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David Konstan

The John Rowe Workman Distinguished Professor of Classics and the Humanistic Tradition, Departments of Clasics and Comparative Literature:
Macfarlane House 201
Phone: +1 401 863 3140
Phone 2: +1 401 863 2123
David_Konstan@brown.edu

David Konstan's research focuses on ancient Greek and Latin literature, and on classical and Hellenistic philosophy. In recent years, he has investigated the emotions and value concepts of classical Greece in Rome. He has written books on friendship in the classical world, the notion of pity in both pagan and Christian thought, and most recently a study of the emotions of the ancient Greeks. He has also worked on ancient Greek physics and atomic theory, and on ancient literary theory.

Biography

David Konstan's B.A. was in mathematics; in in senior year of college, he began ancient Greek and Latin, and went on to obtain a doctorate in classics.


He has been at Brown since 1987, and since 1992 has been the John Rowe Workman Distinguished Professor of Classics and the Humanistic Tradition; he is also a Professor in Comparative Literature, and in the Graduate Faculty of Theatre, Speech and Dance. Previous to coming to Brown, he taught for 20 years at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.


He has held visiting appointments at the University of Otago in New Zealand, at the University of Edinburgh, at the Universidade de São Paulo, the University of La Plata in Argentina, the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa, the University of Sydney, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and at the American University in Cairo.


He is an Associate Editor of Arethusa, and on the Editorial Boards of Scholia, Intertexts, Apeiron, the series "Writings from the Greco-Roman World Series" of the Society of Biblical Literature, Phaos (Universidade de Campinas, Brazil), Logo: Rivista de Retórica y Teoría de la Comunicación, the Cincinnati Classical Series, and Ordia Prima (Córdoba, Argentina).

He has served as Senior Fellow for the Center for Hellenic Studies, as President of the American Philological Association, and as the American Philological Association's Alternate Delegate to the Fédération International des Associations des Etudes Classiques.


Among fellowships and awards he may list Fulbright Senior Lectureship at Monash University, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Humanities Center Fellowship, the John H. and Penelope Biggs Resident Scholarship at Washington University in Saint Louis, a Leventis Visiting Research Professorship at the University of Edinburgh, and an Alexander S. Onassis Foundation Research Grant in Athens.

Interests

David Konstan's research focuses on classical and Hellenistic philosophy and ancient Greek and Latin literature. In recent years, he has investigated the emotions and value concepts of classical Greece in Rome. He has written books on friendship in the classical world, the notion of pity in both pagan and Christian thought, and most recently a study of the emotions of the ancient Greeks. He has also worked on ancient Greek physics and atomic theory, and on ancient literary theory.

Several additional book-length projects have been brought to completion in the past year. One is a translation and commentary (together with Donald Russell of Oxford University) of an ancient Greek allegorical interpretation of the Homeric epics, written around the year 100 A.D. This is the first translation ever into English of this work, oddly neglected by scholars, given that it is our only surviving full-scale interpretation of the Homeric poems. Another project is the first translation into any modern language of Aspasius' commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics; this is the earliest of the many ancient Greek commentaries on Aristotle's works that have come down to us, and dates to the early part of the second century A.D. Finally, a new and completely revised and updated edition of his book on Epicurean psychology (originally 1973) is to appear very soon in an Italian translation; it is twice as long as the original study, and takes account of many publications of papyri and other materials that have been made available in the intervening decades (Konstan was also head of the team that translated one of these works discovered on papyrus, namely the book, On Frank Speech, by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus).

Konstan is now working on several projects. First, he has published (together with Regina Hoeschele of the University of Munich) several studies on Greek epigram, and is about to publish a lengthy (more than 100 pages) analysis of the epigrammatic poet, Marcus Argentarius, who was a contemporary of Ovid and the emperor Augustus. Second, he is preparing a full-length study of the concepts of forgiveness and repentance in the classical world, with a view to determining how Christianity affected ancient ways of understanding these ideas. Third, he is engaged in a monograph (together with Ilaria Ramelli of the Catholic University of Milan) on the meaning of ancient Greek words for "eternity," both in classical philosophy and in Christian theology; one result of this project is to shed light on Christian ideas of the afterlife, and more specifically on whether the punishment of the damned endures forever or only for a very long time (the latter was seen by some Christians as the only view compatible with God's love and mercy).

Various other projects are in the works, as continuations of earlier research interests. Konstan has published an analysis of ancient emotional motives for mass exterminations (genocide), and has studied rationalizations for war in antiquity and the idea of human rights. He has recently published studies of Philo of Alexandria's essay, "On the Virtues," on ancient comedy and the novel, and on various historical topics.

Degrees

philosophy

Awards


  • Biography in 2000 Outstanding Academics of the 21st Century

  • Biography in Who's Who in America

  • National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship, July-December 2004

  • Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Fellowship, 2004-05

  • Alexander S. Onassis Foundation Lecturer in Colombia and Peru, August 2004

  • Alexander S. Onassis Foundation Lecturer in Argentina and Chile, August 2003

  • John Rowe Workman Award for Distinguished Teaching at Brown, 2001-02

  • Alexander S. Onassis Foundation research grant (Athens), April-May 2001

  • Leventis Visiting Research Professorship (University of Edinburgh), Winter 2001

  • John H. and Penelope Biggs Resident Scholarship (Washington University in Saint Louis), 1999

  • Faculty Fellowship for Language Study Abroad, Brown University, Summer 1999

  • National Humanities Center Fellowship, January-July 1995

  • Guggenheim Fellowship, July-December 1994

  • Visiting Scholar, American Academy in Rome, December 1991-January 1992

  • Rockefeller Center at Bellagio Fellowship, November-December 1991

  • NEH project grant, translation of Greek comic fragments, August 1991

  • National Humanities Center Fellowship (without stipend), 1990-91 (declined)

  • American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, January-July 1991

  • NEH fellowship, July-December 1990

  • Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Monash University, May-August 1988

  • NEH summer fellowship, 1978

  • Drisler Fellowship, Columbia University, 1962-63

Affiliations

American Philological Association (APA)

Society of Biblical Literature

Classical Association of New England


PROFESSIONAL OFFICES



  • President, Connecticut Section, Classical Association of New England, 1979

  • Nominating Committee, American Philological Association, 1985-87 (Chair, 1987)

  • Director, Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, 1988-90

  • Committee on the Goodwin Award of Merit, American Philological Association, 1990-93

  • Program Committee, American Philological Association, 1992-96

  • Nominator, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 1993

  • Panelist, NEH Dissertation Grants, 1995

  • Senior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies, 1996-2001

  • Database of Classical Bibliography Project (APA), 1996-99

  • President-elect, American Philological Association, 1998

  • Member (ex officio), Committee on Professional Matters (APA), 1998

  • Member (ex officio), Executive Committee, Board of Directors (APA), 1998-2000

  • President, American Philological Association, 1999

  • Member (ex officio), Nominating Committee (APA), 2000

  • Member, Committee on Scholarships for Minority Students (APA), 2000-03

  • Steering Committee, "Hellenistic Moral Philosophy and Early Christianity Section," Society of Biblical Literature, 2001-

  • Organizing Committee, American Philological Association three-year panel on "Roman Virtues and Vices," 2004-06

  • Organizing Committee, American Philological Association three-year panel on "The Emotions," 2005-07

  • American Philological Association alternate delegate to Fédération International des Associations des Etudes Classiques, 2002-2006

  • Steering Committee, Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar on Cultural Exchange and Appropriation in the Mediterranean World, 2002-

  • Consultant for the formation of a classics department at the University of Miami, 2003-04

  • Vice President for Professional Matters, American Philological Association, 2005-09

  • Member of APA Committee on the Website, 2005-09

  • Member of APA Taskforce on Electronic Publication, 2005-09

    • Teaching

    TEACHING
    Previous to 1993: The Ancient Novel and its Influence; Ancient Tragedy and its Influence; Seminars on Menander, Philia; Undergraduate Courses at all levels in Greek and Latin authors
    Fall 1993: Classical Mythology (140 students); Undergraduate Seminar on Friendship in the Ancient World
    Spring 1994: Oral Epic: Europe and the Islamic World, with Susan Slyomowics (40 students); Survey of Greek Literature (5th Century)
    Fall 1995: Classical Mythology (200 students); Seminar on Alexandrian Poetry
    Fall 1996: Ancient Comedy and its Influence (75 students); Survey of Greek Literature (Archaic)
    Spring 1997: Love, Sexuality, and Friendship in the Classical World; Seminar on Lucian
    Fall 1997: Classical Mythology (280 students); Survey of Greek Literature (5th Century)
    Fall 1998: The Family in the Classical World
    Spring 1999: Virgil; Explanation and Experience (with N. Armstrong and L. Cooper; 70 students)
    Fall 1999: Ancient Comedy and its Influence (200 students), including special hour taught in Spanish
    Spring 2000: Graduate seminar on Literary Theory Ancient and Postmodern (with E. Rooney); The Quality of Life (Values Initiative course, with N. Rosenblum, N. Armstrong, and F. Goldscheider)
    Fall 2001: Classical Mythology (202 students); The Quality of Life (Values Initiative Course with Susan Allen, George Borts, and Bernard Reginster)
    Spring 2002: Graduate seminar on Literary Theory Ancient and Postmodern (with E. Rooney)
    Fall 2002: Graduate seminar on Hellenistic Poetry; The Quality of Life
    Spring 2003: Ancient Comedy and its Influence (100 students); Senior Seminar on The Emotions
    Fall 2003: Survey of Greek Literature (Fifth Century); Pembroke Center Seminar on "Shame"
    Spring 2004: The Ancient Novel and its Influence; Pembroke Center Seminar on "Shame"
    Fall 2005: Greek survey; Graduate seminar on Literary Theory Ancient and Postmodern (with E. Rooney)
    Spring 2006: Ancient Comedy and its Influence (60 students); graduate seminar on the Ancient Greek Novel

    Funded Research

    NEH Summer Fellowship, 1978; $2,000

    Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Monash University, May-Aug. 1988; $3,800

    National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, "Love in the Ancient Novel and Related Genres," July-Dec. 1990; $24,000

    American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, "Love in the Ancient Novel and Related Genres," Jan.-July 1991; $24,000

    NEH Project Grant, translation of Greek comic fragments (P.I.: J. Rusten), Aug. 1991; $2,000

    Rockefeller Center at Bellagio Fellowship, "Friendship in the Classical World," Nov. 9 - Dec. 13, 1991

    Guggenheim Fellowship, "The History of Pity from Earliest Greek Literature to Christianity," July-Dec. 1994; $30,000

    National Humanities Center Fellowship, "The History of Pity from Earliest Greek Literature to Christianity," Jan.-July 1995; $30,000

    John H. and Penelope Biggs Resident Scholarship (Washington University in Saint Louis), 1999; $9,000

    Leventis Visiting Research Professorship (University of Edinburgh), "Envy, Spite and Jealousy in Ancient Greece," winter 2001; $20,000

    Alexander S. Onassis Foundation Research Grant (Athens), "The Ancient Greek Emotions," April-May 2001; $3,000

    Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Fellowship, "The Ancient Greek Emotions," 2004-05; $60,000

    National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, "The Ancient Greek Emotions," July-Dec. 2004; $28,000