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About us Practical matters How to find us dr. L.M. (Leanne) Jansen

dr. L.M. (Leanne) Jansen

University lecturer
Profile picture of dr. L.M. (Leanne) Jansen
E-mail:
l.m.jansen rug.nl

Field/Discipline

Expertise

In my research I study a diverse range of subjects that are all connected with the classical tradition. In my dissertation Cicero, Statesmanship and Republicanism in Roman Historiography (Leiden, 2022), I ask the question why Cicero has the reputation of being a bad leader in literature of the imperial period, and what the impact of this image is on Cicero’s reception in later times.

My current research profile is defined by three main fields of interest: leadership historiography, and rhetoric. I am interested in models of leadership in antiquity and now. I focus on the way these models are shaped in historiographical texts, texts which commemorate the history of Rome. My interest goes beyond the 'Great Man History'; I am triggered by those moments when historians write about events and figures in the margins of history. Finally, I specialize in the art of rhetoric: where do speaking well and leadership coincide? How are speeches of historical figures represented? And which moral lessons can we learn from those?

All these questions come together in literary texts written under the Roman Empire, a period during which intellectuals from the entire empire create a shared discourse about good leadership and good citizenship. It is these, often Greek-speaking, people who can give us crucial insights into the phenomenon of cultural interaction in a global world. I currently publish about the second- and third-century historians Appian and Cassius Dio, and I am preparing a monograph about Appian.

A side project is the academic work of one of my personal role models: the Florentine humanist Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494), one of the greatest Hellenists of the Italian Renaissance.

In my teaching I try to bring across my enthusiasm for historiography, rhetoric and the reception of (and within) antiquity. Apart from language courses I have for example taught on the subject of exemplarity in imperial literature and the culture and politics in Greek cities under the Empire. I also teach within the Rhetorics Minor.
Last modified:04 February 2025 07.55 a.m.

Contact information

Oude Boteringestraat 38
9712 GK Groningen
The Netherlands

Contact

Job title:
University lecturer GLTC
Room:
1312.430
Working hours:
Mo - Fri; Tue, Wed, Thurs in the office

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