Dr Jason Koenig
Senior Lecturer in Greek
Deputy Head of School, Director of Research, Director of LOGOS
Phone: 01334 462618
Room: S16
Research Interests
Greek literature and culture of the Roman Empire, including the Greek and Latin novels and early Christian narrative literature; ancient athletics; the literature and culture of the symposium; ancient miscellanistic and technical writing.
My work focuses primarily on the Greek literature and culture of the Roman Empire, including the Greek and Latin novels. My new book Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture, was published earlier this year with CUP (introductory podcast). Much of my current research deals broadly speaking with the intellectual culture of the Roman Empire, including further work on Plutarch's Quaestiones Convivales, on Philostratus’ Lives of the Sophists and on a range of late Hellenistic Greek authors (and see below for work in progress on Authority and Expertise and Philostratus’ Gymnasticus). I am also in the early stages of a project on classical landscape and wilderness, to include a book on mountains in ancient literature and culture.
I have recently finished directing a Leverhulme-funded project in St Andrews (together with Greg Woolf) on 'Science and Empire in the Roman World' as part of the activities of the School's Logos Centre. Three volumes are forthcoming from that project: Ancient Libraries (forthcoming, CUP), Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance (forthcoming, CUP) and Authority and Expertise in the Intellectual Culture of the Roman World (in preparation).
In addition, I continue to work on the athletic culture of the Roman Empire, following publication of my books Athletics and Literature in the Roman Empire (CUP, 2005) (reviews, among others, in TLS 5382 (26/5/06); CR 56 (2006) 444-5; JRS 96 (2006) 216-18; CJ 103 (2007) 107-13; Phoenix 62 (2008) 229-31) and Greek Athletics (EUP, 2010). I am currently preparing a translation of Philostratus' Gymnasticus for the Loeb Classical Library series. I offer translations of selected ancient athletic texts on my blog, Ancient and Modern Olympics.
Publications
Authority and Expertise in the Roman World
Koenig, J. P. (ed.)
,
Woolf, G. (ed.)
&
Oikonomopoulou, K. (ed.)
2014
Unknown Publisher
.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Philostratus, Heroicus and Gymnasticus (Loeb Classical Library series)
Koenig, J. P.
& Rusten, J.
2013
Harvard University Press
.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance
Woolf, G. D. (ed.)
&
Koenig, J. P. (ed.)
2013
Cambridge University Press
.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Ancient Libraries
Koenig, J. P. (ed.)
, Oikonomopoulou, K. (ed.) &
Woolf, G. D. (ed.)
2013
Cambridge University Press
.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture
Konig, J. P.
2012
Cambridge University Press
.
417 p.
(Greek Culture in the Roman World).
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Greek Athletics
Konig, J. P.
2010
Edinburgh University Press
.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Greek Literature in the Roman Empire
Konig, J. P.
2009
Bristol Classical Press
.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire
Konig, J. P.
& Whitmarsh, T.
2007
Cambridge University Press
.
304 p.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Athletics and Literature in the Roman Empire
Konig, J. P.
2005
Cambridge University Press
.
398 p.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Greek Literature in the Roman World
Koenig, J. P.
2013
In:
Blackwell Companion to Greek Literature.
Hose, M. & Schenker, D. (eds.).
Blackwell Publishing
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Athletes and trainers
Koenig, J. P.
2013
In:
Oxford Companion to the Second Sophistic.
Richter, D. & Johnson, W. (eds.).
Oxford University Press
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Alciphron and the sympotic letter tradition
Koenig, J. P.
2013
In:
Epistolary Narratives.
Hodkinson, O. & Rosenmeyer, P. (eds.).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Images of elite community in Philostratus' Lives of the Sophists
Koenig, J. P.
2013
In:
Double Vision.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Landscape and reality in Apuleius' Metamorphoses
Koenig, J. P.
2012
In:
The ideal and the real in the ancient novel (Ancient Narrative Supplement).
Paschalis, M. & Panayotakis, S. (eds.).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Conversational and citational brevity in Plutarch's Sympotic Questions
Konig, J. P.
2011
In:
Condensing Texts - Condensed Texts.
Horster, M. & Reitz, C. (eds.).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Autobiography and self-effacement in Plutarch's
Quaestiones Convivales
Konig, J. P.
2011
In:
The Philosopher's Banquet: Plutarch's Table Talk in the Intellectual Culture of the Roman Empire.
Oikonomopoulou, K. & Klotz, F. (eds.).
Oxford University Press
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Competitiveness and anti-competitiveness in Philostratus'
Lives of the Sophists
Konig, J. P.
2011
In:
Competition in the Ancient World.
Fisher, N. & van Wees, H. (eds.).
Classical Press of Wales
,
p. 279-300.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Conventions of prefatory self-presentation in Galen's
On the Order of my Own Books
Konig, J. P.
Dec-2009
In:
Galen and the World of Knowledge.
Gill, C., Wilkins, J. & Whitmarsh, T. (eds.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
,
p. 35-58.
24 p.
(Greek Culture in the Roman World).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Training athletes and explaining the past in Philostratus'
Gymnasticus
Konig, J. P.
Apr-2009
In:
Philostratus.
Bowie, E. & Elsner, J. (eds.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
,
p. 251-283.
33 p.
(Greek Culture in the Roman World).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
'Novelistic and anti-novelistic narrative in the Acts of Thomas and the Acts of Andrew and Matthias'
Konig, J. P.
2009
In:
'The Fringes of the Novel' (Mnemosyne Supplement).
Karla, G. (ed.).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Games and festivals in the Greek world
Konig, J. P.
2009
In:
Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies.
Boys-Stones, G., Graziosi, B. & Vasunia, P. (eds.).
Oxford University Press
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Education in the ancient world'
Konig, J. P.
2009
In:
Blackwells Companion to Ancient History.
Erskine, A. (ed.).
Blackwells
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Body and text in the Greek and Roman novels
Konig, J. P.
May-2008
In:
Cambridge Companion to the Greek and Roman Novel.
Whitmarsh, T. (ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
,
p. 127-144.
18 p.
(Cambridge Companions to Literature).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Sympotic dialogue in the first to fifth centuries CE
Konig, J. P.
2008
In:
The End of Dialogue in Antiquity.
Goldhill, S. (ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
,
p. 85-113.
29 p.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Fragmentation and coherence in Plutarch's Sympotic Questions
Konig, J. P.
Nov-2007
In:
Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire.
Koenig, J. & Whitmarsh, T. (eds.).
Cambridge University Press
,
p. 43-68.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Greek athletics in the Severan period
Konig, J. P.
2007
In:
Severan Culture.
Harrison, S., Elsner, J. & Swain, S. (eds.).
Cambridge University Press
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Alciphron's Epistolarity
Konig, J. P.
2007
In:
Ancient Letters. Essays in Classical and Late Antique Epistolography.
Morello, R. & Morrison, A. (eds.).
Oxford University Press
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Orality and Authority in Xenophon of Ephesus
Konig, J. P.
2007
In:
Seeing Tongues, Hearing Scripts: Orality and Representation in the Ancient Novel.
Rimell, V. (ed.).
Barkhuis
,
p. 1-22.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
The Novel
Konig, J. P.
2006
In:
Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome.
Sparkes, B., Bispham, E. & Harrison, T. (eds.).
Edinburgh University Press
,
p. 329-34.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
The Cynic and Christian Lives of Lucian's Peregrinus
Konig, J. P.
2006
In:
The Limits of Biography.
McGing, B. & Mossman, J. (eds.).
Classical Press of Wales
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Favorinus' 'Corinthian Oration' in its Corinthian Context
Konig, J. P.
Jan-2001
In :
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society
.
47
,
1
,
p. 141-171.
31 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Article
Strabo's cultural geography. The making of a kolossourgia
Konig, J.
2007
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
127
,
p. 169-171.
3 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Researcher, traveller, narrator. Studies in Pausanias' Periegesis
Konig, J.
2007
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
127
,
p. 169-171.
3 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Describing Greece. Landscape and literature in the Periegesis of Pausanias
Konig, J.
2007
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
127
,
p. 169-171.
3 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Bodily arts. Rhetoric and athletics in ancient Greece.
Konig, J.
2006
In :
Classical Review
.
56
,
p. 34-35.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Metaphor and the ancient novel
Konig, J.
2006
In :
Journal of Roman Studies
.
96
,
p. 267-268.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Olympics in Athens 1896. The invention of the modern Olympic
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
125
,
p. 149-153.
5 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Olympics for the twenty-first century
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
125
,
p. 149-153.
5 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
The road to Olympia. Origins of the Olympic games.
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
125
,
p. 149-153.
5 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
The ancient Olympics.
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
125
,
p. 149-153.
5 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Ancient Greek athletics.
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
125
,
p. 149-153.
5 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
A brief history of the Olympic games
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
125
,
p. 149-153.
5 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Neokoroi: Greek cities and Roman emperors.
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Journal of Roman Studies
.
95
,
p. 255-256.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Aristomenes of Messene. Legends of Sparta's Nemesis.
Konig, J.
2005
In :
Classical Review
.
55
,
p. 574-575.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Pausanias: Description of Greece, vol 6, book 6. The Elide (II).
Konig, J.
2004
In :
Classical Review
.
54
,
p. 340-342.
3 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Galen: On the properties of foodstuffs.
Konig, J.
2004
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
124
,
p. 203-203.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Alexandria, third century BC - The knowledge of the world in a single city
Konig, J.
2003
In :
Journal of Hellenic Studies
.
123
,
p. 234-234.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
For further information on publications, please view my profile on the university's research portal.
Research students
I am pleased to supervise PhDs in any of the fields mentioned above, and especially in any area of the ancient novel or the Greek literature of the Roman empire (including relations with early Christian literature). Informal enquiries are always welcome.
Teaching
In addition to teaching on a range of subhonours courses, I currently teach honours modules on ''The Ancient and Modern Novel', 'Eating and Drinking in the Roman World', 'Greek Literature in the Roman Empire' and 'Greeks and Barbarians'. I also offer a postgraduate taught module on 'The Ancient and Modern Novel'.
Academic career
I graduated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1996 with a degree in Classics, and then moved to Pembroke College, Cambridge, to do an MPhil and PhD in Classics between 1996 and 2000. I was a Junior Research Fellow at St John's College, Cambridge in 2000-2002, and have been in St Andrews since September 2002.
