I am a CNRS researcher (PSL, ENS Paris) working on the history of space and people representations (what we generally call "geography", "cartography", "ethnography"), from the Classical (Greek and Roman) world to the Medieval and Early Modern reception. My main focus is on historical descriptions and maps, that I edit, translate and comment, in order to reconstruct the ancient landscapes and to understand the cultural transfers that determined their representations. More generally, as an archaeologist, I am looking at the Greco-Roman cultural phenomenon from the perspective of its connections with other ancient cultures (Iranian, Jewish, Turkish). I strongly believe in interdisciplinary cooperations for a better understanding of the perception and representation of spaces (cognitive studies) and for the reconstruction of the ancient environments (geosciences, paleobiology, new datation techniques).
RESEARCH TOPICS
Greco-Roman identities, cultural transfer, Begriffsgeschichte: space-related and ethnos-related societies, before the national states; history of key-concepts of Classical origin, used in defining modern identities.
Historical geography and geoarchaeology: identification of archaeological sites and landscape reconstruction in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea; human impact; 3D/4D environmental reconstructions; history of geography from the origins to the 18th century cartographic revolution.
CAREER
2021 - Guest lecturer, Bucharest University
2020 - Guest associate professor, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
2015 - Guest associate professor, University of Fudan, Shanghai
2012-2013: Fellow, Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington DC
2013-2017: Senior fellow TOPOI Exzellenzcluster Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin)
2009-2011: Postdoc, Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών, Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Ερευνών, Αθήνα
2009: PhD Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Faculté des Lettres, Lettres Classiques et Histoire. “‘La Plus Merveilleuse des mers’. Recherches sur la représentation de la mer Noire et de ses peuples dans les sources antiques, d’Homère à Ératosthène”. Mention Très honorable avec les félicitations du jury à l’unanimité. Price of the best PhD in Humanities, from the Reims Academy (2010).
2003-2008, 2010-2011: Assistant for teaching and research (AMN, ATER, Professeur contractuel, chargée de cours) at the Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (2003-2007, 2010-2011), Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne (2007-2008), Université de Paris XII-Créteil (2010-2011), Lettres Classiques et Histoire ancienne.
2001-2004: Foreign student, École Normale Supérieure de Paris
2002-2003: Master I and Master II and Magistère d’Antiquité Classique, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV, UFR de Latin with double specialization in History and Archaeology (mention Très bien).
1998-2001: Bachelor and Master of Classics, Universitatea Bucureşti; complementary study in History and archaeology.
ONGOING PROJECTS
2020-2024: French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International archaeological missions, Ainos/Enez (Turkey), ca. 40 000 euros.
2019-2021: International Emerging Action CNRS “Géoarchéologie à la carte: Azov, Bosphore, Caucase. Analyse spatiale du détroit de Kertch, à travers l’histoire”, 21 000 euros.
EDITING
2015-present, Peuce (Tulcea, Romania) editing board.
2020-present, Studii Clasice (Bucharest, Romania) editing board.
2015-2021, reviews co-editor of Orbis Terrarum. Internationale Zeitschrift für historische Geographie der Alten Welt, dir. Michael RATHMANN (Franz Steiner).
PEER REVIEW (Books, Journals, Editing houses)
Open Edition, GAHIA, Journal of Hellenic Studies, Dialogues d’histoire ancienne, Revue d’études anciennes, Orbis Terrarum, Polymnia, Peuce, Études mongoles, sibériennes, centrasiatiqeus et tibétaines, Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai. Historia, Syllecta Classica, Wires Water (Wiley), Humanités numériques, Journal of Ancient Civilizations (Changchun), Revue de géographie historique, Academia Letters, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique moderne et contemporain, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Executive Agency for Higher Education (Romania).
LANGUAGES
Reading, writing, speaking: Romanian (native), French, English, Italian (bilingual: C2), German (advanced: C1), Modern Greek (fair: B2), Turkish, Russian (fair: B1).
Ancient languages: Latin, Greek (professional: C2); Biblical Hebrew (fair: B1); Egyptian, Akkadian, Old Persian (beginner: A2), Old Slavonic (beginner).