Bio/Research
Professor Roby’s research interests focus on the literary aspects of scientific and technical texts from the ancient world, the interaction of verbal and visual elements in those texts, and the definition and dissemination of scientific work. Her current book project (Technical Ekphrasis in Ancie...
Click to Expand >>
Click to Expand >>
Bio/Research
Professor Roby’s research interests focus on the literary aspects of scientific and technical texts from the ancient world, the interaction of verbal and visual elements in those texts, and the definition and dissemination of scientific work. Her current book project (Technical Ekphrasis in Ancient Science: The Written Machine between Alexandria and Rome, under contract with Cambridge University Press) traces the literary techniques used in the textual representation of technological artifacts from Hellenistic Greece to late-ancient Rome. Other recent, current, and forthcoming projects address Ptolemy’s use of ekphrasis to appeal to the “scientific imagination,” the challenges of describing pain as presented by Galen, the Roman reception of Greek science, the reworking of mathematical texts by the Roman surveyors, and how contemporary philosophy of science can help us understand the "scientific fictions" of Seneca's Natural Questions.
Click to Shrink <<
Click to Shrink <<