Jane Lucy Lightfoot (born 1969) is a British

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. She is Professor of

Greek Literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving writte ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

and a fellow of

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

Early life and education

Lightfoot was born in 1969 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, England. She was educated at The Belvedere School, an all-girls independent school. She then studied Classics at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...

, graduating with a first class

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) degree in 1992: as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

(MA Oxon) degree in 1994. She stayed at Oxford to study for a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(DPhil) degree, and was a Jubilee Scholar at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accep ...

, for the 1993/94 academic year and a Prize Fellow at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of ...

, from 1994. She completed her doctorate in 1995 with a

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

titled "Parthenius" (concerning the ancient Greek poet,

Parthenius of Nicaea Parthenius of Nicaea ( el, Παρθένιος ὁ Νικαεύς) or Myrlea ( el, ὁ Μυρλεανός) in Bithynia was a Greek grammarian and poet. According to the ''Suda'', he was the son of Heraclides and Eudora, or according to Hermippus of ...

), for which she won the

Conington Prize The Conington Prize is awarded annually by the University of Oxford. The cash prize is offered for a dissertation on a subject chosen by the writer and approved by the Board of the Faculty of Classics. The subject offered cycles through these fie ...

Academic career

Lightfoot was awarded a Prize Fellowship at

, in 1994, while she was a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, which she held until 2000. Then, from 2000 to 2003, she was a

post-doctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

fellow at All Souls. She has been a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

and

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in c ...

in classics at

, since 2003. In 2014, she was awarded a

Title of Distinction The University of Oxford introduced Titles of Distinction for senior academics in the 1990s. These are not established chairs, which are posts funded by endowment for academics with a distinguished career in British and European universities. Howeve ...

by the University of Oxford as "Professor of Greek Literature". Her research interests include most aspects of Greek literature, with her publications focusing primarily on

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium i ...

and imperial literature. Her specialism is in the exploration of underrepresented classical texts, including

mythography Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

, ethnography,

oracular literature Oracular literature, also called orphic or prophetic literature, positions the poet as a medium between humanity and another world, sometimes defined as supernatural or non-human. Concept The idea is found in many ancient cultures. Among the ...

, poetry and prose. Her current work is a critical interpretation of

late antique Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...

astrological Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...

poetry.

Honours

Lightfoot was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA) in 2018, the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. She is an Honorary Fellow of

Selected publications

* ''Parthenius of Nicaea'' (Oxford, 1999) * ''Lucian'', On the Syrian Goddess (Oxford, 2003) * ''The Sibylline Oracles'' (Oxford, 2007) * ''A Hellenistic Collection'' (Cambridge, MA, 2009) * ''Dionysius Periegetes'', Description of the Known World: ''With Introduction, Translation, and Commentary'' (Oxford, 2014) * ''Pseudo-Manetho'', Apotelesmatica, ''Books Two, Three, and Six: Edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary'' (Oxford, 2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightfoot, Jane Living people Women classical scholars Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of New College, Oxford People educated at The Belvedere Academy Classical scholars of the University of Oxford 1969 births