Personal Biography
I grew up in Germany and obtained my first degree at the University of Frankfurt. While I was a student, the work of two Oxford scholars caught my attention. It was because of them that I applied to Oxford for a place to do graduate work, and I was fortunate to end up being jointly supervised by them. After my doctorate I did a tour of Oxford: starting at Corpus, I went to Merton for a year as a Junior Research Fellow, was then Fellow and Tutor in Latin and Greek at Somerville for six years, and then returned to Corpus.
Research and Teaching
My research interests are in Latin prose, ancient rhetoric and literary criticism, Latin didactic poetry, the borderline area between classical literature and ancient philosophy, as well as Latin textual criticism. In my work I try to combine close philological analysis with broader interests in intellectual history and Greco-Roman culture. Among other things, I am interested in arguments, in the circumstances in which they count as good or relevant (e.g. public debate, philosophical discourse, legal casuistry), and in how they are expressed in Latin and Greek; in the way in which ‘theory' (rhetorical, philosophical, legal) made an impact on real life, by informing attitudes on everyday matters and shaping the perception and solution of practical problems; and in the way in which philosophical and rhetorical doctrine was used to articulate traditional or intuitively held views and convictions.
Apart from lectures delivered to undergraduate audiences my teaching is on the graduate level; information on how to apply for a place to read for an MSt, MPhil or DPhil in Classical Languages and Literature is available from the webpage of the Faculty of Classics. I have wide-ranging teaching interests, but am particularly keen to promote work on Latin prose, the production of commentaries, as well as interdisciplinary projects (of the right kind).
Major Publications
Das Buch E der aristotelischen Topik - Untersuchungen zur Echtheitsfrage, Göttingen 2000 (Hypomnemata vol. 131; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht).
Cicero's Topica. Critical edition, translation, introduction, and commentary. Oxford 2003 (Oxford Classical Monographs; Oxford University Press). Published as paperback 2006.
T. Reinhardt, M. Lapidge, J.N. Adams (edd.) Aspects of the Language of Latin Prose, Proceedings of the British Academy no. 129, Oxford 2005.
Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria Bk. 2. Edited jointly with Michael Winterbottom. Oxford 2006 (Oxford University Press).
M. Tulli Ciceronis Academicus Primus, Fragmenta et Testimonia Academicorum Librorum, Lucullus. Oxford 2023 (Oxford Classical Texts; Oxford University Press).
Cicero’s Academici libri and Lucullus. A Commentary with Introduction and Translations. Oxford 2023 (Oxford University Press).