Dr A. Sophie Schoess

Dr A. Sophie Schoess

Director of Teaching

Lecturer

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2615
Email
ass8@st-andrews.ac.uk
Office
C28
Location
Craigard

 

Biography

I graduated from UCL in 2010 with a degree in Archaeology, Classics, and Classical Art before moving to the University of Oxford for an MSt in Classical Archaeology (2011). I also completed an MA in Classics (UCL, 2012), before returning to St Hugh’s College, Oxford, for my DPhil in Classical Languages and Literature (2018).

Before joining the School of Classics at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, I held a non-stipendiary lectureship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (2016–19), a teaching assistantship at the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford (2016–17), and a stipendiary lectureship at St Anne’s College, Oxford (2017–2019).

Teaching

I contribute to the teaching of sub-honours language modules in both Greek and Latin (esp. GK1001, GK1002, LT1001, LT1002 and LT2003).

I offer the Greek honours modules ‘The Rest of the Story: Greek Epic after Homer’ (GK4128), 'Picture This: Intermediality in Greek Literature and Culture' (GK4129), 'Writing like a Hetaira? The (Re-)Creation of Female Voices in the Second Sophistic' (GK4132), and 'Court, Classroom, and Canon: Allegories of Homer in Byzantium' (GK4200), and the Classical Studies honours module 'Christianity and the Classics: Conflict, Competition, Conservation' (CL4469).

At graduate level, I contribute to the MLitt Greek Literary Culture module and the MLitt Core modules.

Research areas

My research focuses on the relationship between image and text in the classical world and beyond, with a strong emphasis on the visuality of Imperial and late-antique epic poetry. I am particularly interested in exploring the ways in which visual influences affect literary narrative, be it through the writer’s engagement with visual culture or their use of visual language. Such a visual approach to text enables us to understand better the dynamic interactions between visual and textual media, and to recognise the misguidedness of viewing images as dependent on texts, or as mere illustrations of literary accounts.

Throughout my work on Imperial and late-antique poetry, I have been addressing the question of whether later Greek authors were familiar and engaged with the Latin classics. I am particularly interested in exploring the ways in which later Greek epic poets, such as Nonnus, Quintus, and Colluthus, developed further visual approaches to classical myth first evident in the Latin works of Ovid in particular.

I also work on the reception of classical myth with a focus on Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. I am particularly interested in the distinct ways these narratives are re-interpreted, re-shaped, and re-invented to contrast with, or reinforce, Christian ideas of morality.

PhD supervision

  • Orla Davey
  • Sophie Lemburg

Selected publications

  • Schoess, A. S., 1 Mar 2025, Omnibus, 89, p. 30-32.

    Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

  • Open access
    Schoess, A. S., 13 Mar 2025, Enchanted reception: religion and the supernatural in medieval Troy narratives. Scheijnen, T. & Söderblom Saarela, E. (eds.). Uppsala: Uppsala University Publications, p. 23-52 30 p. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Graeca Upsaliensia; vol. 24).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Schoess, A. S., 1 Jan 2022, Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica: writing Homer under Rome. Bär, S., Greensmith, E. & Ozbek, L. (eds.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 75-94 20 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Schoess, A. S., 1 Jun 2022, Greek and Latin poetry of late antiquity: form, tradition, and context. Verhelst, B. & Scheijnen, T. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 222-240 19 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Schoess, A. S., 7 Oct 2021, Sophistic views of the epic past from the classical to the imperial Age. Bassino, P. & Benzi, N. (eds.). London: Bloomsbury Academic, p. 211–236 26 p. (Bloomsbury classical studies monographs).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Schoess, A. S., 3 Dec 2020, Nonnus of Panopolis in Context III: Old Questions and New Perspectives. Doroszewski, F. & Jażdżewska, K. (eds.). Brill, p. 161–77

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Schoess, A. S., 13 Dec 2018, The Letters of Alciphron: A Unified Literary Work?. Biraud, M. & Zucker, A. (eds.). Leiden: Brill, p. 89–108 20 p. (Mnemosyne, Supplements, Late Antique Literature; vol. 424).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

  • Schoess, A. S., 1 Apr 2015, The Art Newspaper, XXIV, p. 266.

    Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review