Zoe Stamatopoulou

Associate Professor of Classics
Director of Undergraduate Studies
PhD, University of Virginia
research interests:
  • Archaic and Classical Poetry
    View All People

    contact info:

    mailing address:

    • MSC 1050-153-244
    • WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
    • ONE BROOKINGS DRIVE
    • ST. LOUIS, MO 63130-4899
    image of book cover

    ​Professor Stamatopoulou’s research and teaching encompass several aspects of ancient Greek literature and culture.

    Stamatopoulou’s work focuses primarily on archaic and classical poetry (Homer, Hesiod, lyric poetry, drama). She is also interested in the symposium, in ancient biographies of poets, and in the reception of archaic Greece in Imperial Greek literature (esp. Plutarch).

    recent courses

    Gender and Sexuality in Greco-Roman Antiquity (L08 Classics 3152)

    In this course, we will explore ancient Greek and Roman approaches to gender and sexuality. We will consider questions such as: which traits and behaviors did the Greeks and the Romans associate with masculinity and which with femininity? What can we tell from our sources about those who did not fit neatly in this binary? What do we know about trans lives in antiquity? How did the Greeks and the Romans think about male and female physiology and psychology? How did they construct sexuality and how did they approach homosexual and heterosexual relationships? How did they think about desire and sexual pleasure? How did ancient laws and institutions circumscribe the lives of women and men, and how did they contribute to the construction of gender and sexuality? How did class and ethnicity intersect with ideas about gender and sexuality in antiquity? In our search for answers, we will read a broad selection of ancient texts in translation, and we will consider various theoretical viewpoints. This course will help you gain a better understanding of how gender and sexuality were constructed in antiquity, but it will also prompt you to reflect on how the exploration of ancient ideas can enrich the ways in which we think about these issues and experiences today.

      AMP: Classical to Renaissance Literature: Text and Traditions (L93 IPH 201C)

      Students enrolled in this course engage in close and sustained reading of a set of texts that are indispensable for an understanding of the European literary tradition, texts that continue to offer invaluable insights into humanity and the world around us. Homer's Iliad is the foundation of our class. We then go on to trace ways in which later poets and dramatists engage the work of predecessors who inspire and challenge them. Readings move from translations of Greek, Latin, and Italian, to poetry and drama composed in English. In addition to Homer, we will read works of Sappho, a Greek tragedian, Plato, Vergil, Ovid, Petrarch, and Shakespeare.

        The Greek SYMPOSION ( L08 Classics 45)

        This course explores the history, archaeology, material culture, and sociology of the symposion in ancient Greece. While we will focus mainly on the archaic and classical Greek symposion, we will also examine its reception in the Roman world. In this context, we will study art and literature produced for the symposion, as well as representations of the symposion in literature, especially in lyric poetry, drama, and philosophical prose.

          in the news:

          Special Issue of Classical Journal Examines 1884 and 2021 Performances of Plautus’ Rudens at Washington University

          Special Issue of Classical Journal Examines 1884 and 2021 Performances of Plautus’ Rudens at Washington University

          Nine members of the Classics department participate in CAMWS Annual Meeting

          Nine members of the Classics department participate in CAMWS Annual Meeting

          Zoe Stamatopoulou to co-chair two sessions at upcoming SCS meeting

          Zoe Stamatopoulou to co-chair two sessions at upcoming SCS meeting

          Zoe Stamatopoulou publishes study of imagery in Hesiod and Empedocles

          Zoe Stamatopoulou publishes study of imagery in Hesiod and Empedocles

          Read more news
          Hesiod and Classical Greek Poetry

          Hesiod and Classical Greek Poetry

          By Zoe Stamatopoulou

          Hesiod was regarded by the Greeks as a foundational figure of their culture, alongside Homer. This book examines the rich and varied engagement of fifth-century lyric and drama with the poetic corpus attributed to Hesiod as well as with the poetic figure of Hesiod. The first half of the book is dedicated to Hesiodic reception in Pindaric and Bacchylidean poetry, with a particular focus on poetics, genealogies and mythological narratives, and didactic voices. The second half examines how Hesiodic narratives are approached and appropriated in tragedy and satyr drama, especially in the Prometheus plays and in Euripides' Ion. It also explores the multifaceted engagement of Old Comedy with the poetry and authority associated with Hesiod. Through close readings of numerous case studies, the book surveys the complex landscape of Hesiodic reception in the fifth century BCE, focusing primarily on lyric and dramatic responses to the Hesiodic tradition.