David Rijser appointed Professor by special appointment of the Reception of Classical Antiquity

As of 1 January 2019, David Rijser is appointed as Professor by special appointment in the chair of the Reception of Classical Antiquity at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen. Alongside his position as Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam, he will spend the coming five years researching responses to the cultures of classical antiquity in a European and global context from a historical perspective.

David Rijser (1956) studied Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Amsterdam, where he graduated with distinction in 1988. Alongside a career in teaching, in which he taught philosophy, history, Greek and Latin, he also worked in journalism. In 2006, he he gained his PhD with distinction with his thesis entitled Raphael’s Poetics: Ekphrasis, Interaction and Typology in Art and Poetry of High Renaissance Rome from the University of Amsterdam, where he still works: Rijser is an expert in the field of the reception of Classical Antiquity and is affiliated with ACASA (the Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology).

Rijser will research the interface of history, cultural history, art history and literature. His particular focus will be on the handling of classical heritage in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but also the connection with contemporary culture, for example in film and television drama. He will maintain close ties between his teaching and research and the departments responsible for degree programmes in, for example, History, Archaeology, Dutch Language and Culture, European Languages and Cultures, Art History, and Arts, Culture and Media. This is the first time that the 80-year-old Nederlands Klassiek Verbond (Dutch Classics Alliance) has set up and supported a chair, and so the position is the first of its sort in Europe.