Martina Landolfi

Please tell us about your research project.

I am a PhD student at the University of Strasbourg (Centre for the Analysis of Antique Religious Rethoric - CARRA) and at the University of Naples 'Federico II', and I work on Classical Philology and Papyrology. My field of research is more generally concerned with the history of books, libraries and publishing in the Greco-Roman world. In particular, the thesis project I am working on aims at reconstructing and framing the development of bibliographic practice in antiquity, through the study of book lists written in Greek. The corpus I am examining for my research (3rd BCE - 3rd CE) is very diverse, ranging from Greek literary texts containing lists to documents transmitted through papyrus fragments.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?

Thanks to a one-month scholarship offered by the Maison Française d'Oxford, I am in Oxford to study a group Greek papyri dating between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE containing some lists of books, which belong to the Bodleian Libraries collections.

First impressions of Oxford/the University?

Oxford provides an ideal framework for study and research. It is a stimulating, intercultural and inspiring environment, which enables constant exchange with scholars from all over the world, and all this is set in the context of a wonderful city. It is a real privilege to be able to spend a period here.