Maria Kanellou was born in Athens. She studied at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and at University College London. During her studies, she was awarded 16 scholarships (including scholarships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, various scholarships from University College London, and the Lilian Voudouri Foundation), as well as 11 travel grants/bursaries (including bursaries to support her scientific stay at Hardt Fondation, Geneva, twice).
Before joining the Research Centre for Greek and Latin Literature of the Academy of Athens, she held various academic positions (in chronological order): Adjunct Lecturer at Open University of Cyprus; Associate Lecturer at Kent University; Teaching Fellow at UCL (both at the Department of Greek and Latin and UCL Centre for Languages and International Education); and Teaching Fellow at King’s College London. She has also worked as a research fellow of three research programmes (two located in Greece and one abroad), including the project ‘Sharing Ancient Wisdoms’ hosted at King’s College London; she held the title of honorary research fellow at UCL from 2013 until 2016. She has acted as a reviewer for articles for the journals Classical Receptions Journal, Eikasmos, and Philologus.
Maria specialises in Greek epigram, while her research interests include lyric poetry, Greek comedy, Hellenistic poetry, reception and gender studies.
She acted as the principal organiser of international conferences on Greek epigram (UCL, 2013 and 2014) and on Theocritus (University of Athens, 2016), and she has participated in numerous international conferences both in Greece and abroad. She has been the principal editor of two collective volumes on Greek epigram and one on Theocritus (for details see below). Her monograph that offers a diachronic and motif-based analysis of Greek erotic epigram that starts with poems dating from the Hellenistic era and concludes with others from the early Byzantine Era is forthcoming by Oxford University Press.
Select Publications
Books:
- Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the early Byzantine Era (2019, Oxford) [co-edited with Ivana Petrovic and Chris Carey]
Reviews:
Sistakou, E. Phoenix 73 (2019), 201-3
Guichard, L. A. BMCR 2020.07.16 https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2020/2020.07.16/
Nisbet, G. CW 113.3 (2020), 363-4
Ojennus P., CJ-Online 2020.11.02
Strano, G. Filologia Antica e Moderna, NS II.1, XXX 49 (2020), 158-63
Tzagalis, C. CR 70.1 (2020), 50-2
Spanakis, M. CJ-Online 2021.08.05
- Palladas and the Yale Papyrus Codex (P. CtYBR inv. 4000) (Brill, in press) [co-edited with Chris Carey]
- Greek Erotic Epigram: A Diachronic Approach (forthcoming, Oxford)
- Erudition and Allusion in Theocritus (forthcoming in the series 'Hellenistica Groningana') [co-edited with Styliani Hatzikosta and Chris Carey]
Articles/Book Chapters:
- ‘Introduction’, in Palladas and the Yale Papyrus Codex (P. CtYBR inv. 4000), Brill (in press) [together with C. Carey]
- ‘Suffering from Gout: Intermingling Greek and Latin Material in the Yale Papyrus Codex’, in Palladas and the Yale Papyrus Codex (P. CtYBR inv. 4000), Brill (in press)
- ‘Observations on the Yale Papyrus Codex: Epigrammatic Grouping and Subgeneric Variety’, in Palladas and the Yale Papyrus Codex (P. CtYBR inv. 4000), Brill (in press) [together with C. Carey]
- ‘Tombe/tombeau’, in Dictionnaire des images métapoétiques anciennes, J.-Ph. Guez, F. Klein, J. Peigney and E. Prioux (eds.), Classiques Garnier (forthcoming)
- ‘Vénus/Cupidon’, in Dictionnaire des images métapoétiques anciennes, J.-Ph. Guez, F. Klein, J. Peigney and E. Prioux (eds.), Classiques Garnier (forthcoming)
- ‘The Curious Case of Philaenis in AP 7.345 = Ath. Deipn. 8.335B: An Early Fictitious Mock Epitaph by Aeschrion’, in La féminité dans les arts hellénistiques: voix, genre, representations, C. Cusset, P. Belenfant and C.-E. Nardone (eds.), Hellenistica Groningana, Leuven, Paris, Bristol, CT (2020), 269-94
- ‘Mythological Burlesque and Satire in Greek Epigram—A Case Study: Zeus’ Seduction of Danae’, in Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the early Byzantine Era, Oxford (2019), 249-71
- ‘Introduction’, in Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the early Byzantine Era, Οxford (2019), 1-16 [together with Ι. Petrovic και C. Carey]
- ‘Eros and the Erotes: From the Archaic Erotic Poetry into the Hellenistic Epigram and Beyond’, in Past and Present in Hellenistic Poetry, M. A. Harder, R. F. Regtuit and G. C. Wakker (eds.), Hellenistica Groningana 21, Belgium (2017), 137-59
- ‘Ἑρμιόνην, ἣ εἶδος ἔχε χρυσέης Ἀφροδίτης (Od. 4.14): Praising a Female through Aphrodite – From Homer into Hellenistic Epigram’, in Homeric Receptions Across Generic and Cultural Contexts, A. Efstathiou and I. Karamanou (eds.), Τrends in Classics 37, Berlin (2016), 189-204
- ‘Lamp and Erotic Epigram: How An Object Sheds Light On The Lover’s Emotions’, in Eros in Ancient Greece, E. Sanders, C. Thumiger, C. Carey and N. Lowe (eds.), Oxford (2013), 277-92
Reviews:
- F. Cairns, Hellenistic Epigram: Contexts of Exploration, Cambridge, 2016 (2019, Classical Review)
- Kevin W. Wilkinson (ed.), New Epigrams of Palladas: A Fragmentary Papyrus Codex (P.CtYBR inv. 4000), American Studies in Papyrology, 52. Durham, N.C.: American Society of Papyrologists, 2012 (2015, Classical World)