Faculty, Press Release

December 7, 2015 | By Ohio Wesleyan University

OWU Classics Professor Publishes 10 Papers in Six Countries in 2015

Lee Fratantuono, Ph.D., Also Preparing to Release New Book in 2016

DELAWARE, Ohio – Lee Fratantuono, chair of Ohio Wesleyan University’s Classics Program, is closing out 2015 with significant international traction for his work on classical literature and ancient history.

In addition to two books on the poets Lucretius and Virgil, Fratantuono, Ph.D., published 10 scholarly papers this year in peer-reviewed journals from a half dozen countries.

Four papers have appeared in Italy: one on the Roman goddess of the harvest Ceres in Bollettino di studi latini; one on the satirical poet Juvenal and his sources in Rivista di cultura classica e medioevale; one on the Roman god Vulcan in Paideia; and one on the Neronian poet Lucan in the edited volume Letture e lettori dei Lucano: Convegno Internazionale de Studi Fisciano 27-29 marzo 2012 (Pisa: Edizioni ETS), featuring a collection of articles from a conference in Salerno.

Two more of Fratantuono’s papers have been published in Belgium: one on the Roman god of the sea Neptune in Latomus, and one on the debt of the poet Juvenal to Virgil in L’Antiquité classique.

Additional papers are out in France on the Roman god Mercury (for Pallas: Revue des études antiques); in South Africa on the lyric poet Catullus (for Acta Classica); in the Czech Republic on ancient conceptions of the “West” (for Eirene); and in Sweden on the animal similes in Virgil’s Aeneid (for Eranos: Acta Philologica Suecana).

Along with Fratantuono’s publications, the Italian scholar Valentino D’Urso has devoted a paper in the 2015 Bollettino di studi latini providing a “critical analysis…of a recent monograph by Lee Fratantuono” – his 2012 volume, Madness Triumphant: A Reading of Lucan’s Pharsalia.

And 2016 will open with a paper on ancient conceptions of the night for a Hungarian journal, and a new book release: War for the World: What Happened at Actium (Pen & Sword Books). Fratantuono’s newest book offers a detailed study of the surviving evidence for the great naval battle at Actium that was fought between the forces of Octavian, Mark Antony, and Egypt’s queen Cleopatra.

Fratantuono, Ohio Wesleyan’s William Francis Whitlock Professor of Latin, joined the university’s faculty in 2005. He teaches Greek and Latin at all levels, and has particular interests in Latin poetry, imperial Greek verse, and Roman history.

Learn more about Fratantuono and Ohio Wesleyan’s Classics Program at www.owu.edu/classics.


Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 87 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,675 students represent 43 U.S. states and territories and 33 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.