Efimia D. Karakantza is a Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the University of Patras, Greece, where she has taught since 2007. Her degrees are from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (BA in Classics 1986) and Reading University (PhD in Classics 1993). She is a Fellow in Ancient Greek Literature of the Center for Hellenic Studies, University of Harvard, for which she directs the Kyklos Project.
“I enjoy teaching – I truly do. My areas of expertise are the Homeric Poems (the Iliad and the Odyssey), Lyric Poetry (have you heard of Sappho?), Attic Drama (Sophocles is my favorite), Greek Myths and Religion, and the Anthropology of the Ancient Greek World. I’m thrilled when I explore the first steps of the ancient Greeks to Democracy, Science and Philosophy. And every time I visit one of the sacred sites of our ancestors (ancient Olympia, Delphi, Athens, Ithaca, and countless others…) I stand in awe of their beauty and harmony.”
Most of her publications have been on Homer, Attic drama and approaches to Greek myths. Prof. Karakantza’s interest in Reception started with her book Ancient Greek Myths: The 20th-Century Discourse on Their Nature and Interpretation (Athens 2004, in Greek), where she studied five major approaches to traditional narratives (among which psychoanalysis, the French School, and Semiotics). In 2014 she introduced a new course on the Reception of Ancient Greek Drama at the Department of Philology (Classics Division) of the University of Patras.
Efimia is interested in contemporary Greek cinema and theatrical performances that explore (directly or indirectly) aspects of the Classical tradition aiming at reconstructing a discourse that renegotiates issues of ethnic and political identity, gender, and ultimately the (new) notion of humanity.
