James Holoka (PhD, University of Michigan) is professor emeritus of classics and ancient history at Eastern Michigan University, and founder-editor of the Michigan War Studies Review.

Specializations

  • Greek and Roman epic, lyric, and satire
  • Ancient history; women in antiquity
  • Greek and Roman military history
  • Comparative literature and literary theory

Education

Ph.D. in Comparative Literature
The University of Michigan
1972–74

M.A. in Comparative Literature
Binghamton University
1969–72

B.A. with high distinction in Classics
The University of Rochester
(New York State Regents Scholar)
1965–69

McQuaid Jesuit High School
1961–65

Work Experience

Lecturer through Full Professor Emeritus
Classics and Ancient History
Eastern Michigan University
1974–2022

Acting Department Head, Foreign Languages
Eastern Michigan University
2000 (Spring/Summer)

Teaching Assistant/Fellow
Binghamton University and University of Michigan
1969–72

Founder & Editor
Michigan War Studies Review
2005–2023

Membership

Michigan War Studies Group
1999–present

Awards & Honors

Sabbatical Leave
Michigan War Studies Review (view site)
2010

Graduate School Research Support Fund Award
Simone Weil edition (see item 7)
2002

Spring/Summer Research Award
Battle of Marathon project (see item 35)
1998

Spring/Summer Research Award
Latacz translation (see item 6)
1994

Scholarly Recognition Award
World History textbook (see item 4)
1991

Sabbatical Leave
Simone Weil edition (see items 72738)
1989

Spring/Summer Research Award
World History textbook (see item 4)
1989

Spring/Summer Research Award
Homer bibliography (see items 2829)
1988

Spring/Summer Research Award
Nonverbal communication in Homer (see items 2325)
1984

Sabbatical Leave
Catullus bibliography (see item 2)
1983

Eastern Michigan University Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching and Commitment to Students
1980

NEH Summer Stipend
Homer bibliography (see item 17)
1976

International Society for Homeric Studies Scholarship
Homer bibliography (see item 9)
1973

Rackham Prize Fellowship
University of Michigan
1973–74

You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive; to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aurelius

Dissertation

1.

“Homer and Modern Literary Critical Discourse.” Diss. Michigan 1974. Abstract in DAI 35 (1974) 2963A. View Dissertation · View Abstract

Books

2.

Gaius Valerius Catullus: A Systematic Bibliography. New York/London: Garland Publishing, 1985.

3.

[Co-author, with Richard D. Goff et al.] A Survey of Western Civilization. 1987. 2nd ed.: New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997. Also Instructor’s Manual for A Survey of Western Civilization. St. Paul: West Publishing, 1987; and Student’s Guide and Workbook for A Survey of Western Civilization. St. Paul: West Publishing, 1987. View at Amazon

4.

[Co-author, with Jiu-Hwa Upshur et al.] World History. 5th ed.: Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. [1st 1991, 2nd 1995, 3rd 1999, 4th 2002, 5th 2005.] Also Instructor’s Manual for World History and Student’s Guide for World History. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd eds. View at Amazon

5.

[Co-author, with Jiu-Hwa Upshur] Lives and Times: A World History Reader. 2 vols. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 1995. View at Amazon

6.

[Translator] Joachim Latacz. Homer: His Art and His World. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1996. [Orig.: Homer: der erste Dichter des Abendlands. 2nd ed. Munich/Zurich: Artemis Verlag, 1989.] View at Amazon · Reviews 1 2

7.

[Editor & Translator] Simone Weil’s The Iliad or the Poem of Force: A Critical Edition. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2003. View Introduction · View at Amazon · Reviews 1 2 3 4 5

Articles

8.

“Oral Poetry and the Question of Critical Procedure.” Rackham Literary Studies 3 (1972) 1–⁠8. Rpt. in The Communications of the International Homeric Symposium. Athens, 1973. View Article

9.

“Homeric Originality: A Survey.” Classical World 66 (1973) 257–⁠93. Rpt. in The Classical World Bibliography of Greek Drama and Poetry. Ed. W. Donlan. New York/London: Garland Publishing, 1978. Pp. 37–⁠75. View Article

10.

“Self–Delusion in Catullus 83 and 92.” Classical World 69 (1975) 119–⁠20. View Article

11.

“Horace Carm. 3.4: The Place of the Poet.” Classical Bulletin 52 (1976) 41–⁠46. View Article

12.

“The Oral Formula and Anglo-⁠Saxon Elegy: Some Misgivings.” Neophilologus 60 (1976) 570–⁠76. View Article

13.

“‘Thick as Autumnal Leaves’—The Structure and Generic Potentials of an Epic Simile.” Milton Quarterly 10 (1976) 78–⁠83. View Article

14.

Purgatorio 9.⁠19–⁠39: Syncretism in the Dream Sequence.” Classical Folia 30 (1976) 203–⁠8. View Article

15.

“A Neoplatonic Simile in Vida’s Christiad (4.⁠10–⁠15).” Romance Notes 18 (1977) 243–⁠46. View Article

16.

“Lover and Beloved in La Vita Nuova 3 and Purgatorio 9.” Classical Folia 32 (1978) 93–⁠98. View Article

17.

“Homer Studies 1971–⁠1977.” Classical World 73 (1979) 65–⁠150. View Article

18.

“A Chariot Scene from Mycenae.” Kadmos 19 (1980) 38–⁠40. View Article

19.

Iliad 13.⁠202–⁠5: ΑΙΑΣ ΣΦΑΙΡΙΣΤΗΣ.” American Journal of Philology 102 (1981) 351–⁠52. View Article

20.

“Rome and America: A Course Description.” Classical Journal 77 (1982) 343–⁠48. View Article

21.

“Aldous Huxley and the Lotus Experience.” Classical World 76 (1982) 39–⁠41. View Article

22.

“On an Allusion to Pindar in Walter Pater’s Plato and Platonism.” Notes & Queries 228 (1983) 311–⁠12. View Article

23.

“‘Looking Darkly’ (ΥΠΟΔΡΑ ΙΔΩΝ): Reflections on Status and Decorum in Homer.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 113 (1983) 1–⁠16. View Article

24.

“The Point of the Simile in Aeschylus Agamemnon 241.” Classical Philology 80 (1985) 228–⁠29. View Article

25.

“Lying to Laertes, a Gorgeous Triumph—Homer and Twain.” Classical and Modern Literature 5 (1985) 301–⁠4. View Article

26.

“Sallust.” In Great Lives from History: Ancient and Medieval Series. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1988. Pp. 1845–⁠50.

27.

“The Iliad or the Poem of Force” [Simone Weil]. In Masterplots II: Nonfiction Series. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press. 1989. Pp. 684–⁠88.

28.

“Homer Studies 1978–⁠1983.” Part I. Classical World 83 (1990) 393–⁠461. View Article

29.

“Homer Studies 1978–⁠1983.” Part II. Classical World 84 (1990) 89–⁠156.  View Article

30.

“Homer, Oral Poetry Theory, and Comparative Literature: Major Trends and Controversies in Twentieth-⁠Century Criticism.” In Zweihundert Jahre Homer-Forschung: Rückblick und Ausblick. Ed. Joachim Latacz. Stuttgart/Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1991. Pp. 456–⁠81. Rpt. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015. View Article · Reviews: 1 2 3

31.

“Nonverbal Communication in the Classics: Research Opportunities.” In Advances in Nonverbal Communication: Sociocultural, Clinical, Esthetic and Literary Perspectives. Ed. F. Poyatos. Philadelphia/⁠Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1992. Pp. 237–⁠54. View Article

32.

[Co–author, with D. Briggs.] “The Staged Interview as a Successful Teaching Tool.” Issues & Inquiry 16.⁠1 (1992) 16–⁠31.

33.

[Translator.] Joachim Latacz. “The New Ameis-Hentze: A Project Outline and Report on the Current Stage of Development.” [Orig.: “Der Neue Ameis-Hentze. Projektskizze und erreichter Arbeitsstand.”] Bryn Mawr Classical Review 9 (1998) 82–⁠97. View Article

34.

Heroes Cunctantes / Hesitant Heroes: Aeneas and Some Others.” In Euphrosyne: Studies in Ancient Epic and Its Legacy in Honor of Dimitris N. Maronitis. Ed. J.N. Kazazis and A. Rengakos. Stuttgart: F. Steiner Verlag, 1999. Pp. 143–⁠53.  View Article

35.

“Marathon and the Myth of the Same-⁠Day March.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 38 (1997[2000]) 329–⁠53. View Article

36.

“Aelius Aristides,” “Aristagoras,” “Aristarchus,” “Aristophanes of Byzantium,” “Herodes Atticus,” “Miltiades,” “Pliny the Younger,” “Sallust,” “Xenophanes of Colophon,” “Zenodotus.”  In From Polis to Empire—The Ancient World, c. 800 B.C.–A.D. 500: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. A.G. Traver. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Pp. 45–⁠47, 51, 188, 255–⁠56, 307, 339–⁠40, 400–⁠401, 405–⁠6. View Articles

37.

“Maecenas,” “Symmachus.” In The Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. Ed. T.J. Sienkewicz. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2002. Pp. 750, 1052.

38.

“Homer and Simone Weil: The Iliad sub specie violentiae.” In Epea pteroenta, Beiträge zur Homerforschung: Festschrift für Wolfgang Kullmann zum 75. Geburtstag. Ed. M. Reichel and A. Rengakos. Stuttgart: F. Steiner Verlag, 2002. Pp. 63–⁠75. View Article

39.

“Battle of Marathon.” In Great Events from History: The Ancient World, Prehistory–⁠476 c.e. Ed. Mark W. Chavalas. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2004. Pp. 428–⁠30.

40.

“Troy and the Trojan War: A Select, Annotated Bibliography.” Michigan War Studies Review 2005.⁠04.⁠02. View Article

41.

Translation of Marc Bloch, “Reflections of a Historian on the False News of the War.” Michigan War Studies Review 2013–⁠51. View Article

Reviews

42.

Review of A Bibliography of Studies Relating to Parry’s and Lord’s Oral Theory, by Edward R. Haymes. Classical World 68 (1975) 385–⁠86. View Review

43.

Review of Die Dolonie, by Friedrich Eichhorn. Classical World 69 (1975) 72–⁠73. View Review

44.

Review of Spontaneity and Tradition: A Study in the Oral Art of Homer, by Michael N. Nagler. Classical Folia 30 (1976) 209–⁠11.

45.

Review of Göttliche Komödie und Exegese, by Manfred Bambeck. Romanic Review 70 (1979) 409–⁠10. View Review

46.

Review of Tension in Boccaccio: Boccaccio and the Fine Arts, by Patricia M. Gathercole. Romanic Review 71 (1980) 100–⁠101. View Review

47.

Review of Gründungsmythen und Sagenchronologie, by Friedrich Prinz. American Historical Review 85 (1980) 1174–⁠75. View Review

48.

Review of The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry, by Gregory Nagy. Classical Bulletin 58 (1982) 70–⁠71. View Review

49.

Review of Improvisation, Typology, Culture, and the “New Orthodoxy”: How “Oral” is Homer? by D. Gary Miller. Classical World 77 (1983) 56–⁠57. View Review

50.

Review of Pope’s Iliad: Homer in the Age of Passion, by Steven Shankman. Classical World 77 (1984) 315. View Review

51.

Review of Childlike Achilles: Ontogeny and Phylogeny in the Iliad, by W. Thomas MacCary. Classical World 78 (1984) 49–⁠50. View Review

52.

Review of Telling Classical Tales: Chaucer and the Legend of Good Women, by Lisa J. Kiser. Classical and Modern Literature 5 (1984) 47–⁠50. View Review

53.

Review of The Iliad: A Commentary, I: Books 1–⁠4, by G.S. Kirk. Classical World 80 (1987) 221–⁠22. View Review

54.

Review of Le Soleil et le Tartare: L’image mythique du monde en Grèce archaïque, by Alain Ballabriga. American Historical Review 93 (1988) 124–⁠25. View Review

55.

Review of Narrative Semiotics in the Epic Tradition: The Simile, by Stephen A. Nimis. Journal of Narrative Technique 19 (1989) 252–⁠53. View Review

56.

Review of The Miniature Epic in Vandal Africa, by David F. Bright. Classical World 83 (1989) 119. View Review

57.

Review of J.⁠G. Frazer: His Life and Work, by Robert Ackerman. Classical World 83 (1990) 527–⁠28. View Review

58.

Review of Epos: Word, Narrative and the Iliad, by Michael Lynn-⁠George. Classical Journal 86 (1990) 81–⁠82. View Review

59.

Review of Death and the Optimistic Prophecy in Vergil’s Aeneid, by James J. O’⁠Hara. Classical World 85 (1991) 128. View Review

60.

Review of Herodoti Vita Homeri, by Effie N. Coughanowr (ed., tr.)Classical World 85 (1992) 244. View Review

61.

Review of The Oral Style, by Marcel Jousse. Classical World 86 (1992) 58–⁠59. View Review

62.

Review of The Iliad: A Commentary, V: Books 17–⁠20, by M.⁠W. Edwards. Classical World 86 (1992) 177–⁠78. View Review

63.

Review of The Iliad: A Commentary, IV: Books 13–⁠16, by Richard Janko. Classical World 87 (1994) 501–⁠2. View Review

64.

Review of Singers, Heroes, and Gods in the Odyssey, by Charles Segal. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 6 (1995) 332–⁠36. View Review

65.

Review of Roman Literature and Ideology: Ramus Essays for J.⁠P. Sullivan, ed. A.⁠J. Boyle. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 6 (1995) 670–⁠75. View Review

66.

Review of Law, Politics and Power: Sallust and the Execution of the Catilinarian Conspirators, by Andrew Drummond. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 7 (1996) 187–⁠89. View Review

67.

Review of The Iliad: A Commentary, III: Books 9–⁠12, by Bryan Hainsworth. Classical World 89 (1996) 411. View Review

68.

Review of The Iliad: A Commentary, VI: Books 21–⁠24, by Nicholas Richardson. Classical World 89 (1996) 411–⁠12. View Review

69.

Review of Altertumswissenschaft in den 20er Jahren: Neue Fragen und Impulse, ed. Hellmut Flashar. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 7 (1996) 504–⁠11. View Review

70.

Review of Regarding Penelope: From Character to Poetics, by Nancy Felson-⁠Rubin. Classical World 90 (1996) 62–⁠63. View Review

71.

Review of [Plutarch]: Essay on the Life and Poetry of Homer, ed. J.⁠J. Keaney and Robert Lamberton. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 8 (1997) 38–⁠39. View Review

72.

Response: “Holoka on Cook on Latacz.” Bryn Mawr Classical Review 8 (1997) 286–⁠88. View Review

73.

Review of The Triumph of Odysseus: Joint Association of Classical Teachers’ Greek Course, by J.⁠A.⁠C.⁠T. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 8 (1997) 634–⁠35. View Review

74.

Review of Hesiod’s Works and Days: A Translation and Commentary for the Social Sciences, by David W. Tandy and Walter C. Neale. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 8 (1997) 683–⁠87. View Review

75.

Review of The Distaff Side: Representing the Female in Homer’s Odyssey, ed. Beth Cohen. Classical World 90 (1997) 448–⁠49. View Review

76.

Review of Heroes’ Names, Homeric Identities, by Carolyn Higbie. Classical World 90 (1997) 449–⁠50. View Review

77.

Review of Sardonic Smile: Nonverbal Behavior in Homeric Epic, by Donald Lateiner. Classical World 90 (1997) 450–⁠51. View Review

78.

Review of Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod, by Charles Penglase. Classical World 90 (1997) 451–⁠52. View Review

79.

Review of The Heart of Achilles: Characterization and Personal Ethics in the Iliad, by Graham Zanker. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 9 (1998) 494–⁠98. View Review

80.

Review of Theatrum Arbitri: Theatrical Elements in The Satyrica of Petronius, by Costas Panayotakis. Classical World 92 (1998) 64. View Review

81.

Review of Out of Rome: Augusta Raurica/Aquincum: Das Leben in zwei römischen Provinzstädten, ed. Alex R. Furger and Paula Zsidi. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 9 (1998) 728–⁠30. View Review

82.

Review of The Poetics of Supplication: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, by Kevin Crotty. Classical World 92 (1999) 299. View Review

83.

Review of The Hidden Author: An Interpretation of Petronius’ Satyricon, by Gian Biagio Conte. Classical Outlook 76 (1999) 80–⁠81.

84.

Review of Einleitung in die griechische Philologie, ed. Heinz-⁠Günther Nesselrath. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1999.⁠04.⁠01. View Review

85.

Review of Homeric Stitchings: The Homeric Centos of the Empress Eudocia, by M.D. Usher. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 1999.⁠09.⁠08. View Review

86.

Review of De Imperatoribus Romanis, ed. Richard D. Weigel et al. Bryn Mawr Electronic Resources Review (21 Jan 2000).

87.

Review of “The Wilamowitz in Me”: 100 Letters between Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and Paul Friedländer (1904–⁠1931), ed. William M. Calder and Bernhard Huss. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2000.⁠02.⁠16. View Review

88.

Review of The Madness of Epic: Reading Insanity from Homer to Statius, by Debra Hershkowitz. Classical Outlook 77 (2000) 123.

89.

Review of Res Gestae Divi Augusti, ed. Rex E. Wallace. Scholia Reviews 9 (2000) 54. View Review

90.

Review of Paralysin Cave: Impotence, Perception, and Text in the Satyrica of Petronius, by John M. McMahon. Classical World 94 (2001) 204–⁠5. View Review

91.

Review of A Commentary on Herodotus Book VI, by E.⁠I. McQueen. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2001.⁠08.⁠06. View Review

92.

Review of Ad Arma! Römisches Militär des 1. Jahrhunderts n.⁠Chr. in Augusta Raurica, by Eckhard Deschler-⁠Erb. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2002.⁠01.⁠15. View Review

93.

Review of Einführung in das Studium der Gräzistik, by Peter Riemer et al. Scholia Reviews 11 (2002) 15. View Review

94.

Review of Secret of the Muses Retold: Classical Influences on Italian Authors of the Twentieth Century, by John T. Kirby. Scholia Reviews 11 (2002) 25. View Review

95.

Review of Gesammelte Schriften I: Zum frühgriechischen Epos, by Ernst Heitsch. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2002.⁠10.⁠25. View Review

96.

Review of Epea and Grammata: Oral and Written Communication in Ancient Greece, ed. Ian Worthington and John Miles Foley. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003.⁠03.⁠09. View Review

97.

Review of The Life and Work of Jane Ellen Harrison, by Annabel Robinson. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003.⁠06.⁠14. View Review

98.

Review of Die athenische Demokratie, by Angela Pabst. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003.⁠06.⁠25. View Review

99.

Review of Homer und seine Zeit, by Barbara Patzek. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003.⁠06.⁠50. View Review

100.

Review of Listening to Homer: Tradition, Narrative, and Audience, by Ruth Scodel. Choice (Oct 2003). View Review

101.

Review of A Companion to Homer’s Odyssey, by James Morrison. Choice (Dec 2003). View Review

102.

Review of A Commentary on Horace’s Epodes, by Lindsay C. Watson. Choice (Sep 2004). View Review

103.

Review of Homer: The Odyssey, trans. Edward McCrorie. Choice (Nov 2004). View Review

104.

Review of A Commentary on Horace: Odes, Book III, by R.⁠G.⁠M. Nisbet and Niall Rudd. Choice (Feb 2005). View Review

105.

Review of Homeric Megathemes: War—Homilia—Homecoming, by D.⁠N. Maronitis. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005.⁠02.⁠10. View Review

106.

Review of The Cambridge Companion to Homer, ed. Robert Fowler. Choice (May 2005). View Review

107.

Review of Greek Grammar on the Web, by Mark Huys. Choice (Suppl. 2005 & Suppl. 2006). View Review

108.

Review of The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan. Michigan War Studies Review 2005.⁠06.⁠01. View Review

109.

Review of Slaves, Warfare, and Ideology in the Greek Historians, by Peter Hunt. Michigan War Studies Review 2005.⁠09.⁠01. View Review

110.

Review of Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery, by Joachim Latacz. New England Classical Journal 32.⁠4 (Nov 2005) 349–⁠51. View Review

111.

Review of Taking Her Seriously: Penelope and the Plot of Homer’s Odyssey, by Richard Heitman. Choice (Dec 2005). View Review

112.

Review of Thucydides: An Introduction for the Common Reader, by Perez Zagorin. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006.⁠02.⁠53. View Review

113.

Review of A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War, by Victor D. Hanson. Michigan War Studies Review 2006.⁠05.⁠01. View Review

114.

Review of Satire and the Threat of Speech: Horace’s Satires, Book 1, by Catherine M. Schlegel. Choice (Sep 2006). View Review

115.

Review of The Iliad: Structure, Myth, and Meaning, by Bruce Louden. Choice (Nov 2006). View Review

116.

Review of Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca, by Robert Bittlestone. New England Classical Journal 33.⁠4 (Nov 2006). View Review

117.

Review of The Tomb of Agamemnon, by Cathy Gere. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006.⁠12.⁠22. View Review

118.

Review of Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction, by Harry Sidebottom. Michigan War Studies Review 2007.⁠03.⁠01. View Review

119.

Review of A Companion to Catullus, ed. Marilyn B. Skinner. Choice (Jan 2008). View Review

120.

Review of Homer: The Iliad, tr. Rodney Merrill. Choice (Jul 2008). View Review

121.

Review of The Satires of Horace, trans. A.⁠M. Juster. Choice (Jun 2009). View Review

122.

Review of The Return of Ulysses: A Cultural History of Homer’s Odyssey, by Edith Hall. Choice (Jul 2009). View Review

123.

Review of Marathon and Salamis: The Battles That Defined the Western World, by Compton Mackenzie. Michigan War Studies Review 2010.⁠08.⁠07. View Review

Life is long if you
know how to use it.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Contact

Michigan War Studies Review
editor@miwsr.com

Personal
james@holoka.com

Site design: Kevin Woodland
Copyright © James P. Holoka, 2021.
All rights reserved.