John H. Starks
Associate Professor; Collegiate Professor of Newing
Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies; Residential Life
Education
- BA, Washington and Lee University
- MA, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research Interests
- Greek and Roman Comedy (theater history, performance, gender)Non-"Western" Ethnicity around the Ancient Mediterranean, esp. Africa and the Levant
- Hellenistic and Roman Social History
- Greek and Latin Epigraphy
- Roman Historiography (including Greek historians of Rome) and Classical Biography
Teaching Interests
- Race and Ethnicity in Ancient North Africa
- Satire from Rome to Colbert
- Ancient Comedy in Performance
- The "Other" in Latin Comedy
- Women in the Roman World
- Celtic and "Germanic" Ethnicity in Latin Historians
- Greek and Roman Biography
- All levels of Latin and Ancient Greek
Awards
- Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching
- CAAS Presidential Initiative Grant for The Ghoul Next Door: A Musical Roman Comedy (Plautus’
- Mostellaria) and Comedy Scholars’ Colloquium
- New York Classical Club President’s Grant for The Ghoul Next Door
- Blegen Research Fellow, Vassar College
More Info
Select Publications
Under Contract/In Progress
“Acting Her Age: Beauty Image, Aging, and Ageism in the Reception of Actresses in the
Roman World,” in Mary Harlow and Lena Larsson Lovén, edd. Ages and Ageing in the Greco-
Roman World. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne UK“Giving away the Farm…to mimes!: vox populi and the (Un?)Stable Economy of Women Onstage in
the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds,” in K. Frank, G. Gilles, C. Plastow, and L. Webb, edd. Female
Monograph: Actresses in the Greek and Roman Worlds: An Analytical Register, Cambridge University Press UK
In Print
2013. “opera in bello, in otio, in negotio: Terence and Rome in the 160s BCE.” In Antony Augoustakis & Ariana Traill,
edd. Blackwell Companion to Terence, 132-155. Blackwell, Malden MA/Oxford.
2011. “Was Black Beautiful in Vandal Africa?” In D. Orrells, G.K. Bhambra, T. Roynon, edd. African Athena:
New Agendas, 239-257 (Classical Presences). Oxford UK.
Winner of Women’s Classical Caucus, 2015 Barbara McManus Award for Best Published
Article on Gender or Women’s Studies in Antiquity
2008. “Pantomime Actresses in Latin Inscriptions.” In Edith Hall & Rosie Wyles, edd. New Directions in Ancient
Pantomime, 110-145. Oxford UK.
Winner of Women’s Classical Caucus, 2010 Best Article Award
