Catherine Ware

My research involves different aspects of epic, panegyric and rhetoric in late antiquity. My first monograph examined the evolution of the Roman epic tradition in the work of the court poet Claudian and I have written on the changing poetics of late antiquity, especially the complexities of allusion and intertextuality and the assimilation of pagan imagery by Christian literature. My post-doctoral studies turned from from poetic to prose panegyrics and imperial discourse.

My current scholarship involves the influence of rhetoric on epic and specifically the nature and influence of progymnasmata.  Combining my interests in epic and rhetoric, I am writing a translation and commentary on Dracontius' Romulea for the Routledge Later Latin Poetry series and have also begun a commentary on Claudian’s In Eutropium.

Research Consortia

I am a member of the Panegyrici Latini Project since 2010 (https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/classics/panegyric/), a collaborative research venture based in the Universities of St Andrews and Liverpool. The aim of the group is to produce separate commentaries on the individual speeches of the Panegyrici Latini collection, and our research has led to edited volumes, articles, conferences and workshops. I published a commentary on PanLat VI(7) in 2021 and I am currently examining the importance of panegyric in late antique literature. 

As a member of the international research consortium 'Late Praise' (Encomio e invectiva: retórica, literatura y sociedad en la tardoantigüedad, based in the Universidad Complutense de Padrid and the Universidad de Navarra, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation), I am working on the nature of progymnasmata and their impact on late antique literature.

I began working with Dr Jason Harris on the Schola Latina (https://www.ucc.ie/en/cnls/scholalatina/) and in 2019 introduced Active Latin to the undergraduate curriculum. UCC is the only Irish university offering undergraduate modules in spoken Latin: through games, reading and conversation, students improve their Latin through practical use. I teach a range of Latin literature courses on canonic writers such as Caesar, Catullus, Ovid, Seneca, Vergil and since 2021 have introduced Late Latin literature in UG and PG modules, including survey courses on the literature of late antquity, the texts of Claudian and Dracontius. In Greek & Roman Civilisation, I teach Greek and Roman epic (Homer, Apollonius, Vergil, Ovid), tragedy, satire, Roman spectacle, women in the Roman world.