Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
Finland
fellow
Christian Laes
2026-2027
Home institution
University of Manchester
Country of origin (home institution)
United Kingdom
Discipline(s)
Ancient history; Classical studies
Theme(s)
Other
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
As a classicist and ancient historian, Christian Laes studies the social and cultural history of Graeco-Roman and Late Antiquity, paying particular attention to the human life course: childhood, youth, old age, family, sexuality, and disabilities. His monographs and over 200 contributions have been published with internationally renowned publishers and journals. Christian's has wide interests in many things related to classics: epigraphy, Neo-Latin literature and didactics of ancient languages.
Research Project
Vita Aesopi (version G). The Extraordinary Life of an Enslaved Person in Antiquity. Slavery and Freedom in a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective
With the Aesop Romance (first/second century CE), I intend to study one of the richest and most understudied stories of Antiquity, which combines perspectives of both slavery and freedom. Despite its enormous potential, this unique document has hardly ever been the subject of a profound socio-cultural study. I will put together the first full commentary on the Life of Aesop, version G. Also, the diachronical comparison with version W (fourth/fifth century CE) and the Vita Accursiana (thirteenth century) will be the subject of a separate study. Here, I will look at how the socio-cultural items of the novel are dealt with in Late Antiquity and the Byzantine period: a study of continuity and change.
Research Interests:
Socio-cultural history of Antiquity; Epigraphy; Neo-Latin literature; Ancient Greek; Latin