-
William A Johnson
- Professor of Classical Studies
- Classical Studies
- 229B Allen Building
- Campus Box 90103
- Phone: (919) 684-2082
- Fax: (919) 681-4262
- Office Hours: W 2:00 - 4:00 and by appointment
- Homepage
- Curriculum Vitae
-
Bio
William A. Johnson works broadly in the cultural history of Greece and Rome, with particular interest in ancient books, readers, and reading, and with a general interest in how literary pursuits intersect with cultural context in antiquity. He has lectured and published on Plato, Hesiod, Herodotus, Pliny (both Elder and Younger), Gellius, Lucian and on a variety of topics relating to books and readers, both ancient and modern. Some prominent and illustrative examples: "Towards a Sociology of Reading" (American Journal of Philology, 2000), winner of the Gildersleeve Prize; "Reading cultures, Technology, and Education" (in Reading between the Lines, Yale University Press, 2003); his book on the book, Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus, a close study of the artefactual remains of over 400 papyrus bookrolls (University of Toronto Press, 2004); Ancient Literacies, an edited volume exploring new approaches to the topic (Oxford University Press, 2009); and his recent Readers and Reading Culture in the High Empire, a study of elite reading communities under Trajan and the Antonines (Oxford University Press, 2010). Other work has focused on ancient music; he produced the editio princeps for two of the very rare papyrus documents containing ancient Greek music (see classics.uc.edu/music). He teaches a wide range of Greek and Latin topics to undergraduate and graduate audiences; graduate seminars have included studies of literary papyri, Hesiod, Herodotus, Lucian, Pliny the Younger, Ancient Libraries, and Roman Villa Culture. -
Research Summary
Greek historiography; Greek and Roman literature and cultural history; ancient books and readers; ancient music; literary papyri -
Research Description
Greek historiography; Greek and Roman literature and cultural history; ancient books and readers; ancient music; literary papyri -
Education
-
- PhD in Classical Philology,
- Yale University,
- 1992
-
- M.A. in Greek Literature,
- Department of Classics,
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
- 1981
-
- BA in English Literature & Latin Literature,
- Oberlin College,
- 1978
-
-
Awards, Honors and Distinctions
-
- Dean's commendation on teaching excellence,
- Duke University,
- Spring 2011
-
- Dean's commendation on teaching excellence,
- Duke University,
- Fall 2011
-
- Dean's commendation on teaching excellence,
- Duke University,
- Spring 2010
-
- Dean's commendation on teaching excellence,
- Duke University,
- Fall 2010
-
- Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship,
- American Council of Learned Societies,
- 2005-2006
-
- Center for Hellenic Studies,
- 2003-2004
-
- National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship,
- 2003-2004
-
- National Humanities Center,
- 2003-2004
-
- Gildersleeve Prize,
- September, 2000
-
- Semple Fund Summer Research Grant,
- 2000- present
-
- John D. and Rose H. Jackson Fellowship,
- 1997
-
-
Selected Publications
-
- Readers and Reading Culture in the High Roman Empire: A Study of Elite Reading Communities.
- Oxford University Press,
- 2010, paperback with corrections 2012.
-
- Ancient Literacies: The Culture of Reading in Greece and Rome.
- Oxford University Press,
- 2009, paperback with corrections 2011.
-
- Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus.
- University of Toronto Press,
- 2004.
Publication Description
Reviews: Classical Review 56.2, 2006, 485-8 (Silvia Barbantani); Classical World 100.1, 2006, 67-9 (Efrosyni Stigka); Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 43, 2006, 169-73 (Thomas J. Kraus); Archiv für Papyrusforschung 51/1, 2005, 166-7 (Günter Poethke); Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005 (Susan Stephens); Scriptorium 59, 2005, 63-4 (Martin Wittek) .
-
- "Cicero and Tyrannio: Mens addita videtur meis aedibus (ad Atticum iv.8.2)."
- Classical World
- 105
- .4
- (2012)
- :
- 471-77.
-
- "Teaching the Children How to Read: The Syllabary."
- Classical Journal
- 106
- (2011)
- :
- 445-463.
-
- "The Ancient Book."
- The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology.
- Ed. Roger Bagnall.
- Oxford University Press,
- 2009.
-
- "Hesiod's Theogony: Reading the Proem as a Priamel."
- Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies
- 46
- (2008)
- :
- 231-235.
-
- "The Story of the Papyri of the Villa dei Papiri."
- Journal of Roman Archaeology
- 19
- (2006)
- :
- 493-496.
- (Essay and review of David Sider, The Library of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum (Getty, 2005).)
-
- "The Posidippus Papyrus: Bookroll and Reader."
- The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book.
- Ed. Kathryn Gutzwiller.
- Oxford University Press,
- 2005.
-
- "Toward a sociology of reading in classical antiquity."
- American Journal of Philology
- 121
- (2000)
- :
- 593-627.
- (Appeared 2001. Winner of the 2000 Gildersleeve Prize.)
-
- "Musical Evenings in the Early Empire: New Evidence from a Greek Papyrus with Musical Notation."
- Journal of Hellenic Studies
- 120
- (2000)
- :
- 57-85.
-
- "Dramatic Frame and Philosophic Idea in Plato."
- The American Journal of Philology
- 119
- (1998)
- :
- 577-598.
-
- "Oral Performance and the Composition of Herodotus' Histories."
- Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies
- 35
- (1994)
- :
- 229-254.
- (appeared Fall 1995)
-
- "The Oxyrhynchus Distributions in America: Papyri and Ethics."
- BASP
- (Accepted, 2012)
- .
-
- "Libraries and Reading Culture in the High Empire."
- Ancient Libraries.
- Ed. Greg Woolf.
- Cambridge University Press,
- Accepted, 2013.
-
- "Ancient Bookrolls as Media."
- Making Critique: A New Paradigm.
- Ed. Katherine Hayles, Jessica Pressman.
- University of Minnesota Press,
- Accepted, 2013.
-
- "Pliny Ep. 9.36 and Demosthenes' Cave."
- Classical World
- (Accepted, 2013)
- .
-
- View All Publications
