waddell

Waddell headshot
waddell@arizona.edu
Office
Learning Services Building 215
Office Hours
MW 2-3pm and by appt.
Waddell, Philip
Associate Professor, Director of Basic Languages

Areas of Expertise

  • Latin and Greek historiography, especially of Rome
  • Roman and Greek history
  • Ancient Rhetoric

Fall '26 Courses

  • CLAS 335: Roman Empire: Rulers & Ruled
  • LAT 4/526: The Roman Historians

Education

  • Ph.D., Classical Studies, University of Missouri (2010)
    • Dissertation: "The Directed Gaze: Enargeia and Film in the Annales of Tacitus"
      • Dennis Trout (Chair), Raymond Marks, James McGlew, David Schenker, Lawrence Okamura
  • M.A, Classics, University of Missouri (2006)
  • Postbaccalaurate work in Classics, The Catholic University of America (2001-2002)
  • B.A., History, cum laude, The Johns Hopkins University (2001)
    • Thesis: "The Religious Reforms of Augustus"
      • Celia Schultz (Chair)

Selected Presentations

  • 2024 "Fighting with the Enemy: Focalization in Livy's Battle of Cannae," CAMWS-SS, San Antonio.
  • 2024 "The Dream of Hannibal: Propaganda, Religion, and Historiography," ACL, Tucson.
  • 2024 "Livius Criticus: A Polybian Intertext at AUC 21.18-19," CAMWS, St. Louis.
  • 2020 "The Imperial Gaze: Focalization and Alignment in Tacitus' Annales" (invited lecture) University of Toronto, October 2020.
  • 2020 "Cupido incessit: Religion at the Borders of Empire (Tac. Hist. 2.2–3, Ann. 1.61–62.)," (invited panel: "The Supernatural in Tacitus,") CAMWS, March 2020.* (Presented in May, for Online CAMWS)
  • 2018 "Reading Nero: Receptions of the Emperor from Antiquity to the 21st Century," Hendrix College, AR (invited).
  • 2017 "Urbs ut scaena: Dramatic Space in the Historiae of Tacitus," CAMWS, Kitchener, ON.
  • 2015 “Quasi Nero Triumphans: A Tacitean Reading of Ammianus Marcellinus’ RG 16.8-10,” CAMWS, Boulder.
  • 2014 “Carthago Deleta: Alternate Realities and Meta-history in Appian’s Libyca,” Science/Fiction/History: The Literary in Classical Historiography, Athens, Greece.
  • 2014 “In Your Hearts:  A Ciceronian Intertext in Tacitus’ Annales,” CAMWS, Waco.
  • 2013 “Derideas Licet: Tacitus’ Death of Seneca as Satire,”  APA, Seattle.
  • 2012 “Ethos Tranlsatum: Failures of Rhetorical Self-Presentation in the Annales of Tacitus,” CAMWS, Baton Rouge.
  • 2011 Panel Respondent, Annual Heartland Graduate Workshop in Ancient Studies, University of Missouri.
  • 2011 “The Quick-Cut in the Annales of Tacitus and the Column of Trajan,” APA, San Antonio.
  • 2007 “Dominus et Deus: Domitian’s Creation of the Games of Capitoline Jupiter,” Forging Identity, Graduate Student Conference, The Johns Hopkins University.
  • 2007 “War More Punic Than Civil: Carthage in Lucan’s De Bello Civile,” CAMWS, Cincinnati.

Publications

Work in Progress

  • Proposal for Bloomsbury Academic commentary on Livy, book XXI (co-editing with Dexter Hoyos). currently drafting.
  • Article: “Ethos Translatum: intentional failures of Ciceronian creations of ethos in Tacitus,” currently drafting.

Reviews

  • Shannon-Henderson, Kelly. Religion and Memory in Tacitus' Annals. Oxford University Press, 2019. Classical World, 2020. Invited review.
  • Woodman, A. J., ed.  The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Classical Bulletin, 2012.
  • Galtier, Fabrice.  L’image tragique de l’Histoire chez Tacite: Étude des schèmes tragiques dans les Histoires et les Annales. Latomus, 2011.  Bryn Mawr Classical Review, August 2012.

Currently Teaching

CLAS 301B – The Literature of the Ancient Romans: Latin Literature in English Translation

Classics 301B provides an introductory survey of Roman literature through English translations. The works to be studied include a span of over 300 years, covering Rome's transition from Republic to Empire. We will read from a variety of genres, including comedy and tragedy, epic and lyric poetry, didactic literature, satire, historiography, the novel, letters, and philosophy, and authors such as Plautus, Cicero, Vergil, Ovid, Livy, and Seneca. Roman literature provides varied and fascinating perspectives on Roman thought, history, and culture(s) and is also critical to appreciation of subsequent literatures and cultures in Europe and beyond.

View Section Details

CLAS 345 – America and Antiquity: What the Study of Greece and Rome Taught America's Founders

In this course, we will examine the ways in which Civic Institutions in the United States are rooted in and reacting to elements of Ancient Greece and Rome. By studying the founding era through the eyes of Classicists, we will come to understand why the founders were steeped in Classical Education, and how their understanding of ancient history, ancient political theory, and the cultural values of the Greeks and Romans shaped their worldview and particular approaches to governance. Students will come to better understand why American civic art and architecture draw so heavily on Greek and Roman models and symbols, what words like "republic", "commonwealth", "democracy", "federal", and "tyrant" meant for the founders, and how the lessons imparted by the study of the lives of the great (and not-so-great) figures of the past, such as Pericles, Socrates, Julius Caesar, and Nero, continue to shape the destiny of the United States in the 21st century.

View Section Details

In this course, we will examine the ways in which Civic Institutions in the United States are rooted in and reacting to elements of Ancient Greece and Rome. By studying the founding era through the eyes of Classicists, we will come to understand why the founders were steeped in Classical Education, and how their understanding of ancient history, ancient political theory, and the cultural values of the Greeks and Romans shaped their worldview and particular approaches to governance. Students will come to better understand why American civic art and architecture draw so heavily on Greek and Roman models and symbols, what words like "republic", "commonwealth", "democracy", "federal", and "tyrant" meant for the founders, and how the lessons imparted by the study of the lives of the great (and not-so-great) figures of the past, such as Pericles, Socrates, Julius Caesar, and Nero, continue to shape the destiny of the United States in the 21st century.

View Section Details

CLAS 335 – The Roman Empire: Rulers and Ruled

In this course, we will examine Rome and its Empire from several points of view and across Roman history. During this semester we will deal with those who ruled the empire, and those who were ruled by the Emperors. Through this class, we will explore how Romans thought about their own rule, and how citizens, subjects, and outsiders reacted to (and against) the Roman Empire.

View Section Details

LAT 102 – Elementary Latin II

A second semester introduction to the basic morphology, syntax and vocabulary of Latin through reading and composition.

View Section Details

A second semester introduction to the basic morphology, syntax and vocabulary of Latin through reading and composition.

View Section Details

LAT 426 – Roman Historians

Readings in Latin from the Roman historians and biographers. May be repeated without duplication of readings.

View Section Details

LAT 526 – Roman Historians

Readings in Latin from the Roman historians and biographers. May be repeated without duplication of readings. Graduate-level requirements include extensive readings and a research paper.

View Section Details

To view full listing of courses offered, please visit our Course Schedule.

Course Schedule