Stefano Rebeggiani

Roman epic, Lucretius, Roman art and archaeology, political culture of the Roman empire

Stefano Rebeggiani grew up in the outskirts of Rome (Acilia). He studied Classics first at the Sapienza University of Rome and then at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. He went back to the Sapienza for his Phd, and was Visiting Student at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in 2010-11. Before joining the department of Classics at USC he taught at NYU as Visiting Assistant Professor. His main interests lie in the field of Roman literature and culture, with particular attention to epic poetry and its interactions with the political and social contexts of imperial Rome. He is also interested in Roman art and archaeology, especially as a source for the rich and complex cultural life of the Roman Republic. He has published articles on Statius, Virgil, Lucretius, and on the role of Greek works of art in monumental contexts in Rome. His first book (The fragility of power: Statius, Domitian and the politics of the Thebaid, OUP 2018) examines historical allusions in Statius’ major poem and provides a new interpretation of Statius’ engagement with the language of Domitian’s ideology. His second book project, entitled Tragic History: Virgil’s Aeneid and the Roman Republic offers a detailed study of Virgil’s allusions to texts, monuments and narratives of republican Rome and seeks to shed new light on the ideological and political agenda behind Virgil’s reconstruction of Rome’s republican past. He is also preparing a commentary on Aeneid 3 for the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla.  

• Ph.D. Classics, Sapienza University of Rome, 2012
• M.A. Classics, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 2009
• B.A. Classics, Sapienza University of Rome, 2006