Prof. Dr. Anke Walter (english version)

Anke Walter, Prof. Dr.

Professorin für Classics / Lateinische Philologie

Tel. +41 44 634 20 44

Raumbezeichnung: RAG 107

Arbeitszeiten: Sprechstunde nach Vereinbarung

E-Mail

Deutsche Version

Institut für Archäologie, Klassische Philologie und Altertumswissenschaften
Fachbereich Klassische Philologie
Rämistrasse 68
CH-8001 Zürich

Since May 2025, I have been professor of Classics / Latin Philology at the University of Zurich. Previously, I held positions the University of Rostock and, since 2011, at Newcastle University in the UK. Since 2023, I have also been affiliated with North-West University in South Africa as Extraordinary Researcher. My research focuses on the construction of time in ancient literature, the interaction of literature and religion, stories of origin, and ancient (especially Latin) epic poetry. I completed my PhD in Heidelberg in 2011 with a dissertation on storytelling in Flavian epic (published as Erzählen und Gesang im flavischen Epos, Berlin 2014) and my ‘Habilitation’ in Rostock in 2018 with a thesis on Time in Ancient Stories of Origin (published by Oxford University Press 2020). In my latest monograph, I examine the representation of festivals in Latin literature, i.e., in texts that do not primarily deal with festivals, such as Ovid’s Fasti, but in other elegiac, epic, lyric, and historiographic works (Festivals in Latin Literature – The Poetics of Celebration, Oxford University Press 2025). I am currently working on a project on pain and healing in Flavian epic. I have (co-)edited volumes on stories of origin, ancient narrative and exemplarity, literature and religion, and the temporality of festivals. I am currently working on a translation of Statius’ Thebaid for de Gruyter’s Tusculum series and am the Latin field editor for the journal Mnemosyne.

See Lehrveranstaltungen

Employment

• Senior Lecturer in Classics, Newcastle University (12/2017–07/2022 as Lecturer, 08/2022–present as Senior Lecturer)
• “Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin” (Assistant Professor, non-permanent) in Latin Literature, University of Rostock, Germany (2011–2017)
• Teaching Fellowship, University of Heidelberg (2006–2011)

Education

• ‘Habilitation’ and venia legendi in Classics, awarded in July 2018, University of Rostock 
• Title of ‘Habilitation’: “’Ever since then’ – Time in Ancient Stories of Origin”
• PhD, Classics, awarded in July 2011, University of Heidelberg 
• Title of dissertation: “Erzählen und Gesang im flavischen Epos”; summa cum laude
• MPhil, Classics, awarded in June 2006, University of Cambridge (Pembroke College), first
• Undergraduate Studies, Classics, 2001–2005, Universities of Göttingen, Heidelberg, and Cambridge

Research Fellowships

• Research Fellowship at Berliner Antike-Kolleg, February–July 2024
• Fellowship at Einstein Centre Chronoi Berlin, September 2020–August 2021; June 2022; August 2023
• Visiting Scholar (William M. Calder III Fellowship), University of Virginia, July–October 2016 
• Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship, awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, University of Virginia, April 2015–March 2016 
• Visiting Scholar (“Hermes” Scholarship of the University of Rostock), University of 
• Virginia, July–October 2013
• Visiting Student Research Collaborator, Princeton University (supervisor: Prof Denis C. Feeney), September 2008–March 2009

Monographs

1. Festivals in Latin Literature – The Poetics of Celebration (Oxford 2025)
   Rez.: G. E. Rallo, BMCR 2026.03.06, S. Green, CR 76.1 (2026), 144–6
2. Time in Ancient Stories of Origin (Oxford 2020)
   Rez.: C. Cunningham, Sun News Tucson 26.10.2020; T. Meurer, Sehepunkte 21 (2021), Nr. 6
3. Erzählen und Gesang im flavischen Epos. Beihefte des „Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft“ (Berlin 2014)
   Rez.: R. Schirner, Gymnasium 125 (2018), 69–71; B. Kytzler, Act. Class. 58 (2015), 241; N. Jäger, BMCR 2015.05.36

Edited volumes

1. G. Bitto/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), The Politics of an Oeuvre. Reading Statius Whole (de Gruyter; zur Publikation akzeptiert in der Reihe Philologus. Supplemente)
2. A. Vergados/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Ἀρχή and origo: The Power of Origins (Turnhout 2026)
3. E. Polignano/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Things Have Changed. Divine Interventions in Human Bodies and Landscapes. Sonderausgabe des Classical Journal. CJ 121.1 (2025)
4. A. Walter (Hrsg.), The Temporality of Festivals. Approaches to Festive Time in Ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Medieval China. Chronoi Publications (Berlin 2024; über open access verfügbar unter: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111366876/html)
5. J. S. Clay/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Special Issue of the Classical Journal in Honour of John F. Miller. CJ 115.3–4 (2020)
6. S. Finkmann/A. Behrendt/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Antike Erzähl- und Deutungsmuster. Zwischen Exemplarität und Transformation. Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 374 (Berlin 2018)
   Rez.: A. Kelser, CR 72.2 (2022), 506–8; N. Mindt, Gnomon 93 (2021), 264–7; M. Dinter, BMCR 2021.02.15
7. C. Reitz/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Von Ursachen sprechen. Eine aitiologische Spurensuche/Telling Origins. On the Lookout for Aetiology (Hildesheim 2014)
   Rez.: C. Fry, MH 72 (2015), 235; M. Chassignet, AnzAW 67 (2014), 241–4

Articles and book chapters

1. Mit A. Vergados: „Introduction“, in: A. Vergados/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Ἀρχή and origo: The Power of Origins (Turnhout 2026), 9–21
2. „Aetia of the Past – Stories of Origin in Silius Italicus’ Punica“, in: A. Vergados/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Ἀρχή and origo: The Power of Origins (Turnhout 2026), 281–302
3. „,Many Happy Returns‘: Birthdays in Roman Poetry“, Omnibus 89 (2024), 15–16
4. „Introduction“, in: A. Walter (Hrsg.), The Temporality of Festivals. Approaches to Festive Time in Ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Medieval China. Chronoi 10 (Berlin 2024), 1–10
5. „Festive Time in the Poetry of Horace“, in: A. Walter (Hrsg.), The Temporality of Festivals. Approaches to Festive Time in Ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Medieval China. Chronoi 10 (Berlin 2024), 39–57
6. „,… how you first went over the earth‘: Interactions of Human and Divine Time in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo“, in: B. Xinyue (Hrsg.), Temporalities, Texts, Ideologies: Ancient and Early-Modern Perspectives (Leiden 2024), 71–87
7. „Death, Lament, and ‚Elegiac Aetiology‘ in Ovid’s Metamorphoses“, in: J. Farrell/J. Miller/D. Nelis/A. Schiesaro (Hrsgg.), Ovid, Death and Transfiguration (Leiden 2023), 27–42
8. „Festivals in Statius’ Thebaid: ‚Uncelebrating‘ Vergil“, Vergilius 68 (2022), 57–76
9. „tempora mutantur – Metamorphic Imagery in Ovid’s Fasti“, in: J. S. Clay/A. Vergados (Hrsgg.), Teaching Through Images. Imagery in Greek and Roman Didactic Poetry (Leiden 2021), 257–71
10. „Seasonality and the Calendar in Ovid’s Exile Poetry“, in: R. Raja/A. Lichtenberger (Hrsgg.), The Archaeology of Seasonality. Studies in Classical Archaeology (Turnhout 2021), 127–40
11. „Carmentis and the Poet: Deification and Exile in Ovid’s Fasti“, in: J. S. Clay/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Special Issue of the Classical Journal in Honour of John F. Miller. CJ 115.3–4 (2020), 382–96
12. „Die Tage des Monats in Hesiods Werken und Tagen und Vergils Georgica“, in: R. Färber/R. Gautschy (Hrsgg.), Zeit in den Kulturen des Altertums. Antike Chronologie im Spiegel der Quellen (Wien 2020), 311–21
13. „Solons Lebensalter-Elegie“, in: R. Färber/R. Gautschy (Hrsgg.), Zeit in den Kulturen des Altertums. Antike Chronologie im Spiegel der Quellen (Wien 2020), 323–9
14. „Genealogien am Beispiel des Kallimachos“, in: R. Färber/R. Gautschy (Hrsgg.), Zeit in den Kulturen des Altertums. Antike Chronologie im Spiegel der Quellen (Wien 2020), 355–62
15. „Arats Phainomena“, in: R. Färber/R. Gautschy (Hrsgg.), Zeit in den Kulturen des Altertums. Antike Chronologie im Spiegel der Quellen (Wien 2020), 363–75
16. „Aetiology and Genealogy in Ancient Epic“, in: C. Reitz/S. Finkmann (Hrsgg.), Structures of Epic Poetry. vol. I: Foundations (Berlin 2019), 609–52
17. „Prophecy in Roman Epic“, mit S. Finkmann und C. Reitz, in: C. Reitz/S. Finkmann (Hrsgg.), Structures of Epic Poetry. vol. II.2: Configurations (Berlin 2019), 615–83
18. „iamque dies, nisi fallor, adest – Aeneas und der römische Kalender“, in: A. Junghanß/B. Kaiser/D. Pausch (Hrsgg.), Zeitmontagen. Formen und Funktionen gezielter Anachronismen in der Antike (Stuttgart 2019), 101–18
19. „Regulus and the Inconsistencies of Fame in Silius Italicus’ Punica“, in: S. Finkmann/A. Behrendt/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Antike Erzähl- und Deutungsmuster. Zwischen Exemplarität und Transformation. Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 374 (Berlin 2018), 201–18
20. „,What it felt like’: Memory and the Sensations of War in Vergil’s Aeneid and Kevin Powers’ The Yellow Birds“, in: A. Ambühl (Hrsg.), Krieg der Sinne – Die Sinne im Krieg. Kriegsdarstellungen im Spannungsfeld zwischen antiker und moderner Kultur / War of the Senses – The Senses in War. Interactions and Tensions between Representations of War in Classical and Modern Culture = thersites 4 (2016), 275–312
21. „Ovids alma Venus, die Mutter der Aitiologie“, in: C. Reitz/A. Walter (Hrsgg.), Von Ursachen sprechen. Eine aitiologische Spurensuche/Telling Origins. On the Lookout for Aetiology (Hildesheim 2014), 431–59
22. „Alexander Graham Bell, Hermes und die Gestaltung von Zeit in den Darstellungen großer Erfinder“, ClassicoContemporaneo 0 (2014), 56–77
23. „Beginning at the End: Silius Italicus and the Desolation of Thebes“, in: G. Manuwald/A. Voigt (Hrsgg.), Flavian Epic Interactions. Trends in Classics – Supplementary Volumes 21 (Berlin 2013), 311–26
24. „Der Mythos von Linus und Coroebus in Statius’ Thebais – ein aitiologischer Gegenentwurf zur Aeneis“, in: N. Kramer/C. Reitz (Hrsgg.), Tradition und Innovation. Mediale Strategien in der Zeit der Flavier (Berlin 2010), 63–91

Book reviews

1. „Latin Literature Review“, Greece & Rome 69.1 (2022), p. 139–48; 69.2 (2022), p. 310–19; 70.1 (2023), 115–24; 70.2 (2023), 313–22; 71.1 (2024), 127–36, 71.2 (2024), 295–303; 72.1 (2025), 133–42; 72.2 (2025), 319–27; 73.1 (2026), 178–186
2. Rezension von A. D. Morrison, Apollonius Rhodius, Herodotus and Historiography, Histos 15 (2021), xiv–xviii
3. Rezension von A. Wallace-Hadrill, Augustan Rome, 2nd edition (London 2018), Classics Ireland 26 (2019), 197–9
4. Rezension von R. Simms, Anticipation and Anachrony in Statius’ Thebaid, CJ-Online 2020.05.02
5. Rezension von A. Rogerson, Virgil’s Ascanius. Imagining the Future in the Aeneid, Religious Studies Review 44 (2018), 107
6. Rezension von K. Corrigan, Virgo to Virago. Medea in the Silver Age, BMCR 2016.02.18
7. Rezension von A. Augoustakis, Ritual and Religion in Flavian Epic, Religious Studies Review 41 (2015), 192
8. Rezension von T. Korneeva, Alter et ipse. Identità e duplicità nel sistema dei personaggi della Tebaide di Stazio, BMCR 2013.03.26

1. Conference on Latin-German translations, with Fabian Zogg, University of Zurich, 15–16 May 2026
2. “The Body in Conflict in the Roman Imperial Period”, with Burkhard Emme, workshop at Freie Universität Berlin, 19th July 2024
3. “(Failed) Immortality in Antiquity”, with Chiara Blanco and Nick Freer, workshop at Newcastle University, 16th December 2023
4. “Statius and the Politics of a Poetic Oeuvre”, workshop at Newcastle University, 10th March 2023
5. “Statius – Author of a Coherent Oeuvre?”, with Gregor Bitto, 8–10 July 2022, Eichstätt
6. “Things Have Changed: Divine Interventions in Human Bodies and Landscapes”, with Inger Kuin, 17–18 September 2021, online
7. Interdisciplinary Chronoi Workshop “The Temporality of Festivals”, 8 July 2021, via Zoom
8. “Celebrating the Divine – Roman Festivals in Art, Religion, and Literature”, with John F Miller, 30–31 August 2019, University of Virginia
9. “Ἀρχή et origo: The Power of Origins”, with Athanassios Vergados, 2–4 May 2019, Newcastle University
10. “Time and Eternity. The Conception of Time in Archaic Greek Literature”, with Jenny Strauss Clay and Athanassios Vergados, 22–24 September 2017, University of Virginia
11. “The Fate of Rome’s fatum”, University of Virginia, 1 October 2016
12. “Telling Origins. The Structures of Aetiological Narrative”, with Christiane Reitz, Rostock, 16–17 July 2012

Schweizerische Vereinigung für Altertumswissenschaft (SVAW); Mommsen-Gesellschaft; Classical Association; Society of Classical Studies; Classical Association of the Middle West and South; Society of Ancient Mediterranean Religion; Forum Alte Sprachen Zürich; Freunde der Alten Sprachen; Hellas; International Ovidian Society