Antonia Jane Reobone Syson (23 February 1973 - 25 March 2018) was a British-American classical scholar specialising in the study of Virgil's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

''.

Early life

Antonia was born in Botswana whilst her father, John, was private secretary to the president,

Sir Seretse Khama Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980. Born into an influential royal fam ...

and her mother, Lucy, was undertaking research on rural development for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. The Sysons returned to the UK in 1973 where Antonia attended Hungerford primary school and

Camden School for Girls The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialist- ...

. In 1991 Antonia went to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

to study Classics under

Oliver Taplin Oliver Taplin, FBA (born 2 August 1943) is a retired British academic and classicist. He was a fellow of Magdalen College and Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Oxford. He holds a DPhil from Oxford University. Ac ...

before, in 1995, taking her PhD in Classics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Antonia credited her Latin teachers at Camden and Birmingham for helping her develop her lasting connection to Classics.

Career

Her 2003 thesis, supervised by Kathleen McCarthy was titled “Reading for the Novel: Knowledge, Persuasion, and the Divine Narratives of Vergil’s Aeneid”. After graduating she spent one year at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

as a Mellon Postdoctoral fellow in Classics, before moving to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

as lecturer in Latin (2004–2006), and then to

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

as lecturer in Classics (2006–2008). In 2008, she joined the classics faculty at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, Indiana. In 2014 she was promoted to Associate Professor with

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

Select publications

*Syson, A. 2009. "Born to Speak: Ingenium and Natura in Tacitus’s Dialogue on Orators", ''Arethusa'' 42(1). 45–75. *Syson, A. 2012. "Reading the Aeneid with Intermediate Latin Students", ''Teaching Classical Languages'' 4(1). 44–63. *Syson, A. 2013. ''Fama and Fiction in Vergil's Aeneid''. Ohio State University Press. *Syson, A. 2017. "Filthy Harpies and Fictive Knowledge in Philip Pullman’s ''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), ''The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and ''The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follows ...

'' Trilogy". in Stevens, B. and Rogers, B. (eds) ''Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy''. Oxford. 233–249.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syson, Antonia 1973 births 2018 deaths Women classical scholars University of California, Berkeley alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford