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Alan J. Ross

Alan Ross photo

Alan J. Ross

Associate Professor

ross.2005@osu.edu

414 University Hall
230 N Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210

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Areas of Expertise

  • Historiography, especially late antique
  • Epideictic oratory
  • Late Antique political history
  • Literary theory, especially narratology and intertextuality

Education

  • DPhil, Classics, University of Oxford
  • MSt (Master of Studies), Greek and Latin Languages and Literature, University of Oxford
  • BA, Classics, First Class Honours. University College London

Alan J. Ross joined OSU in 2022. He received his BA from University College London, and MSt and DPhil from the University of Oxford. Prior to OSU, he held research and teaching positions at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), University College Dublin (Ireland), University of Southampton (UK), Dartmouth College (USA), and Columbia University (USA).

His research lies in both Greek and Latin prose literature in Late Antiquity, as well as the political history of the fourth century. His first book, Ammianus’ Julian: Narrative and Genre in the Res Gestae (OUP, 2016), offered a narratological and intertextual study of the last great work of Latin historiography; his second, In Praise of Constantius: Greek Panegyric in Late Antiquity (OUP, 2025) investigated the role of Greek epideictic oratory in the careers of three prominent pagans, Libanius, Themistius, and Julian, during the tumultuous reign of the sons of Constantine. He has also published a number of articles on satire, hagiography, and the novel in the fourth century, and has edited a special issue of the Journal of Late Antiquity on bilingualism and translation practice. Current projects include a literary commentary on a Latin panegyric of the Tetrarchic period, and a collaborative project on Roman Dynasticism with colleagues at the Australian National University. 

'In Praise of Constantius' book by Alan Ross
book pic