What are you going to work with at IFIKK?
My PhD research will consist of an analysis of several texts from the archaic Greek period. I will be analysing the characterisation of the goddess Hecate in several poems, among which Hesiod’s Theogony and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. In these texts, this goddess has quite a different role than she does in later Greek literature. Although she is mainly a goddess of witchcraft, magic, and necromancy in later texts, in the archaic period she seems more concerned with dimensions, movement, boundaries, and social roles. I will demonstrate that Hecate was a goddess of spaces long before she was a goddess of magic: she is a goddess of boundaries, of liminality, and of the in between. This also applies figuratively; she is the tissue between social roles that upholds the cultural hierarchy between kings, tradesmen, craftsmen, and so on, but also between the gods and mortals. Later, this evolved into a domain of supernatural boundary-crossing: sorcery.
Because of this hypothesis, I will analyse Hecate by using the narratological concept of space. Hecate features mostly in literary texts that are concerned with the cosmos as the Greeks perceived it, and so enhances the narrative by giving more weight to the cosmological themes in these texts. In this way, this project will also shed more light on the generic peculiarities of Greek cosmological epics, or Greek creation epics: what makes a poem about the creation of the world thematically epic?
Can you tell us a bit about your research interests?
My research interests in the las few years have centred on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, a short hexameter poem from the archaic Greek period. This is the earliest text that recounts the myth of the rape of Persephone in full and is the earliest literary source for the mystery cult of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis just outside Athens. My greatest interest lies in reconstructing the historical context of this text by use of textual analysis.
In general, this interest stems from a great love for Greek epic and Greek mythology, and Greek texts with an origin in the tradition of oral transmission. Beyond this, I have some experience with classical reception (specifically the recent reception of the myth of Persephone), archaeology, epigraphy, and palaeography. My interests are broad, as is necessary when studying the millennia-long era of antiquity. This is reflected in my education: My B.A. was in comparative literature with minors in ancient history and archaeology, My first M.A. was an interdisciplinary programme of ancient history and archaeology, and my second M.A. was an interdisciplinary programme in classics and ancient history.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
In my spare time I enjoy reading, painting, and cooking. I also enjoy travelling and hiking, which is much more fun in the hills and mountains of Norway than in my own flat country!