Dr Helen Dixon MA MPhil PhD
Contact Details
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Biography:
| Helen was born in London and spent her childhood in Bristol. At a very young age she discovered Homer's Odyssey in Greek, whereupon she announced to her parents: `I want to learn to read this!' And so she began studying Latin and Greek at Redland High School. After taking a bachelor's degree in Literae Humaniores at Wadham College, Oxford (1992-1996), Helen went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read an MPhil in Classical Literature (1997). Here she discovered her passion for Latin and Greek manuscripts and early printed books, which she pursued in her PhD dissertation entitled 'Studies in the transmission of Tibullus' (2001). For her doctoral research she spent a year studying manuscripts in libraries in France (Paris), Holland and Italy. At Oxford Helen moonlighted as a violinist in a number of orchestras and as a member of the Wadham College Ladies First VIII, in Cambridge as stroke of the victorious Cambridge Lightweight Women's Boat in the 1997 Henley races. Before finishing her PhD, Helen returned to Oxford in 2000 to join the Bodleian Library Incunable Cataloguing Project, and there spent many happy hours inspecting the Bodleian's c.7000 fifteenth-century books. In 2002 she won a three-year British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, held at the Warburg Institute, London (2002-2005), where she began her new research project on the Roman humanist scholar Pomponio Leto. In 2004 she won a British Academy Small Research Grant for the inspection of Pomponian manuscripts and early printed books in libraries throughout Europe for six months. Meanwhile the violin was pleased to sound its strings with London¿s Orchestra of the City. After gaining further experience in teaching Greek and Latin language and literature at the universities of London, Oxford and Reading, Helen arrived in UCD in 2006 to teach Latin language and literature. She is now a lecturer in the School of Classics, with particular focus on reception. She is also moonlighting in music again, as a member of The Dublin Baroque Players. When not teaching Latin and Greek or musicking, Helen can be found running around Herbert Park, trying to translate notices in Irish, or hopping on a plane to foreign lands in pursuit of a manuscript. |
Research Interests
| In my research I pursue my fascination for the reception of Classical literature in Europe. My doctoral dissertation considered problems in Tibullus¿ transmission and a wide range of evidence (culled from international manuscript collections and archives) for his Renaissance reception. During my doctoral research and my work at the Bodleian, I encountered the Classical scholar Giulio Pomponio Leto (1428-1498), principal lecturer at the University of Rome on Latin poetry and the Roman historians. As part of my current project I am writing a book on Pomponio, his Roman Academy and their reception of antiquity, in which I show how, ahead of their time, they initiated the move towards appreciating Classical antiquity in its original, antique contexts. My general interests also include the transmission of Classical literature, Latin palaeography, and the history of Classical scholarship. Project title: Pomponio Leto, the 'Roman Academy', and the Classical World. In this project I address a number of wide-ranging questions about the reception of Classical Antiquity in the Renaissance through a study of the fifteenth-century humanist Giulio Pomponio Leto (1428-1498). Given Pomponio¿s central role in influencing the academic reception of Classical culture at Rome, both in the Renaissance and later, it is astonishing that no major study of this scholar has been undertaken since Vladimir Zabughin¿s now dated monograph of 1909-12. A series of scattered articles since then have put forward contradictory assessments of Pomponio, making a thorough re-evaluation of his research and teaching (on topics ranging from textual criticism and epigraphy to archaeology and the theatre) all the more necessary. This project demonstrates how Pomponio¿s publications, note-books, manuscript marginalia, and his interactions with contemporary scholars and influence on his numerous famous pupils, served not only as a pivotal point in the rediscovery of Classical Antiquity during the Renaissance, but also continue to define the parameters of Classical studies today. During my time at the Warburg, Oxford, UCD and abroad, my inquiries have fallen along three main lines: - perceptions of the study of Classical literature at Rome by outsiders; - the reception of Lucretius¿s poem, De Rerum Natura, and Martial¿s Epigrammata; - Pomponio's attempts to revive ancient concepts of historiography, and his group's knowledge of material remains. |
Recent Postgraduates
| Helen is more than happy to supervise graduate students working on areas related to the reception of Classical Antiquity, especially in the Renaissance. |
Books
| Coates, A. et al.; (2005) A Catalogue of Books Printed in the Fifteenth Century now in the Bodleian Library. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Details] |
Book Chapters
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2006) ''Manuscripts'' In: Bispham, E., Harrison, T. and Sparkes, B.A (eds). The Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2011) ''Pomponio Leto's notes on Lucretius in Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, X 2° 82 rariora''. Aevum, 85 (1):191-216. [Details] |
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2010) ''Pomponio Leto and his teachers Lorenzo Valla and Pietro Odo da Montopoli: evidence from work on Lucretius''. Italia Medioevale e Umanistica, 51 :267-326. [Details] |
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2010) ''Where was the birthplace of Pomponio Leto?''. Aevum, 84 (3):641-658. [Details] |
Dixon, Helen M.; (2006) ''The discovery and disappearance of the Fragmentum Cuiacianum of Tibullus''. Revue d'histoire des textes (N.S.), 1 :37-72.  [Details] |
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2006) ''Angelo Poliziano's unpublished notes on Tibullus in Roma, Biblioteca Corsiniana, 50 F 37''. Medioevo e Rinascimento, 20 (N.S. 17) :245-284. [Details] |
Honours and Awards
| Year: 2007. Title: UCD Seed Funding |
| Year: 2004. Title: British Academy Small Research Grant |
| Year: 2002. Title: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship |
| Year: 1998. Title: Cambridge Classics Faculty Research Grant |
| Year: 1997. Title: Trinity College Cambridge Internal Graduate Studentship |
| Year: 1996. Title: British Academy Research Award for Master's Degree |
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| Year: 1993. Title: Wadham College Oxford Scholarship |
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| Year: 1990. Title: Redland High School Sixth-form Scholarship |
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Associations
| Association: Repertorium Pomponianum, Function/Role: Advisor |
| Association: Cambridge Philological Society, Function/Role: |
Conference Contributions
| Dixon, Helen M. (2011) A Byzantine handbook on siegecraft and Cardinal Bessarion's machinations against the Turks. [Chaired Session], Pace e guerra nell'Umanesimo e nel Rinascimento in Europa e nelle Marche, Sassoferrato, Le Marche, Italy , 29-JUN-11 - 02-JUL-11. |
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2008) Pomponio Leto's origins: the evidence from before 1460. [Chaired Session], Pomponio Leto: tra identità locale e cultura internazionale, Teggiano, Italy , 03-OCT-08 - 05-OCT-08. |
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2007) The ancient garden in the Renaissance. [Chaired Session], A Day School on the Roman Garden, Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies , 21-APR-07 - 21-APR-07. |
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2006) On the self-fashioning of humanists at Rome. [Invited Lecture], Early Modern Italy Research Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London , 09-NOV-06 - 09-NOV-06. |
| Dixon, Helen M. ; (2006) The epigrams of Antonius Septimuleius Campanus. [Invited Oral Presentation], Italian Research Seminar, UCD , 25-OCT-06 - 25-OCT-06. |
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2006) Epigrams of the Roman Academy 1450-1500. [Chaired Session], The Neo-Latin Epigram, The Royal Dutch Institute in Rome , 11-APR-06 - 14-APR-06. | |||||||||
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2005) Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo and the imprisoned Roman humanists. [Invited Oral Presentation], Medieval Hispanic Seminar, Queen Mary's College, University of London , 21-OCT-05 - 21-OCT-05. | |||||||||
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2005) Pomponio Leto, the Roman Academy, and the teaching of Lucretius. [Invited Oral Presentation], Warburg Institute Director's Seminar, Warburg Institute, London , 11-MAY-05 - 11-MAY-05. | |||||||||
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2005) Pomponio Leto, the Accademia Romana, and the study of Lucretius. [Chaired Session], British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Symposium, The British Academy, London , 26-APR-05 - 26-APR-05. | |||||||||
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2004) Problems with the transmission of Classical texts in the Middle Ages. [Invited Oral Presentation], Texts and Transmission Summer School, Institute of Classical Studies, London , 30-JUN-04 - 30-JUN-04. | |||||||||
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2003) The Conspiracy of 1468 and the Accademia Romana. [Invited Oral Presentation], Warburg Institute Director's Seminar, Warburg Institute, London , 08-OCT-03 - 08-OCT-03. | |||||||||
| Dixon, Helen M.; (2002) Joseph Justus Scaliger and the discovery and disappearance of Tibullus. [Invited Oral Presentation], Corpus Christi College Classics Seminar (2002): The Renaissance Reception of Classical Texts, Corpus Christi College, Oxford , 13-NOV-02 - 13-NOV-02. | |||||||||
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Employment
| Employer: University of Oxford, Corpus Christi College Position: Retained Lecturer in Classics |
| Employer: University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics Position: Temporary Lector |
| Employer: University of Oxford, Wadham College Position: Stipendiary/Retained Lecturer in Classics |
| Employer: University of Reading Position: Sessional Lecturer |
| Employer: University of London, Birkbeck College Position: Part-time Lecturer |
| Employer: University of Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College Position: Part-time tutor |
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| Employer: University of London, Warburg Insitute Position: Lecturer |
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| Employer: University of Oxford, Bodleian Library Position: Temporary Assistant Librarian |
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Education
| Year 2002 Institution: University of Cambridge Qualification: PhD Subject: |
| Year 1997 Institution: University of Cambridge, Trinity College Qualification: MPhil Subject: Classical Literature |
| Year 1996 Institution: Oxford University, UK Qualification: MA Subject: |
| Year 2002 Institution: University of Cambridge Qualification: MPhil Subject: |
Languages
| Latin: |
| Classical Greek: |
| French: |
| Italian: |
| Spanish: |
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| Irish: | |||||||||
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Teaching Philosophy
| Helen enjoys teaching Latin and Greek language and a wide range of Classical texts (e.g. Virgil, Lucretius, Cicero) both in the original and in translation. She currently lectures on Virgil's Aeneid and on Uses and Abuses of Antiquity, and runs an MA Seminar on Perceptions of Antiquity in the Italian Renaissance. She is co-ordinator for the BA Evening Degree. |
Modules Coordinated
| 201200 GRC20080 Greek & Roman Civilization: Virgil's Aeneid |
| 201200 LAT30120 Latin: Virgil's Aeneid |
| 201200 GRC40210 Greek & Roman Civilization: Beginners' Latin for Grads 2 |
| 201200 LAT30110 Latin: Poetry of the Civil Wars |
| 201200 LAT30140 Latin: Sallust: Bellum Catilinae |