Professor Han Baltussen

Biography/ Background

Han Baltussen was born in Maastricht (the Netherlands), where he was educated at the Henric van Veldeke College (starting Greek and Latin), going on to study Classics and Ancient Philosophy at the University of Utrecht. His doctoral thesis, written under the supervision of Prof. Jaap Mansfeld (Utrecht) and Dr Hans B. Gottschalk (Leeds), dealt with the role of Theophrastus' De sensu in the transmission of Presocratic thought. Using Aristotle's dialectical method (esp. Topics I and VIII) the thesis analyses the argumentative methodology in this short work which surveys and criticises early theories of perception (Revised version published in 2000 by E.J. Brill, Leiden).

Between 1993 and 2002 he held postdoctoral Research positions in Utrecht and King's College London (Commentators on Aristotle Project), and taught ancient Greek philosophy as Temporary Lecturer and Tutor (Dept. of Philosophy). Since coming to Adelaide in 2002 he has made significant contributions to teaching and research in Classical studies and ancient thought. He is a member of the Faculty Research Committee (2008-) and was part of the University's panel responsible for the ERA publication submissions in 2009 and 2012.

His Academia.edu profile can be found here. His blog on all things Greek and Roman here (under construction). 

Qualifications

BA 1983
MA & Dip.Ed. 1986
PhD 1988-1993 (Utrecht University)

Awards & Achievements

• 1988-1993 PhD scholarship Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) 
• 1996-97 Junior Fellow at the Centre for Hellenic Studies (Trustees of Harvard University) in Washington DC 
• 1997-2002 combined Fellowship of the British Academy and the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) held at Kings College London (Philosophy Dept.)
• 2006 Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (USA)
• 2007-2010 ARC Discovery grant (ancient consolations)
  
• 2009 Nominated for the University's inaugural Excellence in Education Awards
  
• 2009 Elected Fellow of the Academy of Humanities in Australia (FAHA)
• 2010 Fellowship at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium (VLAC, Brussels)
• 2010 Winner of the Faculty's Award for "Outstanding Research Performance"
  
• 2011-2013 ARC Discovery grant with A/Prof. P. Davis, Visiting Research Fellow
• 2011 (Sept) appointed to the Hughes Chair of Classics, one of three foundation Chairs at the University of Adelaide
• 2011 (Oct) the Australian Academy of Humanities A.D. Trendall Lecturer (by invitation)

Teaching Interests

Han teaches Classics at all levels of the BA and the Honours program. For 2012 he will be involved in the following courses/activities:

Semester One

• CLAS 1003 (level 1) "Private Lives & Public Spectacles in Greece and Rome" (lecturer)
• CLAS 2031 (level 2/3) "Afterlife and Underworld in Antiquity" (coordinator/ lecturer/ tutor)
• CLAS 4401A Honours Classical Studies seminars
• PG thesis supervision

Semester Two:

• CLAS 1004 (level 1) "Ancient World in Film" (lecturer/tutor)
• CLAS 2035 (level 2/3) "Glory of Athens" (coordinator)
• CLAS 4401B Honours Classical Studies (supervision)
• PG thesis supervision

At Honours level he teaches topics in the history of ideas (intellectual history, history of medicine) exploring the importance and far-reaching influence of ideas on ancient and modern societies (e.g. madness, prejudice, medical ethics, censorship).

PG / Thesis supervision: He welcomes proposals from students who would like to do postgraduate work on topics in Greek and Roman philosophy, ancient medicine, cultural history and the history of ideas.

Current (co)supervisions: Introduction and suppression of eastern Cults in  Republican Rome (L. Webb); seventeenth c. relations between physicians and patients (E. Connolly); an analysis of cosmopolitanism from the Stoics to Bentham (R. Loring)

Research Interests

Topics in the history of ideas & intellectual history which often take their starting point in Greek philosophy, science and medicine. Current projects are:

• Grief & consolations in the ancient world and beyond (ARC Discovery grant 2007-9). 
• Responses to censorship (ARC Discovery grant 2011-13)
• Transmission of philosophy (schools, commentaries, doxography)
• Aristotle's school 322 BCE - 200 CE

Current work in progress includes (titles are provisional):

• (monograph) Ancient Consolation and Care of the Soul. Grief Management in Greek and Roman Consolatory Writings
• (commentary) Theophrastus of Eresus. Fragments in Physical Doxography, FHSG 225-45 (commissioned by Theophrastus Project as vol. 3.2.1, for E.J. Brill, Leiden) 
• (short monograph) The Peripatetics. Aristotle's Heirs 322 BC-200 AD commissioned by Acumen Ltd (UK)
• (book ch.) "A Bark Worse than his Bite? Diogenes the Cynic and the Politics of Tolerance in Athens", in H. Baltussen and P. Davis (eds) Parrhêsia, Censorship and the Art of Veiled Speech (ed. vol. under consideration with E.J. Brill)
• (article) "A 'Homeric' Hymn to Stalin. Performing Safe Criticism in Ancient Greek?" [submitted to A ranked journal, Feb 2012]
• several invited book chapters on, e.g., philosophical commentary and the Second Sophistic, theories of smell, Aristotelian commentary and scholarship.

In Nov. 2009 he appeared on the talk show "The Philosopher's Zone" to discuss the Aristotelian tradition (ABC Radio National). In Feb. 2012 he appeared on Peter Goers' show (Adelaide local radio: 891 ABC) to talk about ancient medicine.

Research Funding

2002 Various conference grants (London, UK)
2003 Faculty Small Research Grant
2004-7 Annual conference travel grants (Faculty OCS scheme)
2007 Various conference grants (London, UK)
2007-010 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant for project "Philosophical Consolation and Psychotherapy in Antiquity"
2011-2013 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant for "The Dynamics of Censorship in Antiquity" with A/Prof. P. Davis (VRF Adelaide)

Publications

[A full list is provided in the attached file below]

I. Books

2012 (forthc.) (edited volume) Greek and Roman Consolations. Eight Studies of a Tradition and its Afterlife. (in prep. with Classical Press of Wales)

2012 (in press) Scholarly translation with notes of Simplicius' Commentary on Aristotle's Physics book 1.5-9 (with M. Share, W.W.Taylor, and I. Mueller; Duckworth, London) 

2008 (monograph) Philosophy and Exegesis in Simplicius. The Methodology of a Commentator (Duckworth: London, Hb. 292 pp.) ISBN 9780715635001 Click here for additional information. [Review: "In this stimulating book Han Baltussen provides an account of important specific features of the extant Aristotelian commentaries of the Neoplatonist Simplicius." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.05.19)]

2004 (conference proceedings, 2 vols.) P. Adamson, H. Baltussen, M.W.F. Stone (eds) Philosophy, Science and Exegesis in Greek, Latin and Arabic Commentaries (Supplements to the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies; London: ICS, 83.1-2) Click here for additional information.

2000 (monograph) Theophrastus Against the Presocratics and Plato. Peripatetic Dialectic in the De sensibus (Brill, Leiden/ xiv & 285 pp) Click here for additional information.

II. Recent /forthcoming articles & book chapters

2012/13 (invited book ch.) "'Hippocratic' Oaths: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Medical Ethics in the Ancient  World" (Festschrift 2012/13) 6,000 words (submitted March 1)

2012 (forthc.) "Consolatory Writings in Antiquity" in H. Baltussen (ed.) Introductory Chapter for Greek and Roman Consolations. Eight Studies of a Tradition and its Afterlife.  (accepted and in prep.)

2012 (forthc.) "Cicero's Consolatio ad se: Character, Purpose and Impact of a Curious Treatise", in H. Baltussen (ed.) Greek and Roman Consolations. Nine Studies of a Tradition and its Afterlife. (submitted to press) 9,000 words

2012 (forthc.) book chapter (invited) on "Early Peripatos" for the new Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy (ed. by J. Warren, Cambridge and F. Sheffield, London) [final draft submitted] 8,000 words

2011 "Cicero's Translation of Greek Philosophy: Personal Mission or Public Service?" in Complicating the History of Western Translation: The Ancient Mediterranean in Perspective, ed. by S. McElduff and E. Sciarrino (St Jerome Press - UK, 2011), 37-47.

2010a "Marcus Aurelius and the therapeutic use of soliloquy" in B. Sidwell & D. Dzino (eds) Emotion, Power and Status. Papers in Honour of R.F. Newbold (conference Univ. of Adelaide, Dec. 2008; Gorgias Press), 39-57.

2010b "Simplicius of Cilicia", ch. 39 in Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity, ed. by Lloyd Gerson (Cambridge University Press), 711-32.

2010c [1] "Galen of Pergamon" (vol. 3, 258-60), [2] "Hippocratic Corpus" (vol. 4, 1-4), [3] "Hippocratic Oath" (vol. 4, 4-6), [4] "Perception, Theories of" (vol. 5, 205-8) in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome ed. by M. Gagarin (Oxford University Press, USA)

Professional Associations

• Australasian Society for Classical Studies (2002-)
• American Philological Association (1996-)
• Classical Association, UK (1997-)
• Dutch National Graduate School in Classical Studies (Associated member)
• Dutch Research Center for the History of Ancient Philosophy (1996-)
• Society of Ancient Medicine, USA (2000-)

Community Engagement

• Coordinator public lecture: the Annual Constantinos Moraitis Hellenic Lecture (2003-)
• Honorary Treasurer Classical Association South Australia (2006-2010)
• President Classical Association SA (2010-)
• Executive Committee Member of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies (2003-)

Files

• Publications 1989-2012 - 012PUBS_Baltussen_online.pdf [189.0K] (application/pdf)
• Book2004pt2.jpg - BICS_vol2_small.jpg [12.8K] (image/jpeg)
• Theophrastus Bk - BookTheoph.jpg [5.2K] (image/jpeg)
• Simplicius - HBALPhilosophy_Exegesis.jpg [37.5K] (image/jpeg)
• Book cover 04 - Book2004.jpg [13.2K] (image/jpeg)

Expertise for Media Contact

Categories	Arts and culture, History
Expertise	the nature, transmission and influence of ancient Greek philosophy and medicine; grief, loss and consolation in the ancient world and beyond
Notes	Fellowship awards from Centre for Hellenic Studies (Washington DC 1996-97) and Institute for Advanced Studies (Princeton 2006) ARC Discovery Grant for project on consolation as psychotherapy (2007-09) Several grants for travel and research support

Entry last updated: Sunday, 20 May 2012