Julia Kindt
Julia Kindt is Professor of Ancient History, ARC Future Fellow (2018-22), and elected fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She is a contributor to TLS, the Australian Book Review, Meanjin, the Conversation and other magazines. The first woman appointed full professor in Classics and Ancient History at Sydney University she is a historian of ancient Greece with a broad interest in the social, cultural, and intellectual history of the ancient world, in particular in the history of ideas, religion, historiography, classical receptions, and the environmental humanities. She was a member of the ARC College of Experts (2019-2022) and is senior editor of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religions (ORE), Associate editor in the editorial collective of Public Humanities (a new journal published by Cambridge University Press), and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Ancient History and Antichthon.
Kindt has authored three books, and (co-)edited four (two more are currently in production). Her most recent book, The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten Ancient Creatures that Make Us Human was released by Cambridge University Press in January 2024. It follows the fascinating trails of ten Greek and Roman creatures that cross from the ancient into the modern world and speaks to the question of ‘what makes us human’.
Her first book, Rethinking Greek Religion (Cambridge University Press 2012) sought to widen our understanding of ancient Greek religion. It has been described as ‘an important contribution’ to the field and as ‘essential reading for anyone interested in the current changes of direction in the understanding of Greek religion.’ Her second book, Revisiting Delphi. Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece (Cambridge University Press 2016) has been lauded as ‘thought provoking’ and a ‘persuasive’ examination of Greek religious thought.
Kindt is widely recognized for her original approach that brings the ancient world in conversation with the modern, her conceptual work on ancient Greek religion, and her innovative way of writing the history of ideas and concepts out of the ancient literary, historical, and material evidence. She has held numerous fellowships and honours including a Harper-Schmitt Fellowship and a Katharine Graham Fellowship (both at the University of Chicago, 2003-5), and a visiting fellowship at the Max Weber Kolleg for Advanced Studies in Erfurt (Germany).
At Sydney, she has served as the academic board nominee on various promotion and search committees. She is a member of the academic advisory group of the Chau Chak Wing Museum, and on the advisory board of Sydney University Press.
Kindt has authored three books, and (co-)edited four (two more are currently in production). Her most recent book, The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten Ancient Creatures that Make Us Human was released by Cambridge University Press in January 2024. It follows the fascinating trails of ten Greek and Roman creatures that cross from the ancient into the modern world and speaks to the question of ‘what makes us human’.
Her first book, Rethinking Greek Religion (Cambridge University Press 2012) sought to widen our understanding of ancient Greek religion. It has been described as ‘an important contribution’ to the field and as ‘essential reading for anyone interested in the current changes of direction in the understanding of Greek religion.’ Her second book, Revisiting Delphi. Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece (Cambridge University Press 2016) has been lauded as ‘thought provoking’ and a ‘persuasive’ examination of Greek religious thought.
Kindt is widely recognized for her original approach that brings the ancient world in conversation with the modern, her conceptual work on ancient Greek religion, and her innovative way of writing the history of ideas and concepts out of the ancient literary, historical, and material evidence. She has held numerous fellowships and honours including a Harper-Schmitt Fellowship and a Katharine Graham Fellowship (both at the University of Chicago, 2003-5), and a visiting fellowship at the Max Weber Kolleg for Advanced Studies in Erfurt (Germany).
At Sydney, she has served as the academic board nominee on various promotion and search committees. She is a member of the academic advisory group of the Chau Chak Wing Museum, and on the advisory board of Sydney University Press.
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Books by Julia Kindt
An international team of renowned contributors shows that animals had a sustained presence not only in the traditionally well-researched cultural practice of blood sacrifice but across the full spectrum of ancient Greek religious beliefs and practices. Animals played a role in divination, epiphany, ritual healing, the setting up of dedications, the writing of binding spells, and the instigation of other ‘magical’ means. Taken together, the individual contributions to this book illustrate that ancient Greek religion constituted a triangular symbolic system encompassing not just gods and humans, but also animals as a third player and point of reference.
Animals in Ancient Greek Religion will be of interest to students and scholars of Greek religion, Greek myth, and ancient religion more broadly, as well as for anyone interested in human/animal relations in the ancient world.
Papers by Julia Kindt
An international team of renowned contributors shows that animals had a sustained presence not only in the traditionally well-researched cultural practice of blood sacrifice but across the full spectrum of ancient Greek religious beliefs and practices. Animals played a role in divination, epiphany, ritual healing, the setting up of dedications, the writing of binding spells, and the instigation of other ‘magical’ means. Taken together, the individual contributions to this book illustrate that ancient Greek religion constituted a triangular symbolic system encompassing not just gods and humans, but also animals as a third player and point of reference.
Animals in Ancient Greek Religion will be of interest to students and scholars of Greek religion, Greek myth, and ancient religion more broadly, as well as for anyone interested in human/animal relations in the ancient world.