Selga Medenieks

Dr. Selga Medenieks is an Australian Classicist and Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, whose work focuses on intersections of the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds, particularly the political uses of religion, religious institutions, and ritual. Her most recent studies, as Research Fellow with the joint Trinity College Dublin and Yale University project ‘Volcanism, hydrology and social conflict: lessons from Hellenistic and Roman-era Egypt and Mesopotamia’, link historical and scientific evidence of climate disturbances with social turmoil in the ANE. While Visiting at the MacMillan Center, Selga will be building upon this research as well as that of the Yale Nile Initiative, which examined the effects of environmental upheaval in ancient Egypt.

Selga has held several interdisciplinary research posts and since 2016 is a Research Fellow with the Dept of Classics, Trinity College Dublin, managing the production of Hermathena, the journal of Classics, Theology, and Philosophy (1873-). She is a member of the Central Council of the Classical Association of Ireland and also Editor of its biannual news bulletin. Selga holds BAs in journalism (RMIT), ancient history and archaeology (Trinity College Dublin), postgraduate qualifications in law (Melbourne University), and obtained her PhD in Classics (Trinity College Dublin) with her thesis ‘Cyrus the Great, Religion, and the Conquest of Ancient Anatolia’.