Manolis Tsakiris

I completed my undergraduate studies in Classical Philology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2016), followed by an MSc (2017) and a PhD in Classics (2022) at the University of Edinburgh. Before taking up a lectureship in Greek (and Latin) Literature at the University of Manchester in September 2024, I held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities and a teaching fellowship in Greek at the University of Edinburgh. I have previously taught for the Classical Association of Scotland and for the University of Glasgow’s Short Courses. Since January 2025, I am a Lecturer in Ancient Greek Language and Literature at the University of Manchester. 

My research is in Hellenistic poetry. My doctoral project explored the generic articulation of Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica and attempted to define more sharply the poem’s generic identity. I have also written articles on Greek epic poetry of the Imperial era (especially Triphiodorus’ Sack of Troy and the Posthomerica of Quintus of Smyrna). I am also interested in interdisciplinary approaches to Classics. In my recent postdoctoral fellowship I investigated some of the ways in which individuals are represented within and in interaction with the surrounding space and environment in Apollonius’ and Theocritus’ poetry drawing on phenomenology and cognitive science. I am currently working on two articles, on touch and the senses in Apollonius and Theocritus, and on the depiction of fear in Apollonius’ Argonautica. 

I currently teach courses on the erotics of Ancient Greek literature, Hellenistic poetry, and Greek tragedy, as well as Intensive Greek.