Kate Meng Brassel

I received my Ph.D. in Classics from Columbia University in 2018 after receiving my M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge and M.A. from Princeton University.

In my research, I take a diverse range of approaches to the intellectual history of the early imperial period. I am currently at work on a monograph entitled Persius’ Autopsy: Examining the Satirical Corpus, which proposes an iambic model for understanding the Neronian poet's relationship to both poetry and philosophy. I argue that the book of satires self-consciously plays with its own status as a literary artefact, consistently problematizing its status as a material text. Beyond its original scholarly contribution, Persius’ Autopsy includes original translations of the poems into English.

I pursue parallel research into the diatribes of the philosopher Epictetus, the formerly enslaved philosopher, and the moral status of women in the writings of Seneca, including a new project entitled "On Violence Against Trojan Women," which offers a fresh interpretation of Troades via critical theory and Asian studies.

Before coming to Penn, I taught as the Shapiro Faculty Fellow in the Core Curriculum at Columbia and also worked in television production. I teach both specialist and non-specialist courses, Greek and Latin at all levels, Representations of Race and Ethnicity in Antiquity, and classical reception in literature, television, and film.