Dr Jane Masseglia

I joined the University of Leicester in 2016 after 8 years in Oxford as a lecturer and postdoc on two major research projects: The Emotions Project: The Greek Paradigm a five-year ERC-funded funded programme under Prof. Angelos Chaniotis; and The Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project (AshLI) a three-year AHRC project under Warwick's Prof. Alison Cooley. Until August 2022, I was Senior Scientist for the LatinNow Project (ERC) under PI Alex Mullen, where I oversaw a programme of Public Engagement and Knowledge Exchange, including the award-winning 6-country travelling exhibition, VOCES POPVLI.

My research interests lie in the lives of ordinary people in antiquity, using a combination of textual and visual evidence to reconstruct their experiences, priorities and outlook. I work simultaneously on projects based in the Greek East and the Roman West: I have a particular passion for the history and material culture of Greek and Roman Turkey, and have excavated at both Pessinus and Çadır Höyük. But I am also part of the team engaged in the study and publication of the Roman villa at Ketton, with particular focus on the Trojan War mosaic discovered there. In all cases, research interests rest on the study of people through art objects.

As a PGCE-qualified former school teacher, I am also heavily involved in projects which bring the Classical World to a wider audience. I regularly give public lectures at schools and community groups, and am actively engaged in the development of teaching materials for use in the classroom.

I was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2020 and Associate Professor in 2022. I am currently the Director of Distance Learning Transformation in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, overseeing the complete revision of our undergraduate degrees for the the digital age.

- Greek and Roman social history: biography; self-presentation; ancient emotions; interpersonal relationships and prejudice

- The body in the Greek world: body language and gesture; figurative sculpture; medicine and healing; self-representation in art; physical disability in antiquity

- The history and material culture of the Hellenistic period (c. 330-30 BC)

- The material culture of Greek and Roman Asia Minor

- The place of Greek culture and education in Late Roman Britain

Selected Works

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2021) Quintilian and the Visual Arts. In in M. van der Poel and J.J. Murphy (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Quintilian. Oxford University Press.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2020). Imaging the Philae Obelisk at Kingston Lacy. In A. Bowman (ed.), Proceedings of the Corpus of Greek and Bilingual Inscriptions Of Ptolemaic Egypt (CPI) Conference (1-2 April 2016, Oxford). Oxford Studies in Ancient Documents, Oxford..

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2019). The Banquet Scene at Kazanluk: a feast of speculation. In R. Raja, C. Draycott, K. Welch, & W. Wootton (Eds.), Visual Histories: Visual Remains and Histories of the Classical World. Papers in Honour of R.R.R. Smith (pp. 375-386). Brepols.

Masseglia, J. E. A., & Young, S. G. (2019). The "Wool Basket" stelai from Pessinus: relics of a lost landscape. In G. Tsetskhladze (Ed.), Pessinus and its regional setting : Volume 2 Work in 2009-2013 (pp. 293-320). Peeters.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (ed.) (2016). The Philae Obelisk: Tales from Egypt, Dorset and Outer Space. J. E. A. Masseglia (Ed.), Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2016). Rome's Walking Dead: Resurrecting a Roman Funeral at the Ashmolean Museum. The Journal of Classics Teaching, 17(33), 31-34.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2016). The lost boys: did the Romans love their children?. Omnibus, 71, 24-26.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2015). Body Language in Hellenistic Art and Society. Oxford University Press.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2015). The Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project (AshLI): Bringing epigraphic research to museum visitors and schools. In in S. Orlandi, R. Santucci, et al. (eds), Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage: Proceedings of the First EAGLE International Conference 2014 (pp. 221-232). Sapienza Universita  Editrice.

Masseglia, J. E. A., Smith, R. R. R., & Ertug, A. (2015). Ancient Theaters of Anatolia. Ege Yayinlari.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2014). Feeling Low: The relationship between social status and emotional display in Hellenistic Art. In A. Chaniotis, P. Ducrey (eds), Unveiling Emotions II (pp. 314). Steiner Verlag.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2013). Phrygians in relief: trends in self-representation. In Roman Phrygia: Culture and Society (pp. 95-123). CUP.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2012). Reasons to be Cheerful? The Drunken Old Woman of Munich and Rome. In in A. Chaniotis (ed.), Unveiling Emotions: Sources and Methods for the Study of Emotions in the Greek World (Vol. 52, pp. 413-440). Heidelberger Althistorische Beitrage und Epigraphische Studien, Steiner.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2012). Make or Break Decisions: The Archaeology of Allegiance in ancient Ephesos. In in A. Chaniotis (ed.), Unveiling Emotions: Sources and Methods for the Study of Emotions in the Greek World (pp. 329-355). Heidelberger Althistorische Beitrage und Epigraphische Studien, Steiner.

Masseglia, J. E. A. (2012). Emotions and Archaeological Sources: a methodological introduction. In A. Chaniotis (ed.), Unveiling Emotions: Sources and Methods for the Study of Emotions in the Greek World (Vol. 52, pp. 131-150). Heidelberger Althistorische Beitrage 

I teach a range of Ancient History and Archaeology Campus-Based modules including (but not limited to):

AH1008 Approaching Ancient Evidence (Greek)

AH1010 Introduction to Greek History

 AH1013 Introduction to Classical Cultures

AH2044 Greek History in 40 Lives

AH3082 Great Greek Monuments

I also teach widely across our Distance Learning programmes (both at undergraduate and postgraduate level), and contributed teaching materials and lectures to the modules AR1553 Introduction to Classical Archaeology, AH1502 Introduction to Greek History and AH2701 Slavery in the Ancient World.

Ancient Greek History

Ancient Greek art (sculpture, vases, mosaics etc.)

Ancient Greek and Latin inscriptions

Greek and Roman tombs and gravestones

Ancient Greek and Roman women

Ancient Greek Body Language

Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)

The Philae Obelisk at Kingston Lacy

DPhil MPhil MSt MA (Oxon)

PCGE Classics (KCL)

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries