Christopher Faraone

Christopher Faraone

Christopher Faraone (Ph.D. Stanford University, 1988) is the Frank Curtis Springer and Gertrude Melcher Springer Professor in the Humanities, and Professor in the Department of Classics and the College. He works primarily on ancient Greek religion and poetry. He is co-editor (with D. Dodd) ofInitiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives(2003) and (with L. McClure) ofProstitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World(2005), and author ofTalismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual(1992),Ancient Greek Love Magic(1999), andThe Stanzaic Architecture of Ancient Greek Elegiac Poetry(2008).

Contact

Department of Classics
1115 E. 58th St
Chicago, IL 60637

office: Classics 25C
tel.: 773-702-8520
fax: 773-702-9861
email: cf12@midway.uchicago.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Honors and Awards

  • Loeb Foundation Grant (Spring 2009)
  • Scholar in Residence, Getty Research Center (Winter 2009)
  • Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study (Autumn 2008)
  • University of Chicago Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2007-2008)
  • Senior Fellow, Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago (2002-2003).
  • Guggenheim Fellowship (April -Dec. 1997)
  • NEH Fellowship for University Professors (1995-96)
  • Junior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies (1991-92)
  • Director, NEH Grant for "Masks of Dionysus" Conference (August 1990-February 1991)
  • ACLS Grant for Recent Recipients of the PhD (January-July 1990)
  • NEH Summer Stipend (July-August 1989)

Publications

Monographs (author)

  • The Stanzaic Architecture of Archaic Greek Elegy(Oxford University Press, 2008)
  • Ancient Greek Love Magic(Harvard University Press, 1999); paperback 2000; modern Greek edition (Papadema, 2004); French edition, (Editions Payot et Rivages 2006).
    Notices and reviews:Chronicle of Higher Education, (November 26, 1999) A26;The New Republic(Aug. 21, 2000) 44-48;Classical Review50 (2000) 476-78;BMCR00.02.19 (2000);Phoenix(2001) 165-68;The Historian(2001) 677-78;Journal of the History of Sexuality10 (2001) 542-45;Religious Studies Review(April 2002) 112;Les études classiques70 (2002) 395-96;Classical World96 (2003) 219-21;American Journal of Archaeology107 (2003) 682-84;Ancient Philosophy23 (2003) 415-16;Greece & Rome50.2 (2003) 272-73.
  • Talismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual(Oxford University Press, 1992).
    Reviews:NY Rev. of Books(Dec. 17,1992) 47ff.;Classical Review43 (1993) 312-13; "Review Feature" inCamb. Arch. Rev.4 (1994) 270-89;Jour. of Early Chr. Stud.2 (1994) 340-44; Recommended inHarv. Div. Bull.23 (1994) 30;Am. Hist. Rev.(April 1994) 530-31.

Monographs (co-editor)

  • (with Laura McClure)Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World(Madison 2006).
    Reviews:BMCR(electronic) 2006.05.40
  • (with David Dodd)Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives(Routledge 2003).
    Reviews:CR57 (2007) 152-55. The press did not send out review copies until May 2006.
  • (with Thomas Carpenter)Masks of Dionysus(Cornell University Press, 1993; second printing 1996).
    Reviews:TLS(April 1993) 8;JHS115 (1995) 186-87;CR45 (1995) 75-76;History of Religions(1996) 73-76;Gnomon69 (1997) 389-398.
  • (with Dirk Obbink)Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion(Oxford University Press, 1991; paperback 1996).
    Reviews:BMCR2 (1991) 208-222;CW86 (1993) 259-60;CR42 (1992) 89-90.

Articles in Refereed Journals

  • "Gli incantesimi esametrici ed i poemi epici nella Grecia antica"QUCC84 (2006) forthcoming.
  • "Amulets for Shortness of Breath and the Detection of Thieves: Notes on Some Recently Published Magical Gemstones" forthcoming inZPE.
  • (with Joseph Rife) "A Greek Curse against a Thief from the North Cemetery at Roman Kenchreai" forthcoming inZPE.
  • "Mystery Cults and Incantations: Evidence for Orphic Charms in Euripides'Cyclops646-48?" forthcoming inRheinisches Museum.
  • "Stanzaic Structure and Responsion in the Elegiac Poetry of Tyrtaeus"Mnemosyne59 (2006) 19-52.
  • "Curses and Blessings in Ancient Greek Oaths"Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religion5 (2006) 140-58.
  • "A Skull, a Gold Amulet and a Ceramic Pot: Evidence for Necromancy in the Vigna Codini?"MHNH: Revista Internacional de Investigación sobre Magia y Astrología Antiguas5 (2005) 27-44.
  • "Exhortation and Meditation: Alternating Stanzas as a Structural Device in Early Greek Elegy"Classical Philology100 (2005) 317-36.
  • "Catalogues, Priamels and Stanzaic Structure in Early Greek Elegy,"Transactions of the American Philological Association135 (2005) 249-65.
  • (with B. Garnand and C. Lopez-Ruiz) "Micah's Mother (Judges 17:1-4) and a Curse from Carthage (KAI89): Evidence for the Semitic Origin of Greek and Latin Curses against Thieves?"Journal of Near Eastern Studies64 (2005) 161-86.
  • "Orpheus' Final Performance: Necromancy and a Singing Head on Lesbos"Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica97 (2004) 5-27, reprinted in Italian as "L'ultima esibizione di Orfeo: negromanzia e una testa cantante a Lesbo" in G. Guidorizzi and M. Melotti (eds.),Orfeo e le sue metamorfosi: Mito, arte, poesia(Rome 2005) 65-85.
  • "Twisting and Turning in the Prayer of the Samothracian Initiates (AristophanesPeace276-79)"Museum Helveticum61 (2004) 30-50.
  • "Hipponax Frag. 128W: Epic Parody or Expulsive Incantation?"Classical Antiquity23 (2004) 209-45.
  • "In the Horn of an Ox: A Curious Hexametrical Curse from Hellenistic Cyrene (SGD 150)"MHNH: Revista Internacional de Investigación sobre Magia y Astrología Antiguas4 (2004) 51-62.
  • (with E. Teeter) "Egyptian Maat and Hesiodic Metis"Mnemosyne57 (2004) 177-208.
  • "New Light on Ancient Greek Exorcisms of the Wandering Womb"Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik144 (2003) 189-97.
  • "The Undercutter, the Woodcutter, and Greek Demon Names Ending in -tomos(Hom.Hymn to Demeter228-29)"American Journal of Philology122 (2001) 1-10.
  • "Handbook or Anthology?: The Collection of Greek and Egyptian Incantations in Late Hellenistic Egypt'Archiv für Religionsgeschichte2 (2001) 195-214.
  • "Curses and Social Control in the Law Courts of Classical Athens"Dike: Revista di storia del diritto greco ed ellenistico(1999) 99-121, reprinted with minor changes in D. Cohen (ed.)Demokratie, Recht und soziale Kontrolle in klassischen Athen, Schriften des Historischen Kollegs Kolloquien 49 (Munich 2002) 77-92.
  • "Salvation and Female Heroics in the Parodos of Aristophanes'Lysistrata"Journal of Hellenic Studies117 (1997) 38-59.
  • "Taking the Nestor's Cup Inscription Seriously: Conditional Curses and Erotic Magic in the Earliest Greek Hexameters"Classical Antiquity15 (1996) 77-112.
  • "The 'Performative Future' in Three Hellenistic Incantations and Theocritus' SecondIdyll"Classical Philology90 (1995) 1-15.
  • "Deianeira's Mistake and the Demise of Heracles: Erotic Magic in Sophocles'Trachiniae"Helios21 (1994) 115-35.
  • "Response" in "Talismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancent Greek Myth and Ritual, a Review Feature"Cambridge Archaeological Review4 (1994) 287-89.
  • "Three Notes on Greek Magical Texts"Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik100 (1994) 81-85.
  • "Molten Wax, Spilt Wine and Mutilated Animals: Sympathetic Magic in Early Greek and Near Eastern Oath Ceremonies"Journal of Hellenic Studies113 (1993) 60-80.
  • "The Wheel, the Whip and Other Implements of Torture: Erotic Magic in PindarPythian4. 213-19"Classical Journal88 (1993) 1-19.
  • "AristophanesAmphiarausFrag. 29 (Kassel-Austin): Oracular Response or Erotic Incantation?"Classical Quarterly42 (1992) 320-27.
  • "Sex and Power: Male-Targetting Aphrodisiacs in the Greek Magical Tradition"Helios19 (1992) 92-103.
  • "Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of 'Voodoo Dolls' in Ancient Greece"Classical Antiquity10 (1991) 165-205.
  • "Aphrodite'sKESTOSand Apples for Atalanta: Aphrodisiacs in Early Greek Myth and Ritual"Phoenix44 (1990) 224-43.
  • "An Accusation of Magic in Classical Athens (AristophanesWasps946-48)"Transactions of the American Philological Association119 (1989) 149-61.
  • "Clay Hardens and Wax Melts: Magical Role-Reversal in Vergil's EighthEclogue"Classical Philology84 (1989) 294-300.
  • (with R. Kotansky), "An Inscribed Gold Phylactery in Stamford, Connecticut"Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik75 (1988) 257-66.
  • "Hermes without the Marrow: Another Look at a Puzzling Magical Spell"Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik72 (1988) 279-86.
  • "Hephaestus the Magician and the Near Eastern Parallels for the Gold and Silver Dogs of Alcinous (Od.7.91-4)"Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies28 (1987) 257-80.
  • "CallimachusEpigram29.5-6 (Gow-Page)"Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik63 (1986) 53-56.
  • "Aeschylus'Hymnos Desmios(Eum.306) and Attic Judicial Curse Tablets"Journal of Hellenic Studies105 (1985) 150-54.

Articles or Chapters in Collaborative Works

  • "Family and Household Religion in Ancient Greece" in J. Bodel and S.M. Olyan (eds.)Household and Family Religion in Antiquity: Contextual and Comparative Approaches(Oxford) - forthcoming.
  • "Rushing and Falling into Milk: New Perspectives on the Orphic Gold Tablets from Thurii and Pelinna" in R. G. Edmonds (ed.)Further along the Path: Recent Studies in the Orphic Gold Leaves(Cambridge) - forthcoming.
  • (with A. Kropp) "Inversion, Adversion and Perversion as Strategies in Some New Latin Curse Tablets from Germany" in R. Gordon and F. Marco (eds.),Magical Practice in the Latin West: Papers from the International Conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30th Sept. - 1st Oct. 2005, Religions in the Graeco-Roman World (Leiden 2007) forthcoming.
  • "The Rise of the Demon Womb in Greco-Roman Antiquity" in M. Parca and A. Tzanetou (eds.) _Finding Persephone: Women's Rituals in Greece and Rome_ (Urbana, forthcoming 2007) 224-37.
  • "Magic, Medicine and Eros in the Prologue to Theocritus' EleventhIdyll" in M. Fantuzzi and T. Papanghelis (eds.), _Brill's Companion to Greek and Latin Pastoral,_ Mnemosyne Supplement (Leiden 2006) 75-90.
  • "The Priestess and the Courtesan: Female Leadership in Aristophanes'Lysistrata" in C.A. Faraone and Laura McClure (eds.),Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World(Madison 2006) 207-23.
  • "The Masculine Arts of Ancient Greek Courtesans: Male Fantasy or Female Self-Representation?" M. Feldman and B. Gordon (eds.) _The Courtesan's Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives_ (Oxford 2006) 209-220.
  • "When Necromancy Goes Underground: Skull- and Corpse-Divination in the Paris Magical Papyri (PGMIV 1928-2144)" in P. Struck and S. Johnston (eds.)Mantikê: Studies in Ancient Divination(Leiden 2005) 255-86.
  • "Introduction to Prayers, Hymns, Incantations and Curses" and "Greek Prayers and Curses" in S. I. Johnston (ed.)Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide(Harvard University Press, 2004) 349-50 and 362-65.
  • "The Collapse of Celestial and Chthonic Realms in a Late Antique 'Apollonian Invocation' (PGMI 262-347)," in R. Abusch, A.Y. Reed and P. Schäfer (eds.)Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions(Cambridge University Press, 2004) 213-32.
  • "Playing the Bear and Fawn for Artemis: Female Initiation or Substitute Sacrifice?" in D. Dodd and C.A. Faraone (eds.),Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives(London 2003) 43-68.
  • "Thumosas Masculine Ideal and Social Pathology in Ancient Greek Magical Spells" in S. Braund and G. Most (eds.)Ancient Anger: Perspectives from Homer to Galen, Yale Classical Studies 32 (Cambridge 2003) 144-62.
  • "From Magic Ritual to Semiotic Game: The Transformation of Neo-Assyrian Love Spells in Classical and Hellenistic Greece" in A. Panaino and G. Pettinato (eds.)Ideologies as Intercultural Phenomena, Melammu Symposia 3 (Ravenna 2002) 61-74.
  • "A Drink from the Daughters of Mnemosyne: Poetry, Eschatology and Memory at the End of Pindar'sIsthmian6" in J.F. Miller, C. Damon and K.S. Myers (eds.),Vertis in usum: Studies in Honor of Edward Courtney, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 161 (Munich/Leipzig 2002) 259-70.
  • "Agents and Victims: Constructions of Gender and Desire in Ancient Greek Love Magic" in M.C. Nussbaum and J. Sihvola (eds.)The Night of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome(Chicago 2002) 400-426.
  • "The Ethnic Origins of a Roman-EraPhiltrokatadesmos(PGMIV 296-434)" in P. Mirecki and M. Meyer (eds.)Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World(Leiden 2002) 319-43.
  • "A Collection of Curses against Kilns (HomericEpigram13.7-23)" in A.Y. Collins and M. M. Mitchell (eds.)Antiquity and Humanity: Essays on Ancient Religion and Philosophy Presented to Hans Dieter Betz on his 70th Birthday(Tubingen 2001) 435-50.
  • "Hymn to Selene-Hecate-Artemis from a Greek Magical Handbook (PGMIV 2714-83)" in M. Kiley (ed.)Prayer from Alexander to Constantine(London 1997) 195-99.
  • "TheMystodokosand the Dark-Eyed Maidens: Multicultural Influences on a Late-Hellenistic Incantation" in M. Meyer and P. Mirecki (eds.)Ancient Magic and Ritual Power,Religions of the Graeco-Roman World 129 (Leiden 1995) 297-333.
  • "Introduction" to T.H. Carpenter and C.A. Faraone (eds.)Masks of Dionysus(Ithaca, New York 1993) 1-10.
  • "The Agonistic Context of Early Greek Binding Spells" in C.A. Faraone and D. Obbink (eds.)Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion(Oxford 1991) 3-32.

Books and Articles in Progress

  • Hymns, Oracles and Incantations: Short Hexametrical Genres in Ancient Greece(several chapters in draft)
  • "Non-Strophic Dactylic Paeans to Asclepius: The Paean of Macedonicus and Hellenistic Versions of the Erythraean Paean" (31 pp. in typescript). This is part of a larger book-length project that I hope to write on paeans as apotropaic rituals.
  • "Stanzaic Structure in the Etiological Poetry of Phanocles and Callimachus"

Reviews

  • Review of L. Watson,Arae: Curse Poetry of Classical Antiquity(Liverpool 1992) inClassical Philology88 (1993) 336-40.
  • Review of J. Fontenrose,Didyma: Apollo's Oracle, Cult and Companions(Berkeley 1988) inClassical World83 (1990) 530-31.
  • Review of H.D. Betz (ed.)The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation,Vol. 1 (Chicago 1986) inClassical World80 (1987) 325-26.

Graduate Seminars

  • "Eros in Archaic and Classical Greece" (with James Redfield)
  • "Ancient Greek Hymns" (3x)
  • "Greek and North Semitic Religious Inscriptions" (with D. Pardee, Oriental Institute)
  • "Text, Image and the Representation of Ritual" (with Gloria Pinney and Laura Slatkin)
  • "Ancient Hebrew and Greek Wisdom Literature" (with John Collins and Laura Slatkin)
  • "Ancient Greek Magic"
  • "The Homeric Hymns" (with James Redfield and Bruce Lincoln)
  • "HesiodTheogony" (with Bruce Lincoln)
  • "The Greek Magical Papyri" (with Hans Dieter Betz)
  • "Oracles and Divination in the Ancient World" (with Bruce Lincoln)
  • "Greek Religion in its Historical Context" (with Jonathan M. Hall)
  • "Orphism" (with David Martinez)

Most Recently Taught Courses

  • Greek Thought and Literature (2x)
  • Barcelona Program
  • Paris Program
  • History Seminar: "Greek Religion in its Historical Context" (with Jonathan M. Hall)
  • Graduate Seminar: "Orphism" (with David Martinez)
  • Ancient Greek Elegy
  • Homer
  • Graduate Poetry Survey (2x)
  • CAMW Seminar: "Oracles and Divination in the Ancient World" (with Bruce Lincoln)