Richard L. Phillips

Richard L. Phillips Associate Professor of Classical Studies

Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
303 Major Williams Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-5361 | rphllps@vt.edu

Richard Phillips is associate professor of ancient Greek and Latin languages, literatures, and cultures. He regularly teaches "Greek and Roman mythology" as well as "Fairytale, Folklore, and Magic: Popular Literature in Ancient Greece & Rome." He also teaches ancient Greek and Latin at all levels (and occasionally an independent study in Coptic or Old Nubian).

His research spotlights the "everyday" writings of individuals from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, including letters, tax documents, and ritual texts. In additon to authoring a book about invisibility and transformation rituals, he has more recently been discussing such rituals and representations of fantastical motifs in literary texts in light of contemporary scholarship on folklore, magic, ritual, narrative technique, and the senses.

He is currently editing unpublished papyri from Ptolemaic Egypt and writing a broader study about human invisibility in the ancient Mediterranean world.

Principal Areas of Research Focus

Ancient Greek and Latin, Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Papyrology and Graeco-Roman Egypt
Mythology, Religion, and Folklore

Education

Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Professional Roles

Program Director, Classical Studies (Fall 2022-present)
Eta Sigma Phi (Classics Honor Society, Faculty sponsor)
Classics Club Mentor

Awards and Honors

Certificate of Teaching Excellence, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, 2017
Summer Program in Roman Epigraphy, The American Academy in Rome (Director, John Bodel, Brown University), June 30-July 10, 2016
National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Institute (“Mortality: Facing Death in Ancient Greece”; Director, Karen Bassi, University of California at Santa Cruz), The Athens Centre, Summer 2014
National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminar (“Roman Religion in Its Cultural Context”; Director, Karl Galinsky, University of Texas at Austin), The American Academy in Rome, Summer 2007

Publications

Books

In Pursuit of Invisibility: Ritual Texts from Late Roman Egypt, American Studies in Papyrology 47 (Durham, NC: American Society of Papyrologists, 2009).

Journal Articles

“Introducing Superhero Tales into the Classroom: Greek Myth and the Changing Nature of Story," The Classical Journal (forthcoming)

“Invisibility and Sight in Homer: Some Aspects of A. S. Pease Reconsidered,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 111 (2021) 13-38

Invisibility, Belief, and Narrative," The Classical Journal 116.3 (2021): 306-330

A Fragmentary Account Involving Phylakitai,” Chronique d’Égypte 95 (2020): 87-92.

Dionysios’ Possessions: A List in Name Only,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 216 (2020): 203–206.

“Ritual Evidence and the Art of Going Unnoticed in PGM I 222-231 and 247-262.” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists. 56 (2019): 197-203.

“A Prayer for Justice on the Epitaph of Caecinia Bassa (CIL VI 7898),” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 205 (2018): 96-101.

Book Chapters/Contributions

(with Hélène Cuvigny) “Business Letter Belonging to the Archive of Papnouthis and Dorotheos.” In Yale Papyri in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Vol. IV, American Studies in Papyrology 55, Hélène Cuvigny, Ruth Duttenhöfer, and Ann E. Hanson, eds. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021): 206-210, plate 49.

“A Fragment of a Private Letter regarding the Care of a Goose.” In Yale Papyri in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Vol. IV, American Studies in Papyrology 55, Hélène Cuvigny, Ruth Duttenhöfer, and Ann E. Hanson, eds. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021): 121-123, plate 30.

“Traditions of Transformation and Shape-shifting in PGM XIII 270–277.” In Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions, Orientalische Religionen in der Antike, L. Bortolani et al., eds (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019): 208–226.