Richard L. Phillips

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He is currently editing unpublished papyri from Ptolemaic Egypt and writing a broader study about human invisibility in the ancient Mediterranean world.