Jane Lucy Lightfoot FBA (born 1969) is a British classical scholar. She is Professor of Greek Literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow of New College, Oxford.

Early life and education

Lightfoot was born in 1969 in Liverpool, England. She was educated at The Belvedere School, an all-girls private school. She then studied Classics at St John's College, Oxford, graduating with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1992: as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree in 1994. She stayed at Oxford to study for a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree, and was a Jubilee Scholar at St Hugh's College, Oxford, for the 1993/94 academic year and a Prize Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, from 1994.^[1] She completed her doctorate in 1995 with a thesis titled "Parthenius" (concerning the ancient Greek poet, Parthenius of Nicaea), for which she won the Conington Prize.^[2]

Academic career

Lightfoot was awarded a Prize Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, in 1994, while she was a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, which she held until 2000.^[1] Then, from 2000 to 2003, she was a post-doctoral fellow at All Souls.^[1] She has been a fellow and tutor in classics at New College, Oxford, since 2003.^[3] In 2014, she was awarded a Title of Distinction by the University of Oxford as "Professor of Greek Literature".^[4]

Her research interests include most aspects of Greek literature, with her publications focusing primarily on Hellenistic and imperial literature.^[3] Her specialism is in the exploration of underrepresented classical texts, including mythography, ethnography, oracular literature, poetry and prose.^[5] Her current work is a critical interpretation of late antique astrological poetry.^[3]

Honours

Lightfoot was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2018, the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.^[6] She is an Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Oxford.^[7]

Selected publications

• Parthenius of Nicaea (Oxford, 1999)
• Lucian, On the Syrian Goddess (Oxford, 2003)
• The Sibylline Oracles (Oxford, 2007)
• A Hellenistic Collection (Cambridge, MA, 2009)
• Dionysius Periegetes, Description of the Known World: With Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford, 2014)
• Pseudo-Manetho, Apotelesmatica, Books Two, Three, and Six: Edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford, 2020)
• Pseudo-Manetho, Apotelesmatica, Books Four, One, and Five: Edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford, 2023)

References