Associate Professor (Classics)Alison Griffith
We learn by following our own curiosity, when we teach and research we share our knowledge with others.
Qualifications & Memberships
Research Interests
Dr. Griffith's research has three foci. Her current book project "The Mysteries of Mithras in Imperial Rome" combines her expertise in Roman religion and cults with her extensive knowledge of the topography of ancient Rome. In this book she adopts a holistic approach, which combines data from a wide range of material and literary evidence (ancient texts, inscriptions, art, architectural remains, coins and the like). She is also working on a book-length study of family violence in Roman myths, focussing primarily on Livy’s "Ab Urbe Condita" and Valerius Maximus’ "Facta et Dicta Memorabilia", on which she has given several conference presentations. Finally, after a quake-induced hiatus, she is also now completing a project to catalogue and publish the ancient coin collection in the Canterbury Museum.
Recent Publications
- Griffith AB. (2014) Dead Religion, Live Minds: Memory and Recall of the Mithraic Bull-Slaying Scene. Journal of Cognitive Historiography 1(1): 72-89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/jch.v1i1.72.
- Campbell ML. and Griffith AB. (2013) Greek and Roman Oil Lamps in Canterbury Museum: Casting a Light on Ancient Life. Records of the Canterbury Museum 27: 19-45.
- Griffith AB. (2017) Everyday interactions between humans and gods. In Morrison GL; Minchin-Garvin PMA; Elder TVA (Ed.), We could be heroes: The gods and heroes of the ancient Greeks and Romans: 25-30. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press.
- Griffith A. (2015) Alternative medicine in pre-roman and republican italy: Sacred springs, curative baths and ‘votive religion’. Infirmity in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Social and Cultural Approaches to Health, Weakness and Care: 185-200.
- Griffith AB. (2015) Alternative Medicine in Pre-Roman and Republican Italy: Sacred Springs, Curative Baths and 'Votive Religion'. In Krotzl C; Mustakallio K; Kuuliala J (Ed.), Infirmity in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Social and Cultural Approaches to Health, Weakness and Care: 185-200. Farnham: Ashgate.