Professor Lisa Irene Hau

Professor of Classics (Classics)

telephone: 01413303222
email: Lisa.Hau@glasgow.ac.uk

R408 Level 4, Classics, 65 Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow G12 8LP

Research interests

My primary research interest is ancient historiography. I am especially interested in the literary aspect: how the narrative is put together, and how historiography works as a genre. For this purpose it is important to study not just the works that survive in substantial form, but also the ‘fragments’ of those works otherwise lost.

I have mainly published on Classical and Hellenistic Greek historiography, but I am also interested in Greek historiography under the Roman Empire and in Roman historiography, as well as in Greek and Roman literature more widely. My favourite literary approach is narratology, both classical and cognitive, but I believe in being eclectic in application of theory and choosing whatever works for the text in question.

My two monographs, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus and Rethinking Hellenistic Historiography, both deal with the development of Greek historiography as a genre and the different ways it was approached by different historiographers. Moral History argues that Greek historiography was at heart a moral-didactic genre aiming to teach its readers lessons about how to think and behave morally in the world. It analyses the moralising techniques and lessons of the Classical historiographers Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon and the Hellenistic historiographers Polybius and Diodorus as well as of a range of fragmentary historiographers from the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Rethinking Hellenistic Historiography: the immersive histories of Duris, Phylarchus and Agatharchides focuses on three Hellenistic historiographers whose works survive only in fragments, and who have traditionally been criticised for writing 'tragic' history in a sensationalist vein. Through an analysis of the fragments of the works of Duris, Phylarchus, and Agatharchides, and a comparison with the Histories of Polybius, it argues that their works were serious attempts at immersive history writing, aiming to make their readers engage with the past on an experiential level in order to understand it more fully than through an exclusively intellectual approach like that of Polybius.

Publications

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Number of items: 29.

2025

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2025) Rethinking Hellenistic Historiography: the Immersive Histories of Duris, Phylarchus, and Agatharchides. Series: Edinburgh studies in Hellenistic history and cultures. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474475600

2024

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2024) Athenaeus as covertext for Hellenistic historiography: the fragments of Polybius as case study. In: Neuerburg, Fabia, Tsiampokalos, Theofanis and Wozniczka, Piotr (eds.) Fragmente einer fragmentierten Welt: zur Problematik des Umgangs mit Fragmenten in der gegenwärtigen klassisch-philologischen Forschung. Series: Transmissions (vol.11). de Gruyter: Berlin, pp. 151-175. ISBN 9783111501376 (doi: 10.1515/9783111508788-007)

2023

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2023) Moralising and immersive big man history: Diodorus’ representation of Gelon, Dionysius I, and Agathocles. In: de Vido, Stefania and Durvye, Cécile (eds.) Un monde partagé : la Sicile du premier siècle av. J.-C. entre Diodore et Cicéron. Ca´Foscari, Venice University Press: Venice. ISBN 9788869697432 (doi: 10.30687/978-88-6969-742-5/003)

2022

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2022) Polybios’ griechische Perspektive auf Rom: Politische Theorie, Religion und Moralität. In: Scherr, Jonas, Gronau, Martin and Saracino, Stefano (eds.) Polybios von Megalopolis. Staatsdenken zwischen griechischer Poliswelt und römischer Res Publica. Series: Staatsverständnisse. Nomos: Baden-Baden, pp. 115-134. ISBN 9783848751013 (doi: 10.5771/9783845293035-115)

2021

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2021) The fragments of Polybius compared with those of the ‘tragic’ historians Duris and Phylarchu. Histos, 15, pp. 238-282.

2020

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2020) Trauma and morality in Thucydides. In: Jonasch, Melanie (ed.) The Fight for Greek Sicily: Society, Politics, and Landscape. Oxbow Books, pp. 99-106. ISBN 9781789253566

Hau, Lisa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2020) Tragedies of war in Duris and Phylarchus: social memory and experiential history. In: Klooster, Jacqueline and Kuin, Inger N. I. (eds.) After the Crisis: Remembrance, Re-anchoring and Recovery in Ancient Greece and Rome. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 49-64. ISBN 9781350128552

2019

Hau, Lisa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2019) Pathos with a point: reflections on 'sensationalist' narratives of violence in Hellenistic historiography in the light of twenty-first-century historiography. In: Grethlein, Jonas, Huitink, Luuk and Tagliabue, Aldo (eds.) Experience, Narrative, and Criticism in Ancient Greece: Under the Spell of Stories. Series: Cognitive classics. Oxford University Press, pp. 81-103. ISBN 9780198848295 (doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198848295.003.0005)

Hau, Lisa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2019) Diodorus’ use of Agatharchides’ description of Africa. In: Coltelloni-Trannoy, Michèle and Morlet, Sebastien (eds.) Histoire et Géographie Chez les Auteurs Grecs du lie Siecle Avant J.-C. au Vie Siecle Après J.-C. Boccard: Paris, pp. 27-42. ISBN 9782701805351

2018

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2018) Tragic history. In: Whitmarsh, Tim (ed.) Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. (doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8228)

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2018) 'One might rightly wonder' - marvelling in Polybios Histories. In: Gerolemou, Maria (ed.) Recognizing Miracles in Antiquity and Beyond. Series: Trends in classics supplementary volumes (53). De Gruyter: Berlin, pp. 63-84. ISBN 9783110530469 (doi: 10.1515/9783110563559-006)

Hau, Lisa I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439, Meeus, Alexander and Sheridan, Brian eds. (2018) Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke. Series: Studia Hellenistica, 58. Peeters: Leuven. ISBN 9789042934986

Hau, Lisa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439, Meeus, Alexander and Sheridan, Brian (2018) Introduction. In: Hau, L.I., Meeus, A. and Sheridan, B. (eds.) Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke. Series: Studia Hellenistica (58). Peeters: Leuven, pp. 3-12. ISBN 9789042934986

Hau, Lisa I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2018) Being, seeming and performing in Polybius. In: Miltsios, Nikos and Tamiolaki, Melina (eds.) Polybius and His Legacy. Series: Trends in classics - supplementary volumes (60). De Gruyter: Berlin, pp. 103-113. ISBN 9783110584844 (doi: 10.1515/9783110584844-00 7)

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2018) Græske Historikere. Klassikerforeningens Kildehæfter: Thisted. ISBN 9788789504605

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2018) Narrator and narratorial persona in Diodoros' Bibliotheke (and their implications for the tradition of Greek historiography). In: Hau, L.I., Meeus, A. and Sheridan, B. (eds.) Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke. Series: Studia Hellenistica (58). Peeters: Leuven, pp. 277-302. ISBN 9789042934986

2016

Ruffell, Ian and Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (Eds.) (2016) Truth and History in the Ancient World: Pluralising the Past. Series: Routledge studies in ancient history. Routledge: London and New York. ISBN 9781138839403

Ruffell, Ian and Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2016) Introduction. In: Ruffell, Ian and Hau, Lisa (eds.) Truth and History in the Ancient World: Pluralising the Past. Series: Routledge studies in ancient history. Routledge: London and New York, pp. 1-12. ISBN 9781138839403

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2016) Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, UK. ISBN 9781474411073 (doi: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474411073.001.0001)

Hau, Lisa I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2016) Truth and moralising: the twin aims of the Hellenistic historiographers. In: Ruffell, Ian and Hau, Lisa (eds.) Truth and History in the Ancient World: Pluralising the Past. Series: Routledge studies in ancient history. Routledge: London, pp. 226-249. ISBN 9781138839403

2014

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2014) Stock Situations, Topoi, and the Greekness of Greek Historiography. In: Cairns, Douglas and Scodel, Ruth (eds.) Defining Greek Narrative. Series: Edinburgh Leventis Studies. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780748680108

2013

Hau, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2013) Does pride go before a fall? Xenophon on arrogant pride. In: Hobden, F. and Tuplin, C. (eds.) Xenophon: Ethical Principles and Historical Enquiry. Series: Mnemosyne: supplements: history and archaeology of classical antiquity (348). Brill: Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 591-610. ISBN 9789004224377

Hau, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2013) The shadow of what might have been: sideshadowing in Thucydides and Xenophon. In: Powell, A. (ed.) Hindsight in Greek and Roman History. Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 9781905125586

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2013) Nothing to celebrate? The lack or disparagement of victory celebrations in the Greek historians. In: Spalinger, Anthony and Armstrong, Jeremy (eds.) Rituals of Triumph in the Mediterranean World. Series: Culture & History of the Ancient Near East (63). Brill: Leiden, pp. 57-74. ISBN 9789004251007

2011

Hau, L.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2011) Tykhe in Polybios: narrative answers to a philosophical question. Histos, 5, pp. 183-207.

2009

Hau, L.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2009) The burden of good fortune in Diodorus of Sicily: a case for originality? Historia, 58(2), pp. 171-197.

2008

Hau, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2008) Beyond the Battlefields: New Perspectives on Warfare and Society in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 9781847185167

Hau, L.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2008) The victor after the victory: a narrative set-piece in Greek historiography from Herodotus to Diodorus of Sicily. In: Bragg, E., Hau, L.I. and Macaulay-Lewis, E. (eds.) Beyond the Battlefields: New Perspectives on Warfare and Society in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge Scholars, pp. 121-143. ISBN 9781847185167

2006

Hau, L.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2006) Diodoros of Sicily (32.2 and 4) and Polybios. Classica et Mediaevalia, 57, pp. 67-102.

This list was generated on Tue Sep 16 00:23:48 2025 BST.

Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books

Number of items: 29.

Articles

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2021) The fragments of Polybius compared with those of the ‘tragic’ historians Duris and Phylarchu. Histos, 15, pp. 238-282.

Hau, L.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2011) Tykhe in Polybios: narrative answers to a philosophical question. Histos, 5, pp. 183-207.

Hau, L.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2009) The burden of good fortune in Diodorus of Sicily: a case for originality? Historia, 58(2), pp. 171-197.

Hau, L.I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2006) Diodoros of Sicily (32.2 and 4) and Polybios. Classica et Mediaevalia, 57, pp. 67-102.

Books

Hau, Lisa Irene ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2018) Græske Historikere. Klassikerforeningens Kildehæfter: Thisted. ISBN 9788789504605

Hau, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8666-8439 (2008) Beyond the Battlefields: New Perspectives on Warfare and Society in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 9781847185167

Book Sections

Edited Books

This list was generated on Tue Sep 16 00:23:48 2025 BST.

Grants

2011: Conference organisation grant from the University of Glasgow Chancellor's Fund for the organisation of the conference ‘Diodorus Siculus: shared myths, world community, and universal history'.
2015: Teaching Innovation grant from the University of Glasgow Chancellor's Fund for setting up online summer courses in Greek and Latin.'
Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Fellowship, held at the University of Heidelberg 2017-18.

Supervision

I am happy to supervise all projects concerned with historiography. I am also open for projects on other text genres if they are concerned with moral concepts, didacticism, or narratology, as well as for more historically focused projects on the Classical and Hellenistic periods. I am currently supervising a PhD on the philosophical foundations for the concept of universal history and MRes on combat trauma in Roman poetry.

I have supervised undergraduate dissertations on various ancient historiographers, both Greek and Roman, as well as on, among other topics, the Roman conquest of Greece, the use of Alexander the Great by Roman Republican statesmen, the concept of hybris is tragedy and historiography, and the development of the Greek perfect aspect from Classical to Hellenistic times.

Teaching

I am Postgraduate Convener for Classics and convene both the MSc in Classics and the MSc in Ancient Cultures, which is a collaboration between Classics, Archaeology, Egyptology, Celtic, and Theology. I teach postgraduate courses on Thucydides and on Greek political thought.

At Honours level, I teach two Greek courses: ‘Greek Historiography’ and ‘Greek Oratory’. In addition, I teach four Classical Civilisation courses: ‘The Invention of History’, ‘Athenian Democracy: Model or Mob-rule?’, ‘Myths, Fictions, and Histories of Alexander the Great’, and ‘Homer and his Readers’ (this last course is co-taught with Prof. Matthew Fox).

At pre-Honours level, I convene Classical Civilisation 2A 'The Civic Discourse of Classical Athens'. I lecture on both Classical Civilisation 1A ‘Greece from Troy to Plataea’ (lecturing on Herodotus, Greek warfare, Sparta, and early Athenian democracy) and Classical Civilisation 2A ‘The Civic Discourse of Classical Athens’ (lecturing on Thucydides, Athenian democracy, and the Peloponnesian War). I also teach regularly on Greek 2A and 2B (intermediate Greek) and occasionally on Latin 2A and 2B (intermediate Latin).

Hau, Lisa updated 250919

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