contrast between “we-ness” and “otherness”; ēthos and emotions; and how dietary habits and illnesses indicate the “somo-psychosocial” identity of individuals or groups. The book offers a comprehensive understanding of representations of the human body in ancient Greece and Rome, while reopening the complex and fascinating discussion about the relationship between intention, mind, body, and identity.
This book offers a fascinating study suitable for students and scholars of classics and ancient Greek and Roman history. It is also of interest to those in a variety of other disciplines, including body culture studies, gender and sexuality studies, and performance studies, as well as sociology, anthropology, cognitive medicine, and the history of medicine.
Contributors (as in the Table of Contents): Alessandro Vatri, Evert van Emde Boas, Jakub Filonik, Rutger Allan, Andreas Serafim, Liana Tronci, Edith Hall, and Victor Bers.
Ο πρώτος θεματικός κύκλος της ΛΟΓΟ-ΔΗΜΙΑΣ φέρει τον γενικό τίτλο «Έχει το παρελθόν μέλλον; Η Κλασική Φιλολογία (στην εκπαίδευση) σήμερα». Ο κύκλος φιλοξενεί ανακοινώσεις από δύο σημαντικούς κλασικούς φιλολόγους:
1. τον κ. Θεόδωρο Παπαγγελή (Ομότιμο Καθηγητή Λατινικής Φιλολογίας στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης και Μέλος της Ακαδημίας Αθηνών). Κλασικά γράμματα: Από το πολιορκημένο παρόν στο «απανθρωπισμένο» μέλλον;
2. την κ. Εβίνα Σιστάκου (Καθηγήτρια Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης). Αρχαιογνωσία στον 21ο αιώνα; Πέντε σκέψεις και ένα επιμύθιo για το μέλλον των Κλασικών Σπουδών.
Examining verse and prose texts, fragments, and scholia from the age of Homer to the second century AD, the central argument put forward in this volume is that semi-volitional bodily acts have the potential to betray individual or collective (ethnic/civic and cultural) identities centred on a variety of different themes. Discussions specifically focus on the following five aspects of the interplay between semi-volitional body language and identity construction: sexuality and gender; the link between sexuality and socioeconomic identity of individuals or groups; the embodied markers of civic/ethnic and cultural collectives and the contrast between “we-ness” and “otherness”; ēthos and emotions; and how dietary habits and illnesses indicate the “somo-psychosocial” identity of individuals or groups. The book offers a comprehensive understanding of representations of the human body in ancient Greece and Rome, while reopening the complex and fascinating discussion about the relationship between intention, mind, body, and identity.
This book offers a fascinating study suitable for students and scholars of classics and ancient Greek and Roman history. It is also of interest to those in a variety of other disciplines, including body culture studies, gender and sexuality studies, and performance studies, as well as sociology, anthropology, cognitive medicine, and the history of medicine.
Contributors (as in the Table of Contents): Alessandro Vatri, Evert van Emde Boas, Jakub Filonik, Rutger Allan, Andreas Serafim, Liana Tronci, Edith Hall, and Victor Bers.
7.1. Prayer for Justice in a Trial and Protection of the Polis (euchê, Lycurgus, Against Leocrates 1–2)
7.2. Prayer to All the Gods for a Fair Hearing and Justice in a Trial (1) (Demosthenes, On the Crown 1)
7.3. Prayer for Fair Hearing and Justice in a Trial (2) (paraklêsis, euchê, Demosthenes, On the Crown 8)
7.4. Petition to the Gods for a Fair Hearing and Justice in a Trial (3) (paraklêsis, hiketeia, Aeschines, On
the False Embassy 180)
7.5. Prayer for Destruction of Enemies (euchê, Demosthenes, On the Navy 39)
ΤΡΙΤΗ, 18 ΔΕΚΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ 2018, 19:00, ΣΤΕΓΗ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΧΝΩΝ.
A CONFERENCE IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR CHRIS CAREY.
ORGANIZERS: Andreas Serafim (University of Cyprus) & George Kazantzidis (University of Patras) & Kyriakos Demetriou (University of Cyprus)
VENUE AND TIME: University of Cyprus, New Campus, 11-13 June 2019, Room: B108
SPONSORS: Department of Social and Political Science & Postgraduate Programme in Gender Studies, University of Cyprus
ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ, 28 ΦΕΒΡΟΥΑΡΙΟΥ 2018
ΣΤΗ ΛΕΣΧΗ ΝΟΜΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΦΟΥ «Η ΘΕΜΙΣ», ΩΡΑ: 18:15
"Η πιο γνωστή μας άγνωστη ρητορική:
Τεχνικές πειθούς στην αρχαία και σύγχρονη πολιτική και δικανική επικοινωνία".
Link: http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/greek/en/content/we-speak-greek-march-anecdotes-dr-andreas-serafim
26-28 May 2017, Organized by Maria Youni (Democritus University of Thrace) & Kalliopi Papakonstantinou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
In his sturdy book, A Rhetoric of Motives, Kenneth Burke argues that a fundamental purpose of rhetoric is identification: a speaker gives signs to the audience, mainly through language, indicating that his “properties” are the same or similar to those of the audience, thereby affirming a community with the audience and forging proximity. This is what Burke calls “consubstantiality” – the sharing of substance between two individuals – a process that ends in persuasion. Rhetoric also has the capacity to generate division or prolong hostility, persuading the audience by setting up people, matters or ideas as antithetical to the listeners. Rhetoric, in other words, creates a community: a conscious, psychological attachment to a group and the belief that this group has shared interests that are, in turn, at odds with those of other groups that may be constructed or implied by the speaker. Psychological and social studies indicate that the activation of group attitudes and identities and inter-group relations – in-group solidarity and out-group hostility – have a huge effect on the behaviours and attitudes in target audiences (e.g. Miller et al. 1981; Conover 1984; Lau 1989; Huddy 2003).
The techniques of unity and division in respect to rhetoric have been widely studied in classical scholarship, but only in a fragmentary way: there is no single, systematic and comprehensive study of these techniques. This gives scope for further research since there are several open questions: what forms does the rhetoric of identification take in Greek and Roman prose and poetry? What do these forms tell us about the speaker’s purpose, and how does he exploit them to the best rhetorical effect? What sources do we have about the reaction of the audience? How much difference does the nature of the speeches – forensic, deliberative and epideictic – make in the exploitation of the rhetoric of community and division?
Topics may include, but are not limited to considerations of:
a. language;
b. emotions;
c. performance;
d. memory;
e. humour theory;
f. gender-based approaches;
g. religion;
h. narrative, argumentation, ēthopoiia and other techniques that reinforce affiliation/ disaffiliation to groups.
Chair: Christine Plastow (University College London)
Speakers: Dolores M. O’Higgins (Bates College); Jess Miner (Harvard); Andreas Serafim (University of Cyprus/ Open University of Cyprus); Alessandro Vatri (Oxford).
-- first, aspects of religious discourse in public speaking in Athens of the 4th century B.C.
-- and second, the similarities and differences between the use of religious discourse in classical Athens and in other cultures and periods, especially the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods.
Chair: Roger Brock (University of Leeds)
Panelists: Richard Toye (University of Exeter), Charles Marsh (University of Kansas), Christian Kock (University of Copenhagen), Andreas Serafim (University of Cyprus/ Open University of Cyprus/ University College London)
Since antiquity the art of rhetorical persuasion has been employed in many different aspects of civic life, especially public speaking. Rhetoric is central to political processes and outcomes: it gives the speakers the power to influence their audience to achieve their political aims. Although what we know today as the art of public speaking has undergone continuous change since the days of Pericles, Demosthenes, Cicero, and Quintilian, nevertheless, it has been suggested that Greco-Roman rhetoric has influenced how contemporary politics is articulated. This panel seeks to examine whether elements of ancient rhetoric can be detected in modern political speeches.
Four scholars from diverse research spectrums – specialists in ancient rhetoric/oratory and others working on contemporary political speech making and communication – examine the application of ancient rhetorical stratagems, figures, tropes, and forms of arguments in contemporary political discourse.
1. R. Toye explores Winston Churchill’s troubled relationship with the Classics, in the context of wider political and cultural attitudes to the Classical learning over the course of his political and literary career.
2. C. Marsh argues that Isocratean rhetoric, with its rejection of Platonic certainties and its solicitation of dissent, provides a proven alternative to modern dilutions of Platonic rhetoric in American politics.
3. C. Kock identifies features of Hitler’s rhetoric that may have made it gripping to large crowds, using a 1940 speech at the “Sportpalast” as example. Thinking about powerful rhetoric in Hermogenes and St. Augustine is found to give suggestive hints.
4. A. Serafim explores how speakers employ humour as a rhetorical strategy to assist them in the attainment of their argumentative objectives. He will suggest that the use of humour in Greco-Roman discourse can help us better understand its use in contemporary discourse.
-- Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus
Co-sponsors:
-- Department of Classics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
-- Department of Classics and Philosophy, University of Cyprus
Conveners:
-- Kyriakos Demetriou (Cyprus)
-- Sophia Papaioannou (Athens)
-- Andreas Serafim (Cyprus/ OU Cyprus/ Trinity College Dublin)
Keynote speaker:
-- Michael Gagarin (Austin)
Confirmed speakers:
-- Adele Scafuro (Brown)
-- Alessandro Vatri (Oxford)
-- Andreas Hetzel (Hildesheim)
-- Andreas Michalopoulos (Athens)
-- Antonis Petrides (OU Cyprus)
-- Antonis Tsakmakis (Cyprus)
-- Benoit Sans (Brussels)
-- Brenda Griffith-Williams (UCL)
-- Christopher Carey (UCL)
-- Costas Apostolakis (Crete)
-- Dimos Spatharas (Crete)
-- Eleni Volonaki (Peloponnese)
-- Flaminia Beneventano della Corte (Siena)
-- Francesca Scrofani (EHESS/Università degli Studi di Trento)
-- Gabriel Danzig (Bar Ilan University)
-- Georgios Vassiliades (Paris IV-Sorbonne)
-- Jakob Wisse (Newcastle)
-- Jennifer Devereaux (Southern California)
-- Jessica Evans (Middlebury)
-- Jon Hesk (St Andrews)
-- Judith Mossman (Nottingham)
-- Kathryn Tempest (Roehampton)
-- Margot Neger (Salzburg)
-- Maria Kythreotou (Cyprus)
-- Michael Paschalis (Crete)
-- Rebecca van Hove (KCL)
-- Ricardo Gancz (Bar Ilan University)
-- Robert Sing (Cambridge)
-- Roger Brock (Leeds)
-- Sophia Xenophontos (Glasgow)
-- Stephen Todd (Manchester)
-- T. Davina McClain (Northwestern State University)
-- Tazuko Angela van Berkel (Leiden)
-- Thierry Hirsh (Oxford)
-- Tzu-I Liao (UCL)
-- Victoria Pagan (Florida)
Panelists: Klairi Aggelidou (Former Minister of Education), Christopher Carey (University College London), Edith Hall (King’s College London), Pantelis Voutouris (University of Cyprus), Savvas Pavlou (Ministry of Education), and Andreas Serafim (University College London).
Chair: Marinos Pourgouris (University of Cyprus)
Panelists: Edward M. Harris (University of Durham), Nancy Worman (Barnard College/University of Columbia), Michael J. Edwards (University of Roehampton), Andreas Serafim (University College London)
Chair: Eleni Volonaki (University of Peloponnese)
Τρεις είναι οι βασικές μας στοχεύσεις:
1. Μετάφραση, γραμματική και συντακτική ανάλυση των ρητορικών λόγων του Αισχίνη.
2. Πραγματολογική ανάλυση του ιστορικού και πολιτικού περικειμένου των λόγων.
3. Εξέταση του ύφους, της γλώσσας και των ρητορικών τεχνικών πειθούς.
Κάποια από τα θέματα, τα οποία θα συζητηθούν στο πλαίσιο του μαθήματός μας, έχουν σαφείς διαχρονικές προεκτάσεις. Για παράδειγμα: η χρήση του νόμου για ηθική διαπαιδαγώγηση του λαού, η αξία της δημοκρατίας σε σύγκριση με άλλα πολιτεύματα, το σχολείο ως μέσο διαμόρφωσης της προσωπικότητας των νέων και οι τρόποι με τους οποίους οι δημόσιοι αγορητές προσπαθούν να πείσουν ή να χειραγωγήσουν τον κόσμο. Η εξέταση των αρχαίων ρητορικών κειμένων μπορεί να προσφέρει – τηρουμένων των αναλογιών – ένα είδος «μοντέλου» για τη μελέτη παρόμοιων ζητημάτων σήμερα.
https://paideia-news.com/koinonia/2024/02/24/poios-skotose-ton-aristofani;-o-lakis-oi-%C2%ABarbyles%C2%BB-kai-to-xameno-noima-tis-tileoptikis-satiras/
των «13 σημείων» του Μακαρίου για τροποποίηση
του Συντάγματος, Εθνική Φρουρά & Ιστορία, τεύχος 35, σελ. 68-81.
(With an invited lecture about performance in Attic Oratory by Andreas Serafim)
University of Belgrade, 28–30 April 2018
Organizers: Professors Gerhard Thur and Sima Avramovic