Dr Thierry Oppeneer (°1989) studied History (BA and MA) at Ghent University. In July 2018, he obtained the combined degree Doctor of History and of Literary Studies with his dissertation ‘The Rhetoric of Democracy in Second Sophistic literature’ (supervisors prof. dr. Arjan Zuiderhoek and prof. dr. Koen De Temmerman). This project investigated ideas about ‘the people’ and popular political participation in the works of a number of Greek intellectuals from the Roman Empire, viz. Dio of Prusa, Plutarch, Chariton and Lucian who all belonged to the so-called Second Sophistic (ca. 50-250 AD).
His current research project is about Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, a second-century AD collection of biographies of Greek and Roman statesmen from classical Athens to Republican Rome. It examines the Lives as a source on Greek city politics in Plutarch’s own day by testing the hypothesis that they were, in part, intended to instruct second-century AD politicians on how to secure the support of the people. The project thus aims to provide new insights into local power relations in the Roman empire and to advance our understanding of the ancient city as an inclusive political system.
