Dr Jesse Hill (BA (Hons), MA, PhD)

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Biography

Background

Born and raised in Winnipeg, I took an Honours BA from the University of Winnipeg in 2014 and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto in 2016 and 2021. After finishing up my thesis (The Latin past and the poetry of Catullus, supervised by Michael Dewar), I spent 8 months as a Postdoc and Instructor at the University of British Columbia before coming here to Edinburgh in 2022. I held a UKRI Postdoctoral Fellowship (= Marie Curie) in 2022-24 and now I've gratefully taken up a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship.  

Useful Links

https://edinburgh.academia.edu/JesseHill

Research summary

Places: 

  • Mediterranean

Themes: 

  • Language & Literature
  • Cultural history

Periods: 

  • Antiquity

Research interests

I primarily work on the poetry and cultural history of Italy in the third, second, and first centuries BCE. I'm generally interested in imitatio, allusion, and intertextuality; themes of ethnicity and cultural identity; and everything about literary fragments (including how to edit them). 

Current research activities

I am currently wrapping up my first monograph, Catullus and the Three Hearts of Quintus Ennius, and starting on my next, Tota Italia: Poetry, Place, and Identity in Augustan Italy. But I have lots of other things on the go:

  • my and Toph Marshall's co-edited volume, Ennius Beyond Epic, is due out with Cambridge University Press any day now;
  • my and Toph's next volume, Early Roman Tragedy, is starting to come together;
  • Alessandro Russo and I are beginning to edit the letters of Sebastiano Timpanaro and Otto Skutsch;
  • Benjamin Acosta-Hughes and I have a co-written article on Callimachus, Ennius, and Catullus 76 forthcoming in Materiali e discussioni per l'analisi dei testi classici;
  • substantial entries of mine on a wide range of topics (e.g. Cornelius Nepos, Lutatius Catulus, Rhea Silvia) are forthcoming in De Gruyter's Greek and Roman Humanities Encyclopedia;
  • and I am beginning to draft a paper on the inscribed epigrams of Tiburtinus (which, after a failed attempt back in 2019, I was lucky to study in the storerooms of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli earlier this year). 

Books

Hill, J. and Marshall, C.W. eds. 2025. Ennius Beyond Epic. Cambridge. 

Articles and Chapters

Hill, J. and Acosta-Hughes, B. Forthcoming. 'Agony in Complexity (Catullus 76.17–22)'. Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici.

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Style and Tradition in the Longer Fragments of Ennius'. In The Oxford Handbook of Ennius, edited by J. Nethercut and S. La Barbera.  

Hill, J. 2025. 'Ennius pinxit, or What a Difference a Letter Makes (Epigr. I V.)'. Mnemosyne Advance Article, 01/10. 

Hill, J. 2025. 'Varro's Menippean Ennius'. In Hill and Marshall: 91–115. 

Marshall, C. W. and Hill, J. 2025. 'Ennius Over-Annalized'. In Hill and Marshall: 1–11. 

Hill, J. 2025. 'Timpanaro and the Text of Ennius'. RPL XLVI: 140-59.

Hill, J. 2021. 'True Friendship: Ennius and Other Poets in Catullus 116'. TAPA 151.1: 155-84.  

Welsh, J.T. and Hill, J. 2021. 'A Neglected Manuscript of the Glossary of Placidus and the History of the Text'. CQ 71.1: 422-39.

Encyclopedia Articles and Entries

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Cornelius Nepos.' 7,598-word article in De Gruyter's Greek and Roman Humanities (GROH) Encyclopedia – Historiography. 

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Q. Lutatius Catulus' and 'Lutatius'. 6,339-word pair of articles in GROH – Historiography.

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Annales', 'Annalists', 'Horoi'. ca. 9,000-word cluster of entries in GROH – Historiography.   

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Q. Ennius'. ca. 10,000-word article in GROH – Epic. 

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Ilia/Rhea Silvia'. ca. 300-word entry in GROH – Epic. 

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Carmen Priami'. ca. 300-word entry in GROH – Epic. 

Hill, J. Forthcoming. 'Fulvius, M. Nobilior'. ca. 300-word entry in GROH – Epic. 

Book Reviews

Hill, J. 2024. 'Further Thoughts on Some Catullan Question', on T. P. Wiseman. 2023. Catullan Questions Revisited. Cambridge. Classical Review.

Hill, J. 2023. Hill on R. Maltby and N.W. Slater. eds. 2022. Fragmentary Republican Latin, Volume VI: Livius Andronicus. Naevius. Caecilius. Cambridge, MA. BMCR.2023.08.28. https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.08.28/ 

Hill, J. 2023. Hill on H. Čulík-Baird. 2022. Cicero and the Early Latin Poets. Cambridge. Phoenix 75.3-4: 378-81.

Hill, J. 2022. Hill on D. Feeney. 2021. Explorations in Latin literature. Volume 2: elegy, lyric, and other topics. Cambridge. BMCR.2022.05.22. https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2022/2022.05.22/

Hill, J. 2021. Hill on T. Biggs, 2020. Poetics of the First Punic War. Ann Arbor. BMCR.2021.10.11. https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.10.11/

Hill, J. 2020. Hill on J. Nethercut, 2021. Ennius Noster: Lucretius and the Annales. Oxford. Phoenix 74.3-4: 335-37.

Hill, J. 2020. Hill on C. Damon and J. Farrell, eds. 2020. Ennius’ Annals. Poetry and History. Cambridge. Phoenix 74.1-2: 160-63.

Hill, J. 2020. Hill on N. Ciano, 2019. Gli Aratea di Cicerone: saggio di commento ai frammenti di tradizione indiretta con approfondimenti a luoghi scelti (frr. 13 e 18). Bari. BMCR.2020.11.33. https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2020/2020.11.33/

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