News Archive

A unique interpretation of the role played by Julius Caesar's mistress, Servilia, in his assassination has won international acclaim for a PhD student at The University of Western Australia.

Nathan Leber (31, of Morley) was equal runner-up for his paper "Tied to the apron strings of Servilia: the compliance of Brutus in Cicero" at the Australasian Society for Classical Studies' annual conference in Auckland.  The conference attracted more than 140 papers.

Servilia was the mother of Brutus, best known as one of Caesar's assassins.  The famous Roman statesman Cicero was in sympathy with the killing in mid-March, 44BC.  Mr Leber closely read (in the original Latin and Greek) the ancient sources to reach his conclusion.

Two other UWA students, were runners up in the Society's national undergraduate essay competition.  The students are studying Latin or Ancient Greek language and literature.

Ms Geetanjali Arora (21, of Como), who is also a Physics major, was commended for her work "Lamentations, war and family life: a critical analysis of the lament in Books 6, 22 and 24 of the Iliad ".  Attributed to Homer in the eighth century BC, the Iliad is an epic poem of the Trojan War written in a uniquely complex mixture of poetic dialects.

Miss Kimberley Webb (22, of Menora) was also runner-up for her essay "Thucydides' treatment of Nicias and Alcibiades".  Thucydides, an Athenian general and historian, recorded the Peloponnesian war fought between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century BC, and Miss Webb's work analysed his treatment of two fellow generals.

UWA Classics and Ancient History Discipline Chair, Dr Neil O'Sullivan, said the students' success was a clear indication that their work was of an international standard.  He congratulated Mr Leber's supervisor, Dr Judith Maitland, and other staff members involved in teaching the students, Dr Michael Champion, Assistant Professor Lara O'Sullivan, and Mr Robert Sing.

Dr O'Sullivan said that while the discipline required students to critique texts that were often more than 2,000 years old, it was worthwhile in the 21 ^st century because the stories it told were timeless, and the skills that it fostered - close analysis of evidence and linguistic precision - were more useful today than ever.

"Our discipline has one of the best research records in this field of any Australian university," Dr O'Sullivan said.  "We are pioneering the application of computers to the study of ancient languages and are carrying out work such as aerial archaeology in Jordan."

Media references

Dr Neil O'Sullivan (UWA Classics and Ancient History)  (+61 8)  6488 2163
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716