Emma Ianni
Assistant Professor of Classical and Medieval Studies
About
Ph.D. Columbia University (2024)
MA Columbia University (2019)
BA Cornell University (2017)
Emma Ianni is a scholar of ancient Greek literature and history. Her research explores the relationship between tragedy and historiography, with particular attention to the intersections of gender, democracy, and war. At Bates, she offers courses on Greek language and literature, Greek history, and classical reception through film.
Her current book project examines the role of gender in the construction of democratic narratives in classical Athens, particularly in Thucydides and tragedy. This study challenges previous assumptions on the historian’s omission of gender, recasting it as a deliberate strategy rather than a generic feature. By integrating classical reception as a crucial philological tool, the book models a methodological framework for reading silences and erasures in ancient literature. Ianni is also interested in classical reception and public humanities, examining how the ancient Greco-Roman past is mobilized in modern political and cultural discourse — from institutional formations such as democracy and constitutionalism to its appropriation by diverse ideological movements across the contemporary spectrum.
Before coming to Bates in 2025, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Dickinson College.
Current Courses
Fall Semester 2026
Ancient Greek History
This course examines Greece from the Bronze Age to Alexander. It focuses on the geographical breadth and temporal extent of "Ancient Greece," and how that considerable space and time were negotiated and understood by the Greeks themselves. In such a far-flung world, extending from Sicily to Ionia, f…
Senior Thesis
Required of all majors, the thesis involves research and writing of an extended essay in classical and medieval studies, following the established practices of the field, under the guidance of a supervisor in the classical and medieval studies program. Students register for CMS 457 in the fall semes…
Violence, Gender, and the Social Contract in Ancient Greece
We explore the causes and consequences of violence among men and male gods, between men and women, and between parents and children. Readings may include Hesiod’s Theogony, Homeric Hymns, Attic orations, Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Euripides’ Heracles Raging, or his Medea, etc. Recommended Ba…
Violence, Gender, and the Social Contract in Ancient Greece
This course covers the same material as GRK 203 but is designed for students who have completed two or more years of college-level Greek. May be repeated with permission of the instructor.
Winter Semester 2027
Greek and Roman Myths
Did the Greeks and Romans believe their myths about winged horses, goddesses, and golden apples? How are myths related to the religious, political, and social world of Greece and Rome? This course examines Greek and Roman myths from a variety of theoretical perspectives in order to understand their …
Movie Theaters of War
In the Iliad, Homer transformed the Trojan War into a spectacle. Today, the popularity of war movies reveals how deeply these ancient notions of war as spectacle have shaped our understanding of armed conflict. This course analyzes war films through the lens of pre-modern treatments of war as specta…
Senior Thesis
Required of all majors, the thesis involves research and writing of an extended essay in classical and medieval studies, following the established practices of the field, under the guidance of a supervisor in the classical and medieval studies program. Students register for CMS 458 in the winter sem…
Elementary Ancient Greek I
This introduction to the ancient Greek language through a study of its vocabulary, forms, and syntax emphasizes the connection between ancient Greek and English grammar and etymology and presents ancient cultural concepts as evident in Greek vocabulary. The course concentrates on Greek-English trans…