Dr Kostas Lygouris

About

I hold a BA in Classics from King’s College London (2016) and an MPhil in Classics from the University of Cambridge (2017). In 2022, I completed my PhD in Classics at the University of Cambridge, with a thesis exploring the late antique cultural vogue for rewriting Christian prose narratives into hexameter verse.

After a two-year stint as Teaching Fellow at the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University, I joined Warwick University as an Assistant Professor in Roman History.

Research interests

My research focuses on the Greek literary culture of the Imperial period, with a particular emphasis on the Christian responses to the epic and classical tradition. My doctoral thesis explored how late antique intellectuals rewrote Christian prose narratives into Homericising poetry and the role of these cultural rewritings against the changing background of fourth- and fifth-century CE Roman culture.

My broader research interests include the intersection of religious identity and literary culture in the late Roman empire, as well as the acute interest in form that characterised this period.

Teaching and supervision

Undergraduate modules

• CX110: Roman Culture and Society
• CX244/CX344: The Roman Empire from Tiberius to Hadrian
• CX102/116/117: Introduction to Roman HistoryLink opens in a new window

Publications

1. Review of Berardi, R. & Mancuso, S. & Montepaone, O. (eds), Predicting, Anticipating, Foretelling from Antiquity to the Renaissance. De Gruyter, 2025. & Schomber, S. & Tagliabue, A. (eds) Prolepsis in Ancient Greek Narrative. Definitions, Forms and Effects. Brill, 2025. (forthcoming).
2. Review of Madeła, A. M. The Argonautika by Orpheus: writing pre-Homeric poetry in late antiquity. Mnemosyne supplements, 490. Leiden: Brill, 2024. (forthcoming)
3. Review of Sowers, B. In her own words: the life and poetry of Aelia Eudocia. Center for Hellenic Studies: Washington, D.C. 2021. BMCR 2024.05.36.
4. Review of Faulkner, A. Apollinaris of Laodicea. Metaphrasis Psalmorum. Oxford University Press, 2020. BMCR 2021.05.26.