Holly Axford

Graduate Student

ha2694@columbia.edu

Interests

• Literary representations of ritual and magic

• Greek and Roman religion

• The witch in Greek and Latin poetry

• Feminist theory

• Contemporary classical receptions

Holly is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Classics department. She received an MA in Classical Studies (2022) and an MLitt in Classics (2023) from the University of St. Andrews. Her M.Litt. thesis explored the reception of rape narratives from Ovid’s Metamorphoses in contemporary women’s myth retelling, arguing for the potentially subversive contribution of these myths in the hands of feminist writers to present cultural discourse surrounding sexual assault and its representation in media.

Beyond reception studies, Holly’s interests center around ancient ritual practices and their representation in literature, focusing on their intersection with the construction of gendered identities. During her time at Columbia, she is keen to continue exploring an approach to ancient religion which centers the lived experience of the practitioner. She also hopes to make use of a burgeoning interest in Latin literature to develop her MLitt work on the witch as a literary motif and its engagement with attitudes towards women’s maternal roles. "