Dr Alessandro Vatri

My research looks into the connection between the linguistic form of ancient Greek literary texts and the original communicative circumstances of their reception. I am especially interested in reconstructing the native comprehension of Classical Greek in the specific socio-cultural contexts in which texts were meant to be received. To this end, I have adopted perspectives and methods of modern linguistics (in particular experimental psycholinguistics) and at the same time I have been working on ancient Greek rhetorical theory and oratorical performance. I am currently revising my DPhil thesis for publication under the title ‘Orality and Performance in Classical Attic Prose: A Linguistic Approach’. I have also published on ancient reading techniques and mnemonics, and my methodological interests include the development and use of electronic corpora.