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Details for Dr Ellen O'Gorman

Personal details
Name Dr Ellen O'Gorman
Job title Senior Lecturer in Classics
Department Department of Classics & Ancient History University of Bristol
Contact details This expert can be contacted via the University of Bristol Public Relations Office.

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work+44 (0)117 331 8092
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Qualifications B.A.(Dub.), M.A., Ph.D.(Bristol)
Professional details
Keywords ancient historiography
historical thought
myth
historical novels
Roman imperialism
Areas of expertise I work in the field of ancient historiography and historical thought. I am particularly interested in the ways that historical thinking interacts with supposedly ‘fictional’ modes of representation, from ancient epic and myth to modern historical novels. My first book, Irony and Misreading in the Annals of Tacitus, explored how the language of Tacitus’ historical writing enacted the ambiguities and compromises of the political regime which it represented. My second book will be on Roman Fantasies of Carthage from Polybius to Petrarch, and will consider how the concepts of Roman imperialism were constructed around the ghostly presence of Carthage and Carthaginians.