Silvio Friedrich Bär

Professor - Classics

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Email s.f.bar@ifikk.uio.no

Phone +47 22855338

Room 545 GM

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Visiting address Blindernveien 31 Georg Morgenstiernes hus 0313 OSLO

Postal address Postboks 1020 Blindern 0315 OSLO

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Please visit my personal blog here!

Information for students

I work at home until further notice and can be reached via email.
In Spring 2021 I teach ANT2800.

Academic interests

Genres: Greek epic, tragedy, lyric poetry, the novel, Second Sophistic prose and poetry, mythography, rhetoric.
Methods: intertextuality, narratology, cognitive theory.
Reception: antiquity in English literature and popular culture, transfer of knowledge.

Education

2013: BA at the University of Zurich (English literature & linguistics)
2010: High school teaching diploma at the University of Zurich
2008: PhD (summa cum laude) at the University of Zurich
2006–2007: Visiting doctoral student at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford (1 year)
2005: Lizentiat (BA/MA) at the University of Zurich (Greek and Latin literature & linguistics; musicology)

Employment history and offices

2021–2024: Representative of the permanent academic staff at the Department Board of IFIKK (elected for 4 years)
2021–2022: Deputy representative of the permanent academic staff at the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Humanities (elected for 2 years)
2019–: President of the Nasjonalt fagorgan for gresk og latin (effective from 23.09.)
2019–2020: PhD Leader at IFIKK (1 year)
2018–2020: Head of Subject in Classics at IFIKK (2 years)
2016–: Full Professor (Greek literature) at UiO, IFIKK
2014–2015: Associate Professor (Greek literature) at UiO, IFIKK
2012–2013: Postdoc researcher at the University of Zurich (1 year)
2009–2014: High school teacher (Greek & Latin) at Kantonsschule Wiedikon, Zurich
2005–2012: Research assistant and lecturer (Greek & Latin) at the University of Zurich
2002–2006: High school teacher (Latin) at Kantonsschule Freudenberg, Zurich

Tags: Greek, Epic, Poetry, Rhetoric, Intertextuality, Narratology, Reception

Publications

Books (as author)

Quintus Smyrnaeus. »Posthomerica« 1: Die Wiedergeburt des Epos aus dem Geiste der Amazonomachie. Mit einem Kommentar zu den Versen 1–219. Göttingen 2009 (Hypomnemata 183): 640 pages (review: BMCR 2010.07.27).
Herakles im griechischen Epos: Studien zur Narrativität und Poetizität eines Helden. Stuttgart 2018 (Palingenesia 111): 184 pages (reviews: AAW 70 (2017): 129–133; Gymnasium 126 (2019): 357–358; Antike Welt 5 (2019): 93; BMCR 2020.02.25; pdf with relevant passages [Greek-German] can be found here).

Books (as editor)

With Manuel Baumbach: Quintus Smyrnaeus: Transforming Homer in Second Sophistic Epic. Berlin / New York 2007 (Millennium Studies 17): viii, 501 pages (review: BMCR 2008.09.58).
With Manuel Baumbach: Brill’s Companion to Greek and Latin Epyllion and Its Reception. Leiden / Boston 2012: xxvi, 640 pages (reviews: BMCR 2013.12.02; CR 64 (2014): 339–341).
With Emily Hauser: Reading Poetry, Writing Genre: English Poetry and Literary Criticism in Dialogue with Classical Scholarship. London et al. 2019 (Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception): xii, 256 pages (reviews: BMCR 2019.08.46; Translation Studies 28 (2019): 324–329; Thersites 11 (2020): 370–378).
Christophe Bourquin†, Humor in der Aeneis: Ein rezeptionstheoretischer Versuch. Berlin 2019 (Klassische Philologie 6): 122 pages (review: BMCR 2020.10.58).
With Anastasia Maravela: Narrative, Narratology and Intertextuality: New Perspectives on Greek Epic from Homer to Nonnus. Symbolae Osloenses 93 (2019), special issue: 270 pages.

Editions, translations

With Manuel Baumbach, Nicola Dümmler, Horst Sitta & Fabian Zogg (eds., transl., comm.): Carmina Anacreontea: Griechisch/Deutsch. Stuttgart 2014: 172 pages (second edition 2020: 166 pages).

Articles in periodicals

“Quintus of Smyrna and the Second Sophistic.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 105 (2010): 287–316.
“War die Argo nicht doch das erste Schiff?” Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 155 (2012): 210–214.
“Zivilisationskritik und Kulturpessimismus im Ammenprolog von Euripides’ Medea.” Gymnasium 119 (2012): 215–233.
“Rhetorik auf dem Schlachtfeld: Caesar, Pompeius und Labienus vor der Entscheidung bei Pharsalus (De bello civili III 85–87).” Hyperboreus 18 (2012): 243–263.
“Der Neue Poseidipp (P. Mil. Vogl. VIII 309): Zur Ergänzung des Versschlusses in col. IX 35 = ep. 60,1 AB.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 186 (2013): 105–107.
“Helena: übergewichtig oder schwanger? Zu Menelaos’ Scherz in Eur. Troad. 1050.” Eos 100 (2013): 251–267.
“‘So Glad to be at Home Again’: L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a Rereading of Homer’s Odyssey.” New Voices in Classical Reception Studies 10 (2015): 15–26.
“‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’: Et nyoppdaget Sapfo-dikt og fragmenteringen av antikken.” Klassisk Forum (2015/1): 5–20.
“What’s in a μή? On a Polysemous Negative in Call. Aet. fr. 1.25.” Lexis 33 (2015): 241–244.
“Inventing and Deconstructing Epyllion: Some Thoughts on a Taxonomy of Greek Hexameter Poetry.” Thersites 2 (2015): 23–51.
“‘Ceci n’est pas un fragment’: Identity, Intertextuality and Fictionality in Sappho’s ‘Brothers Poem’.” Symbolae Osloenses 90 (2016): 8–54.
“‘Come, Second Best of Painters!’: Irony, Ambiguity, and Voices in Carmina Anacreontea 16 and 17.” Phoenix 70 (2016): 23–39.
“Det greske epos fra Homer til Kazantzakis: Innføring og overblikk.” Klassisk Forum (2017/1): 52–72.
“Composition, Voices, and the Poetological Programme in the Carmina Anacreontea.” Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium 27.1 (2017): 17–40.
“Cunnilingus für den Dichter? Bemerkungen zu Anth. Pal. 9.395 (Palladas).” Myrtia 32 (2017): 339–352.
“Herakles und die Schafe der Hesperiden.” Prometheus 45 (2019): 108–116.
With Anastasia Maravela: “Narrative, Narratology and Intertextuality: New Perspectives on Greek Epic from Homer to Nonnus.” Symbolae Osloenses 93 (2019): 1–11.
“Heracles in Homer and Apollonius: Narratological Character Analysis in a Diachronic Perspective.” Symbolae Osloenses 93 (2019): 106–131.
“Gendered or Ungendered? The Crux of Translation in Sappho’s Poetry: Two Case Studies.” Eranos 110 (2019): 1–17.
“‘Zur Beute den Hunden und den Vögeln zum Mahl’: Zu den iliadischen Implikationen in Aesch. Supp. 800-801.” Habis 51 (2020): 53–62.
“Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and the Pygmalion Myth Reconsidered.” Boletim de estudos clássicos 65 (2020): 83–106.
“‘I honour those who reverence my power’: Gods, humans, and the breaking of social and religious rules in Euripides’ Hippolytus.” Graeco-Latina Brunensia 25.2 (2020): 17–32.
“The Nature and Characteristics of the Gods in Classical Mythology.” Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium 30.1 (2020): 7–46.

Articles/Chapters in collected volumes

With Manuel Baumbach: “An Introduction to Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica.” In: Baumbach/Bär (2007): 1–26.
“Quintus Smyrnaeus und die Tradition des epischen Musenanrufs.” In: Baumbach/Bär (2007): 29–64.
With Manuel Baumbach: “A Short Introduction to the Ancient Epyllion.” In: Baumbach/Bär (2012): ix–xvi.
“‘Museum of Words’: Christodorus, the Art of Ekphrasis and the Epyllic Genre.” In: Baumbach/Bär (2012): 447–471.
“Odysseus’ Letter to Calypso in Lucian’s Verae Historiae.” In: Owen Hodkinson / Patricia A. Rosenmeyer / Evelien Bracke (eds.), Epistolary Narratives in Ancient Greek Literature. Leiden / Boston 2013 (Mnemosyne Suppl. 359), 221–236.
With Manuel Baumbach: “The Epic Cycle and imperial Greek epic.” In: Marco Fantuzzi / Christos Tsagalis (eds.), The Greek Epic Cycle and its Ancient Reception:  A Companion. Cambridge 2015, 604–622.
Commentary on poems AB 57–61, in: Bernd Seidensticker / Adrian Stähli / Antje Wessels (eds.), Der Neue Poseidipp: Text – Übersetzung – Kommentar. Darmstadt 2015, 229–246.
“Reading Homer, Writing Troy: Intertextuality and Narrativity of the Gods and the Divine in Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica.” In: James J. Clauss / Martine P. Cuypers / Ahuvia Kahane (eds.), The Gods of Greek Hexameter Poetry: From the Archaic Age to Late Antiquity and Beyond. Stuttgart 2016 (PAwB 56), 215–230.
“Diktys und Dares vor dem Hintergrund des zweitsophistischen Homerrevisionismus.” In: Graziana Brescia / Mario Lentano / Giampiero Scafoglio / Valentina Zanusso (eds.), Revival and Revision of the Trojan Myth: Studies on Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius. Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2018 (Spudasmata 177), 151–176.
With Emily Hauser: “Introduction.” In: Bär/Hauser (2019): 1–12, notes 187–188, references 218–219.
“The Elizabethan Epyllion: From Constructed Classical Genre to Twentieth-Century Genre Propre.” In: Bär/Hauser (2019): 138–150, notes 206–207, references 238–240.
With Elisabeth Schedel: “Epic fragments.” In: Christiane Reitz / Simone Finkmann (eds.), Structures of Epic Poetry. Vol. 1: Foundations. Berlin / Boston 2019, 317–355.
“Quintus Smyrnaeus.” In: Mathieu de Bakker / Irene de Jong (eds.), Speech in Ancient Greek Literature. Leiden / Boston 2021 (SAGN 5): c. 25 pages (in press).
“Greek and Roman Epigrammatists in the Later Imperial Period: Ausonius and Palladas in Dialogue with the Classical Past.” In: Berenice Verhelst / Tine Scheijnen (eds.), Latin and Greek Poetry of Late Antiquity: Form, Tradition and Context. Cambridge 2021: c. 20 pages (in press).

Outreach

“Die Brüder der zehnten Muse: Ein Papyrusfund mit Fragmenten zweier Gedichte, die vermutlich von Sappho stammen.” Neue Zürcher Zeitung 21.02.2014.
“Erzählen, wo es nichts zu erzählen gibt? Herakles bei Apollonios Rhodios, der narrative Palimpsest und die Widerspruchsfähigkeit des Mythos.” Nexus: Studentische Zeitschrift des Seminars für Klassische Philologie an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum 4 (2016/17) 6–8.
“Greek Epic from Homer to Kazantzakis: An Introduction and Overview.” Nexus: Studentische Zeitschrift des Seminars für Klassische Philologie an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum 5 (2017): 10–13; 6 (2017/18): 8–12; 7 (2018): 6–10.
“Antikkens Herkules var mye mer enn en voldelig muskelbunt.” forskning.no 04.11.2019.
“En trist seier for antiintellektualismen.” minervanett.no 30.06.2020.
“Amerikanske tilstander med krenkehysteri: Studer antikkens retorikk før dere klager!” khrono.no 07.07.2020 (response by Elise Lystad: “Hvem er egentlig krenket?” khrono.no 08.07.2020).

Lexicon articles

With Manuel Baumbach: “Quintus von Smyrna.” In: Christine Walde (ed.), Der Neue Pauly. Suppl. vol. 7: Die Rezeption der antiken Literatur: Kulturhistorisches Werklexikon. Stuttgart / Weimar 2010, 783–790.
“Quintus Smyrnaeus” & “Nonnos von Panopolis.” In: Heinz Heinen et al. (eds.), Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei. Mayence 2012 (Forschungen zur antiken Sklaverei Beiheft 5; CD-ROM IV).
“Byzantine Literature” & “Quintus of Smyrna.” In: Jan Ziolkowski / Richard Thomas (eds.), The Virgil Encyclopedia. Chichester 2014, 215–216 (vol. 1) & 1062–1063 (vol. 3).
“Quintus Smyrnaeus, Greek epic poet, 2nd/3rd century CE.” In: Oxford Classical Dictionary. Online edition 2017.

Reviews

Alan James (transl., comm.), Quintus of Smyrna. The Trojan Epic: Posthomerica. Baltimore / London 2004 + Ursula Gärtner, Quintus Smyrnaeus und die Aeneis: Zur Nachwirkung Vergils in der griechischen Literatur der Kaiserzeit. Munich 2005 (Zetemata 123): Museum Helveticum 63 (2006): 220–221.
Elena Pallantza, Der Troische Krieg in der nachhomerischen Literatur bis zum 5. Jahrhundert v.Chr. Stuttgart 2005 (Hermes Einzelschriften 94): Museum Helveticum 63 (2006): 222–223.
Barry B. Powell, The War at Troy: a true history. Philadelphia 2006: BMCR 2007.06.38.
Michael Paschalis (ed.), Roman and Greek Imperial Epic. Heraklion 2005 (Rethymnon Classical Studies 2): Museum Helveticum 64 (2007): 251–252.
Carol G. Thomas / Craig Conant, The Trojan War. Norman OK 2007: BMCR 2008.06.11.
Thomas Gärtner, Untersuchungen zur Gestaltung und zum historischen Stoff der Johannis Coripps. Berlin 2008 (UaLG 90): BMCR 2009.02.48.
Laura Miguélez Cavero, Poems in Context: Greek Poetry in the Egyptian Thebaid 200–600 AD. Berlin / New York 2008 (Sozomena 2): Plekos 12 (2010): 67–77.
Barbara Graziosi / Johannes Haubold (eds., comm.), Homer: Iliad, Book VI. Cambridge / New York 2010: BMCR 2011.11.29.
Andrea Harbach, Die Wahl des Lebens in der antiken Literatur. Heidelberg 2010: Classical Review 62 (2012): 24–26.
Peter Riedlberger, Philologischer, historischer und liturgischer Kommentar zum 8. Buch der Johannis des Goripp nebst kritischer Edition und Übersetzung. Groningen 2010: Gnomon 84 (2012): 25–29.
Robert Shorrock, The Myth of Paganism: Nonnus, Dionysus and the World of Late Antiquity. London 2011: Plekos 14 (2012): 95–105.
Sabine Seelentag, Der pseudovergilische Culex: Text, Übersetzung, Kommentar. Stuttgart 2012: (Hermes Einzelschriften 105): BMCR 2012.12.20.
Calum A. Maciver, Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica: Engaging Homer in Late Antiquity, Leiden / Boston 2012 (Mnemosyne Suppl. 343): Museum Helveticum 69 (2012): 213–214.
Thomas A. Szlezák, Was Europa den Griechen verdankt: Von den Grundlagen unserer Kultur in der griechischen Antike. Tübingen 2010 + id., Homer oder Die Geburt der abendländischen Dichtung. Munich 2012: Arctos 47 (2013): 302–305.
Ursula Gärtner (ed., transl., comm.), Quintus von Smyrna: Der Untergang Trojas. Griechisch und deutsch. 2 vols., Darmstadt 2010: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 17 (2014): 1095–1101.
Emanuele Lelli et al. (eds., transl., comm.), Quinto di Smirne: Il seguito dell’Iliade di Omero. Milan 2013: BMCR 2014.08.21.
Emma Stafford, Herakles. London / New York 2012: Ancient History Bulletin 4 (2014): 111–115.
Pál Kelemen / Ernő Kulcsár Szabó / Ábel Tamás (eds.), Kulturtechnik Philologie: Zur Theorie des Umgangs mit Texten. Heidelberg 2011: KulturPoetik 14 (2014): 296–298.
Calum A. Maciver, Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica: Engaging Homer in Late Antiquity. Leiden / Boston 2012 (Mnemosyne Suppl. 343): Journal of Hellenic Studies 134 (2014): 178–179.
Alessia Ferreccio, Commento al libro II dei Posthomerica di Quinto Smirneo. Rome 2014 (Pleiadi 18): Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft 67 (2014): 157–165.
Richard Hunter / Antonios Rengakos / Evina Sistakou (eds.), Hellenistic Studies at a Crossroads: Exploring Texts, Contexts and Metatexts. Berlin / Boston 2014 (Trends in Classics Suppl. 25): Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 18 (2015): 1001–1015.
Laura Miguélez-Cavero, Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Study and a Commentary. Berlin / Boston 2013 (Texte und Kommentare 45): Mnemosyne 68 (2015): 689–695.
Boris Dunsch / Arbogast Schmitt / Thomas A. Schmitz (eds.), Epos, Lyrik, Drama: Genese und Ausformung der literarischen Gattungen. Heidelberg 2013: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 18 (2015): 1105–1120.
Krešimir Matijević, Ursprung und Charakter der homerischen Jenseitsvorstellungen. Paderborn 2015: BMCR 2016.03.14.
Raffaella Cribiore, Libanius the Sophist: Rhetoric, Reality, and Religion in the Fourth Century. Ithaca / London 2013: Gymnasium 123 (2016): 181–182.
Alexia Zotou, Carmina Anacreontea 1-34: Ein Kommentar. Berlin / Boston 2014: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 19 (2016): 1067–1095.
Nikoletta Kanavou, The Names of Homeric Heroes: Problems and Interpretations. Berlin / Boston 2015: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 20 (2017): 1061–1069.
Jonas Grethlein, Die Odyssee: Homer und die Kunst des Erzählens. München 2017: BMCR 2017.10.27.
Jonas Grethlein / Antonios Rengakos (eds.), Griechische Literaturgeschichtsschreibung: Traditionen, Probleme und Konzepte. Berlin / Boston 2017: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 20 (2017): 1152–1166.
Egbert J. Bakker, The Meaning of Meat and the Structure of the Odyssey. Cambridge 2013: Frankfurter elektronische Rundschau zur Altertumskunde 34 (2017): 73–79.
Georgios P. Tsomis, Quintus Smyrnaeus: Kommentar zum siebten Buch der Posthomerica. Stuttgart 2018 (Palingenesia 110): Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft 70 (2017): 228–232 (typo p.229, n.2: read Sophokles’ Skyrioi).
Joel P. Christensen / Erik Robinson (eds., transl., comm.), The Homeric Battle of the Frogs and Mice. London et al. 2018: Euroclassica Reviews 03.04.2018.
Rebecca Futo Kennedy (ed.), Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus. Leiden / Boston 2017: Classical Review 68 (2018): 337–340.
Robert Simms (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Prequels, Sequels, and Retellings of Classical Epic. Leiden / Boston 2018: Euroclassica Reviews 26.11.2018.
Maureen Alden, Para-Narratives in the Odyssey: Stories in the Frame. Oxford 2017: Museum Helveticum 75 (2018): 225.
Emanuele Lelli, Pastori antichi e moderni: Teocrito e le origini popolari della poesia bucolica. Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2017 (Spudasmata 174): Museum Helveticum 75 (2018): 229.
Kai Brodersen (ed., transl., comm.), Ailianos: Tierleben. Berlin / Boston 2018: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 22 (2019): 1001–1015.
Katrien Levrie (ed., transl.), Jean Pédiasimos: Essai sur les douze travaux d’Héraclès. Édition critique, traduction et introduction. Leuven / Paris / Bristol 2018: Rosetta 24 (2019): 65–68.
Christos Tsagalis / Andreas Markantonatos (eds.), The Winnowing Oar: New Perspectives in Homeric Studies. Berlin / Boston 2017: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 22 (2019): 1027–1039.
Martha Krieter-Spiro (ed., transl., comm.), Homer’s Iliad: The Basel Commentary. Book XIV. Berlin / Boston 2018 + Claude Brügger (ed., transl., comm.), Homer’s Iliad: The Basel Commentary. Book XVI. Berlin / Boston 2018: BMCR 2019.07.56.
Christoph Jamme / Stefan Matuschek, Handbuch der Mythologie. Darmstadt 2017: Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 22 (2019): 1047–1050.
Kostas Myrsiades, Reading Homer’s Odyssey. Lewisburg 2019: BMCR 2019.10.05.
Jonas Grethlein, Aesthetic Experiences and Classical Antiquity: The Significance of Form in Narrative and Pictures. Cambridge 2017: KulturPoetik 19 (2019): 351–353.
Alexander Loney / Stephen Scully (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Hesiod. Oxford 2018: The Classical Journal Online Reviews 2019.11.05.
Arnold Bärtschi, Titanen, Giganten und Riesen im antiken Epos: Eine literaturtheoretische Neuinterpretation. Heidelberg 2019: Phoenix 73 (2019): 196–198.
William A. Johnson / Daniel S. Richter (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Second Sophistic. Oxford 2017: Classics for All 2020.
Paul Dräger (ed., trans., comm.), Apollonios von Rhodos: Die Fahrt der Argonauten. Griechisch/Deutsch. 3rd rev. ed. Stuttgart 2019: BMCR 2020.01.37.
Mark W. Padilla, Classical Myth in Alfred Hitchcock’s Wrong Man and Grace Kelly Films. Lanham, MD 2019: Euroclassica Reviews 21.02.2020.
Richard W. Westall, Caesar’s Civil War: Historical Reality and Fabrication. Leiden / Boston 2018 (Mnemosyne Suppl. 410): Gnomon 92 (2020): 376–378.
Gerhard P. Binder, P. Vergilius Maro: Aeneis. Ein Kommentar. 3 vols., Trier 2019 (BAC 104–106): BMCR 2020.07.08.
Gunther Martin (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Demosthenes. Oxford 2019: to appear in Museum Helveticum.
Edmund Cueva et al. (eds.), Re-Wiring the Ancient Novel. 2 bind, Groningen 2018: to appear in Museum Helveticum.
Arbogast Schmitt, Die Moderne und die Antike: Gründe und Folgen des größten Kulturbruchs in der Geschichte Europas. Heidelberg 2019: to appear in Museum Helveticum.
Katerina Carvounis, A Commentary on Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica 14. Oxford 2019: to appear in Athenaeum.
Tanja S. Scheer (ed.), Natur – Mythos – Religion im antiken Griechenland / Nature – Myth – Religion in Ancient Greece. Stuttgart 2019: to appear in Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft.
Jan Kwapisz, The Paradigm of Simias: Essays on Poetic Eccentricity. Berlin / Boston 2019: to appear in Gnomon.
Stefan Weise, Der Arion des Lorenz Rhodomann: Ein altgriechisches Epyllion der Renaissance. Einleitung, Text, Übersetzung, Wortindex. Stuttgart 2019: to appear in Frankfurter elektronische Rundschau zur Altertumskunde.