Dr Charlotte Spence

charlotte s
Departmental Lecturer in Ancient History, New College
New College
charlotte.spence@classics.ox.ac.uk

Qualifications: BA Ancient History, University of Birmingham, PhD Classics and Ancient History, University of Exeter

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Academic Background

I have recently completed my PhD at the University of Exeter which examined the conceptions of the dead and the gods in ancient curse tablets. I have forthcoming publications on ancient Greek personal religion, Carthaginian curse tablets, and a monograph arising from my PhD thesis. I also co-edit the Lived Realities in Ancient History at Trivent Publishing. I am a Departmental Lecturer in Ancient History based in New College.  

Research Interests

My primary research interests currently revolve around ancient curse tablets. Projects include looking at the reality of living under the threat of being cursed in Late Antique Egypt and a monograph on Judeo-Christian Inscribed Curses in Late Antiquity

Research Keywords

Curse tablets, epigraphy, ancient Greek curses, Latin curses, magic, personal religion, religion, late antiquity 

Teaching

I am currently teaching: 

Greek History 1: Archaic Greek History 750 BC - 479 BC 

Greek History 2: Thucydides and the Greek World 479 BC - 403 BC

Roman History 4: Polybius, Rome and the Mediterranean: 241 BC - 146 BC 

Roman History 5: Republic in Crisis 146 BC - 46 BC 
Thucydides and the West 

I also teach for the Classics Faculty on the Classical Archaeology and Ancient History degree on the Aristocracy and Democracy in the Greek world, 550 - 450 BC 

I am convenor for Alexander and his Early Successors (both Literae Humaniores and Ancient and Medieval History)

I have previously taught the following: 

Ancient Sources (Material Evidence) - Pompeii: Destruction, Discovery and Afterlife

Ancient Sources Material Evidence: Building Communities in Archaic Greece

Ancient Sources Written Evidence: Tyranny 

Greek History: Problems and Sources

Understanding the Medieval and Early Modern Worlds c. 500-1750 CE

Making History

Greek and Roman Narrative

Roman History: Problems and Sources (CLA1002)

Publications

Full Publications: Dr Charlotte Spence 2024

Selected Publications:

Spence, C. Forthcoming. ‘Communication with the Superhuman through Curse Tablets,’ in S. Bianchi Mancini, C. Di Serio, and S. Fogliazza (eds.) Reaching the Superhuman: Ritual, Communication, and Materiality in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Special Edition of Religion in the Roman Empire.

Denson, R. and Spence, C. (eds.) Forthcoming. The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity. Budapest.

Spence, C. Forthcoming (2024). ‘Curse Tablets, Amulets, Spells,’ in J. Kindt (ed.) Ancient Greek Personal Religion. Cambridge.

Spence, C. Forthcoming (2024). ‘Carthaginian Curse Tablets,’ Roman Carthage. A Reappraisal, Danish Institute in Rome from the 18th -20th of January 2022. Analecta Romana Instituti Danici. Rome.

Spence, C. 2022. ‘Change and Continuity in Curse Tablets from the Roman World,’ in F. Conti and E. Pollard (eds.) Nemo non metuit: Magic in the Roman World. Budapest. 53- 98.