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Staff Profiles

Dr Stephanie Holton

Senior Lecturer in Classics

  • Address: School of History, Classics & Archaeology
    Armstrong Building
    Newcastle University
    NE1 7RU
Background

I grew up in a small seaside town in Northern Ireland, before heading off to the 'mainland' to study Classics at university: first at Edinburgh, and then in London. I joined Newcastle in 2018 as an hourly-paid Associate Lecturer, then took up a temporary lectureship in 2019-20, before finally re-joining as a permanent Lecturer in Classics in September 2020. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Classics in 2022.

My research focuses on Ancient Greek thought - especially the interactions between literature, philosophy, and medicine in the Archaic to Classical period. A core interest is ancient ideas about the soul and its associated activities, particularly dreaming. My most recent monograph Sleep and Dreams in Early Greek Thought places the theories of the Presocratics and Hippocratics on both phenomena within their full cultural and intellectual context for the first time. I continue to work on ancient sleep and dreams, alongside new projects on death and the underworld.

Having come into Classics as a first-generation student from a working class background, I'm a firm believer that it should be more accessible to everyone. I am committed to creating an engaging and inclusive experience for all of my students, and I have a continuous record of measurable success (awards, funding, outcomes) in curriculum redesign, innovative pedagogy, and authentic assessment across Ancient Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies.

A large part of my professional career is devoted to outreach and public engagement, and I often work in collaboration with local schools, arts and heritage partners, publishers, and national charities. I love nothing more than helping create and deliver classically-themed projects and workshops for people of all ages: recent project work has included investigating local Roman history through inscriptions, journeying through the world of Greek myth and monsters, adventuring in the Ancient Egyptian afterlife, creating open-source translations of ancient texts, and exploring the question of where the soul goes after death. If you’d like to chat about a classically-themed project, curriculum support at any level, or anything Classics-related just drop me a line at the above email address.


Recent Project Work


Institutional Roles and Responsibilities

  • PARTNERS Programme Subject Lead (Classics & Ancient History)
  • HCA representative, Language Resource Centre Advisory Group
  • Member, Community for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT)
  • Member, NU-National Trust Working Group
  • Member, Art in Heritage Research Cluster


External Roles 

  • Classics for All Coordinator & Trainer (Tyneside/North East)
  • Classical Association Teaching Board: Subject Advisory Group (Ancient Greek)
  • External Examiner for Greek Language and Literature, University of Manchester
  • Hadrian’s Wall Learning & Engagement Forum
  • Board of Trustees, Helix Arts



Teaching
 2023-24


I will be on research leave in Semester 1 of 2023-2024 academic year.


Semester 2

CAC2064/3064 Dreams and Dreaming in the Ancient World

CAC1015 How Should I Live? An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy

HCA1001 Slavery

SEL1023 Transformations



Previous Teaching (2018-2023)

* = Module Leadership, full curriculum and assessment redesign, sole delivery


Ancient Greek

  • CAG1011 Intermediate Greek 1: Lysias On the Murder of Eratosthenes 
  • *CAG1012 Intermediate Greek 2: Euripides Medea 
  • CAG1012 Intermediate Greek 2: Euripides Helen 
  • *CAG1012 Intermediate Greek 2: Demosthenes Third Philippic 
  • *CAG2001 Greek Interpretation of Texts: Myths of the Underworld (Homer, Plato, Aristophanes) 
  • *CAG2002 Special Study in Greek: Sacred and Divine Diseases (De Morbo Sacro & Euripides’ Bacchae)
  • *CAG3002/8002 Special Study in Greek: Iliad 18
  • *CAG2001 Greek Interpretation of Texts: Plato Phaedo 

Classical Studies

  • *CAC1015 How Should I Live? An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy
  • CAC2001 Researching the Classics: (In)famous Oedipus
  • CAC2001 Researching the Classics: The Pirate and the Farmer (Odyssey 9)
  • *CAC2064/3064 Dreams and Dreaming in the Ancient World
  • *CAC2070/3070 Exploring the Ancient Greek Underworld
  • Dissertation: Classics, Classical Studies, Ancient History, Classics & English
  • CAC8106 MA Independent Research Project 
  • CAC8110 MA Ancient Cultures in Context: Global to Postcolonial Epic
  • CAC8110 MA Ancient Cultures in Context: Ancient Medicine 
  • CAC8000 MA Research Skills and Development: Working with Fragments

Latin

  • CLA1002 Beginners Latin in Action 2
  • *CLA1011 Intermediate Latin 1: Virgil's Aeneid 
  • CLA1012 Intermediate Latin 2: Virgil's Aeneid 
  • *CLA3001 Latin Interpretation of Texts: Pliny Epistulae
  • *CLA2002 Special Study in Latin: Death in Hellenistic Philosophy (Lucretius De Rerum Natura 3)

English Literature

  • SEL1023 Transformations: The Odyssey

Archaeology

  • HCA1001 Slavery: Ancient Greece
Research

My research interests lie primarily in ancient thought - especially the interactions between literature, philosophy, and medicine in the Archaic and Classical periods. Particular areas of interest include eschatology, cosmology, physiology, epistemology and psychology. My core expertise lies in Presocratic philosophy and Hippocratic medicine - I have recently completed my first monograph, Sleep and Dreams in Early Greek Thought which places the theories of the Presocratics and Hippocratics on both phenomena in their full cultural and intellectual context. While I continue to work on ancient approaches to sleep and dreams, I am also currently working on a project based on my teaching here at Newcastle, which explores Ancient Greek attitudes to death and the afterlife through creative workshops and collaborative performances.

I previously undertook a three-year funded scholarship project (Applied Ancient Languages, 20/21 - 22/23) on ancient language pedagogies and methodologies of translation. I researched and implemented alternative pathways, learning activities and assessment for Latin and Ancient Greek, supported by the HaSS Faculty Teaching Development Fund. The outcomes of the project led to the receipt of the Vice Chancellor’s Education Excellence Award in 2022 for having a marked impact on student engagement, attainment, and outcomes. If you’d like to know more about this project, just drop me a line - I’m always happy to chat about bringing ancient languages into the 21st century.

I also continue to work on my strategic multi-strand 'Classics Transformed' project. The primary strand is Romans on the Tyne (2021 - present), initially funded by Newcastle University's Engagement & Place Fund, the Classical Association, and The Landmark Trust. It focuses on introducing all pupils in the Tyneside area to the Roman past in an accessible and hands-on way to support literacy and socio-cultural development, in collaboration with arts and heritage partners across our region. It also supports employability for current Newcastle students through a series of paid graduate-level internships, funded by the Careers Service and the HaSS Faculty. The latest strand of the project is PSYCHE: Where does the soul go? (2023 - present), an engagement project aimed at older audiences which explores ancient attitudes to the afterlife as a way of more openly discussing death, bereavement, and the lives we live now.


I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students on projects related to:

  • Ancient Dreams
  • Ancient Philosophy, esp. Presocratics
  • Ancient Medicine, esp. the Hippocratic Corpus
  • Homeric Epic
  • Greek Tragedy
  • Ancient Psychological Thought
  • Classics Pedagogy
  • Outreach and Accessibility in Classics
Publications