People > Steering Committee > Christine Plastow

Before joining Classical Studies at the Open University, Christine Plastow completed a BA in Classical Studies and English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London; a Masters in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Bristol; and a PhD at UCL, which focused on the rhetoric employed around homicide in Athenian law court speeches. As a part of this project, she became interested in the religious dangers associated with homicide at Athens, particularly miasma (‘pollution’), and the ways in which this influenced restrictions on the free movement of those accused of homicide. She also explored the religious nature of the Athenian homicide courts, particularly their consistent location at temples, the shrines established near to these locations, and the visceral nature of the sacrifices and oaths carried out before trials. A book of the thesis, provisionally titled Homicide in the Attic Orators: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Context, is under contract with Routledge.

Christine maintains research interests in Athenian oratory and law; Greek drama, particularly in modern receptions; and Greek literature and history more broadly. She is currently working on a project exploring the role of space and place in Athenian forensic oratory. She is a member of module teams on Greek and Latin language and culture at the OU at level 2, and she is also on the module team for the second part of the Classical Studies MA, which focuses on the ancient body. She is a founding member of By Jove Theatre Company, a London-based collective producing new work from old stories, particularly Greek mythology.