Dr Ariadne Pagoni

Background

I read Classics at New College where I received my BA, MSt and DPhil. During my DPhil I was the Retained Lecturer in Ancient Greek at Exeter College for three years and a visiting fellow at the Humboldt University of Berlin in spring 2025. Before joining Merton College I was the Randall MacIver Junior Research Fellow in Classical Literature at Lady Margaret Hall. 

Research

I research the literature and culture of the Hellenistic period (c. 330–30 BC), using a range of different types of texts and authors to interrogate the cultural outlook of Greeks in this period. I particularly enjoy combining the evidence of ‘high’ literature with documentary texts such as inscriptions and as part of this interest in documents I co-convene the weekly Oxford Epigraphy Workshop.

My first book-project, ‘Athens and Hellenistic Literature’, argues that the polis (city-state) played a significant role in culture formation and literary trends in the Hellenistic period. Using the uniquely well-evidenced case of Athens, the monograph disrupts conventional scholarly approaches to the period which typically examine Hellenistic literature through the structures of kingdoms and courts, in particular Alexandria. The monograph instead builds on important recent scholarship on the development of the polis in the period traditionally viewed as ‘post-Classical’ and contributes the important element of culture to this story, demonstrating how Athens responded to significant geopolitical shifts and how other agents responded to Athens in this context. The intertwined contributions of Athens, other poleis, and imperial powers to literary constructions of the city lead to a creation of the ‘Classical’ which is an important moment in the broader narrative of the reception of ‘Athens’ but is also quintessentially Hellenistic in its nature. 

In addition to preparing this monograph for publication I have begun a project on New Comedy, a genre which enjoyed great popularity in the Hellenistic period. Provisionally titled ‘The Topography of New Comedy’, this project explores the spatial developments in the genre and what they can tell us about the ways Hellenistic Greeks conceived of different places and environments. As part of this research project I have been particularly interested in the contribution of New Comedy to religious history through examining the religious landscapes of its plays.

Teaching

I teach Greek language and Greek literature options for Mods and Greats and can also teach Greek history papers.

Publications

Pagoni, A. (2023), ‘The association of artists of Aphrodite Hilara: two decrees as evidence for an association of mime-artists in Syracuse’, ZPE 228: 171–80. (https://www.academia.edu/116089807/Pagoni_A_2023_The_association_of_artists_of_Aphrodite_Hilara_two_decrees_as_evidence_for_an_association_of_mime_artists_in_Syracuse_ZPE_228_171_80)

Pagoni, A. (2026), ‘Attitudes to the law in Menander: parochial panhellenism and radical conservatism’, CQ 1–18. (https://doi.org/10.1017/S000983882510102X)

Pagoni, A. (forthcoming), ‘Categorisation, conflict, and cooperation: the relationship between rhetorical theory and oratorical practice in the Hellenistic period’, in W. Allan and C. Plastow (eds.), Handbook of Theory and Practice in Greek Oratory, Cambridge.