- B.A., Scripps College , 2011
- M.A., University of Chicago, 2014
- Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2017
Julia Mebane
Assistant Professor, Classical Studies
Director of Elementary Latin, Classical Studies
- jmebane@iu.edu
- Ballantine Hall 653
- Office Hours
Education
Research areas
- Roman political thought and its reception
- Metaphor
- Republicanism
- Civil War
- The dynastic succession
About Julia Mebane
My research explores the intersection of Latin literature and Roman political thought, particularly how political ideas are expressed and communicated in texts that fall outside the canonical boundaries of political theory. My first book, The Body Politic in Roman Political Thought, explores how Roman thinkers used the metaphor of the body politic to address changes in constitutional form between 63 BCE and 68 CE. Other research interests include the reception of Roman Republicanism under the empire, the dynastic succession as a problem of political thought, and the representation of civil war in Latin literature.
Courses Taught
- Ancient Roman Revolutions
- Roman Culture
- Imperial Roman Historians
- Introduction to Sallust
Publications
“Cicero’s Ideal Statesman as the Helmsman of the Ship of State.” Classical Philology 117.1 (2022): 120-138.
“Lucan and the Specter of Sulla in Julio-Claudian Rome,” in Lucan’s Imperial World: The Bellum Civile in its Contemporary Contexts, ed. Laura Zientek and Mark Thorne, 173-190. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
“Carlyle the Tragedian: Staging Euripides’ Bacchae in The French Revolution,” Classical Receptions 11.1 (2019): 44-60.
“Pompey’s Head and the Body Politic in Lucan’s De Bello Civili,” TAPA 146.1 (2016): 191-215.
The College of Arts