Sue Blundell wrote her PhD thesis on Greek and Roman philosophy: more specifically, on Epicurean ideas about biological and cultural evolution. She has been a lecturer in Classical Studies at the Open University, Goldsmiths, and Birkbeck, University of London, and she gives regular lectures at the British Museum. She also taught for a number of years on the Conservation course at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. Her main area of research is the history of women in ancient Greece, and their representation in drama and the visual arts. Her other publications include work on Greek and Roman theories of evolution, Emma Hamilton's 'Classical Attitudes' and their place in the 18th century Grand Tour, and the symbolism of shoes in Greek art and thought.

 

Publications

'One shoe off and one shoe on: the motif of monosandalism in ancient Greece', in Sadie Pickup and Sally Waite, eds., Shoes, Slippers and Sandals. Feet and footwear in Classical Antiquity  Routledge, 2018

The origins of civilisation in Greek and Roman thought, 2014, republished as part of the Routledge Revivals series

Vision and Viewing in Ancient Greece (edited with Douglas Cairns and Nancy Rabinowitz) Special issue of Helios, 2013 

'Parthenon frieze to star in the London Olympics', in CA News June 2012

'Greek art and the Grand Tour', in T.J.Smith and D.Plantzos, eds., A Companion to Greek Art  Wiley-Blackwell,  2012

'Visions of childhood: girls, boys and adults in Attic vase-painting', in H.Whittaker, ed., In Memoriam. Commemoration, communal memory, and gender values in the ancient Graeco-Roman world   Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011

Gender and the classics curriculum 
The Higher Education Academy: Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology, 2008   A survey into the teaching of gender within classics degrees.

'Women's bonds, women's pots: adornment scenes in Attic vase-painting' (with Nancy Rabinowitz)  Phoenix 62, 2008

'Beneath their shining feet: shoes and sandals in Classical Greece', in G.Riello & P.McNeil, eds., Shoes. A history from sandals to sneakers Berg, 2006 and 2011

'Gendered viewing in Classical Greece', papers from the conference Seeing the past: building knowledge of the past and present through acts of seeing held at Stanford University in February 2005 (with Nancy Rabinowitz). Published online at http://traumwerk.stanford.edu:3455/31/341 

'Clutching at Clothes' in L.Llewellyn-Jones, ed., Women's dress in the ancient Greek world  Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales, 2002

The sacred and the feminine in ancient Greece (edited, with Margaret Williamson) Routledge, 1998

Women in classical Athens  Duckworth and the Bristol Classical Press, 1998 

 

 

Women in ancient Greece  The British Museum Press and Harvard University Press, 1995

 

   

 

'Gender and the curriculum of adult education' in S.B.Merriam, ed., Selected writings on philosophy and adult education, 1995 (part of an article first published in the International Journal of Lifelong Education in 1992)

The origins of civilisation in Greek and Roman thought   Croom Helm, 1986