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), 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
  • Europe

Themes: 

  • Language & Literature
  • Cultural history

Periods: 

  • Antiquity

Research interests

I primarily work on the literature 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:

  • On the heels of Ennius Beyond Epic (Cambridge, 2025), my and Toph Marshall's next volume, Early Roman Tragedy, is starting to come together;
  • I am beginning to draft a commentary on the fragments of early Roman tragedy;
  • Joseph Gerbasi and I are editing a special issue of Illinois Classics Studies (our theme is CanLit and the Classics);
  • Alessandro Russo and I are editing the letters of Sebastiano Timpanaro and Otto Skutsch;
  • 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. & Marshall, C.W. eds. 2025. Ennius Beyond Epic. Cambridge. 

Articles and Chapters

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. & Acosta-Hughes, B. 2026. 'Agony in Complexity (Catullus 76.17–22)'. Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici 96: 145–54. 

Hill, J. 2025. 'Ennius pinxit, or What a Difference a Letter Makes (Epigr. I V.)'. Mnemosyne 78: 1179–89.

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

Marshall, C. W. & Hill, J. 2025. 'Ennius Over-Annalized'. In Hill & 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. '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. 

Hill, J. 2026. 'Cornelius Nepos.' 7,598-word article in De Gruyter's Greek and Roman Humanities (GROH) Encyclopedia – Historiography. 

Hill, J. 2026. 'Q. Lutatius Catulus' and 'Lutatius'. 6,339-word pair of articles in GROH – Historiography.

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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