Staff Profiles

Introduction

Jakob Wisse received his doctorate in Classics in 1994 at the University of Amsterdam; he also holds the equivalent of a Research Master's in Mathematics (with Physics) from the same University. He has worked at Newcastle University from 1999. He was appointed to a professorship in 2009, and elected to The Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea) in 2014.

His book publications centre on ancient rhetoric, in particular Cicero and his "magnum opus", De oratore. Further research interests include intellectual life (esp. in the Roman republican period); Greek and Roman historiography; literary theory; and Greek and Latin language. He is currently collaborating with his Newcastle colleague Federico Santangelo in writing a commentary on Sallust's War with Jugurtha for the Cambridge Green & Yellow series. After that, he is planning to edit the Oxford Classical Text of De oratore.

Research

My current research focuses on two areas:

• Ciceronian, and more generally, Roman republican rhetoric, and its cultural and intellectual setting.
• Ancient, and esp. Roman, historiography.

Research plans include further work in these two areas. My current book project is a commentary on Sallust's War with Jugurtha, written with my Newcastle Ancient History colleague Federico Santangelo. The next one is an edition of Cicero's De oratore in the Oxford Classical Texts series.

Postgraduate Supervision

In any area of his research or teaching expertise, especially:

- ancient rhetoric

- Cicero: rhetoric, philosophy, politics

- ancient historiography

Undergraduate Teaching

My teaching interests include Latin poetry, Greek tragedy and Latin & Greek language from beginners' level onwards; and of course also topics covered in my research, in particular ancient rhetoric (esp. Cicero) and Greek and Roman historiography. 

Undergraduate teaching in 2022/2023

First Semester:

• CLA1001: Beginners' Latin in Action I
  
• CLA1011: Intermediate Latin Language and Literature I
• CLA2001: Level 2 Latin: Interpretation of Texts
  

 Second semester:

• CLA1002: Beginners' Latin in Action II
  

• Wisse J. Anton D. Leeman (9 April 1921–5 August 2010). Rhetoric, Latin literature, humanitas – an appraisal. Litteraria Copernicana 2019, (32), 125-132.
• Wisse J. Laat U door die schurken niets wijsmaken! Cicero’s retorische strategieën in de Pro Roscio Amerino. Lampas 2017, 50, 415-430.
• Wisse J. Philosophers and Gentlemen: The Orator Crassus’s Quaestorship, Philosophers’ Deaths, and Historical Realities in Cicero’s De oratore. In: Anne H. Groton, ed. Ab omni parte beatus: Classical Essays in Honor of James M. May. Mundelein, Illinois: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2017, pp.121-159.
• Wisse J. A Popular Consul’s Claptrap and the Sequence of Tenses: The text and Rhetorical Significance of Cicero, De lege agraria 2.7. Mnemosyne 2014, 67(6), 911-929.
• Wisse J. Remembering Cremutius Cordus: Tacitus on History, Tyranny and Memory. Histos 2013, 7, 299-361.
• Wisse J. The bad orator: between clumsy delivery and political danger. In: Steel, C., van der Blom, H, ed. Community and Communication: Oratory and Politics in Republican Rome. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp.163-194.
• Wisse J, Winterbottom M, Fantham E. M.T. Cicero - De oratore libri III: Volume 5: Book III, 96-230. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2008.
• Wisse J. The riddle of the Pro Milone: the rhetoric of rational argument. In: Powell, J, ed. Logos: Rational Argument in Classical Rhetoric. London: University of London Institute of Classical Studies, 2007, pp.35-68.
• Wisse J. De Oratore: Rhetoric, Philosophy, and the Making of the Ideal Orator. In: May, J.M, ed. Brill's companion to Cicero: Oratory and Rhetoric. Leiden: Brill, 2002, pp.375-400.
• Wisse J. The Intellectual Background of Cicero's Rhetorical Works. In: May, J.M, ed. Brill's companion to Cicero: Oratory and Rhetoric. Leiden: Brill, 2002, pp.331-374.
• Wisse J. Atticists, Academics and Epicureans. Response to Robert Gaines. In: Auvray-Assayas, C; Delattre, D, ed. Cicéron et Philodème: La polémique en philosophie. Paris: Éditions Rue d'Ulm, 2001, pp.273-282.
• Wisse J. De oratore uit de mottenballen: De ideale redenaar tussen retorica en filosofie. Lampas 2001, 34(2001), 286-299.
• May JM, Wisse J. Cicero on the ideal orator. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Jakob Wisse. ‘De echte namen voor de dingen. Sallustius’ Catilina-beeld als literatuur’. Lampas 1999, 32, 149-161.
• Jakob Wisse. ‘“Niet in die verzonnen ideaalstaat van Plato”: moraal en rhetorica bij Cicero’. Lampas 1998, 31, 242-255.
• Jakob Wisse. ‘The Presence of Zeno. The Date of Philodemus’ On Rhetoric and the Use of the “Citative” and “Reproducing” Present in Latin and Greek’. In: R. Risselada, J.R. de Jong, A.M. Bolkestein, ed. On Latin. Linguistic and Literary Studies in Honour of Harm Pinkster. Amsterdam: Gieben, 1996, pp.173-202.
• Anton D. Leeman, Harm Pinkster, Jakob Wisse. M.T. Cicero. De oratore libri III, 4. Band: Buch II,291-367; Buch III,1-95. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1996.
• Jakob Wisse. ‘Greeks, Romans, and the Rise of Atticism’. In: J.G.J. Abbenes, S.R. Slings, I. Sluiter, ed. Greek Literary Theory after Aristotle: A Collection of Papers in Honour of D. M. Schenkeveld. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1995, pp.65-82.
• Wisse J. Reply to Professor Vickers. Mnemosyne 1994, 47, 526-528.
• Jakob Wisse. ‘Affektenlehre: Antike’. In: Gert Ueding, ed. Historisches Wörterbuch der Rhetorik. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1992, pp.218-224.
• Jaap Wisse. ‘Per aspera ad fontes. De lachspiegel van de wetenschap, intertekstualiteit en andere losse notities bij een oud probleem’. In: G. Bakkum, C. Kroon, R. Risselada, ed. Pentecostalia. Bundel ter gelegenheid van de vijftigste verjaardag van Harm Pinkster. Amsterdam, 1992, pp.93-104.
• R.F. Regtuit, J. Wisse. Edition of Oxyrhynchus papyrus 3853. In: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. London: British Academy/Egypt Exploration Society, 1989, pp.102-104.
• Jakob Wisse. Ethos and Pathos from Aristotle to Cicero. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1989.
• Jakob Wisse. ‘Ethos en Pathos bij Aristoteles en Cicero’. In: F.H. van Eemeren, R. Grootendorst, ed. Taalbeheersing in Ontwikkeling. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1988, pp.22-29.