Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Nikola Golubovic

Visiting Assistant Professor of Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Humanities
Latin literature, imperial prose, oratory, education, satire, book history
nikolag@reed.edu

Education and Experience

B.A. 2016 University of Belgrade
M.A. 2017 University of Belgrade
Ph.D. 2022 University of Pennsylvania

I received my Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, after which I spent a year teaching at several colleges and universities in Greater Philadelphia before coming to Reed. I teach broadly about Ancient Greek and Roman literature and culture. Some recent topics include the life and times of Julius Caesar, the Roman family, race and ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean, and Latin and Greek languages. In 2022, my students nominated me for a faculty Excellence in Teaching award.

At Reed, I look forward to teaching courses on Roman satire, the Latin language, and Hum 110.

My broad academic training informs my research, but I am a Latinist primarily focused on Roman literature and culture of the imperial period. Questions about the nexus of Roman education, social history, and material book culture drive my current scholarship. I examine how social relations, text circulation, mercantile competition, and exploitation functioned in the world of Roman rhetorical education, a world populated by ambitious and combative professors, zealous students, and an array of expertly trained enslaved workers. I also maintain an interest in satire and the Latin novel. For my scholarship, I was recently recognized as a Dean’s Scholar by Penn.

Among my past endeavors, a special place belongs to the project I did concerning Vlach, a small, unwritten, and rapidly disappearing Balkan Romance language that I grew up speaking. After gathering and processing linguistic data, I co-authored the first scholarly record of this language that is becoming extinct due to assimilation and lack of official recognition. I put my training in Latin and historical linguistics to practical use to help my minority ethnic group preserve its culture.