http://bfsu.academia.edu/ManolisSpanakis

Manolis Spanakis is a Lecturer of Greek Language and Culture at Beijing Foreign Studies University, PRC. He has previously worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Classical Philology at the University of Crete (2021-2023) and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2018-2020) in the collaborative project on ‘Bible Epic and Apollinaris of Laodicea’s Metaphrasis Psalmorum’ at the Department of Classical Studies and Philosophy, University of Cyprus. He obtained his PhD degree (2019) in the Department of Classical Philology at the University of Crete with his dissertation on ‘Rhianus of Crete: Hellenistic Epic Poet and Grammarian’. His research focuses on Hellenistic fragmentary authors, Homeric reception, Ancient Greek and Latin grammarians, Alexandrian poetry, and epic poetry of Late Antiquity. He holds a bachelor’s degree (BA, 2011) and a master’s degree (MA, 2014) in Classical Philology from the University of Crete. His PhD research was substantially supported by the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) of Greece.

• Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU)

I am currently working on Servius’ commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid with respect to some pivotal elements of ancient literary criticism, such as narrative technique and focalisation, time, heroic action and characterisation. I intend to explore some theoretical aspects of ancient literary criticism (from Plato to Aristotle, from Cicero and Horace to Longinus and Quintilian) as they feature in Servius’ philological comments on the Aeneid. My goal is to widen the scope, examine the influence of Hellenistic scholarship on Servius, and explore the cultural and ideological agenda of an important witness to the history of ancient literary criticism, rhetoric, and education.
At the heart of this investigation lies the influence of Alexandrian scholarship on Republican and Augustan interpretations and re-writings of Homer. Α fresh look at Servius will shed light on the exegetical and literary journey of important Homeric passages. I intend to unravel Servius' methods and particularly the ways he followed in the footsteps of his Hellenistic predecessors, or diverged from them.

Hellenistic fragmentary authors, Homeric reception, Ancient Greek and Latin grammarians, Alexandrian poetry, epic poetry of Late Antiquity.