Dr Ursula Westwood

Ursula Westwood standing on the steps to the Parthenon in Athens

​Lecturer

​​DPhil (Anci​​ent History), Oxford University
MPhil (Greek and Roman History), Oxford University
BAHons (Latin Language and Literature), University of Cape Town

Email: [email protected]​
 

 

Curriculum Vitae

Areas of Specialisation

  • Jewish history and literature in the Roman world (esp. Josephus, Philo)​
  • Greek political thought and its reception in the Roman period
  • Greek and Roman historiography
  • Greek language and literature​​​​​
     

Current Projects

  • Cosmopolitanism in Philo of Alexandria
  • 'Josephus' rendering of Judah's speech Antiquities 2:140-58 and its resonances' [article]

Courses in 2025

  • Greek 178 (Introduction to New Testament Greek)
  • Greek 214 (Intermediate Ancient Greek: Grammar)
  • Greek 244 (Intermediate Ancient Greek: Selected texts from the Septuagint, New Testament, and classical Greek prose)
  • Greek 354 (Advanced Ancient Greek: Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos)
  • Honours in Ancient Languages (Greek)
    'The Art of Persuasion: ancient Greek speeches'​
  • Ancient Cultures 251/ 351 (Ruling Rome from Augustus to Hadrian: power and communication in the early Roman empire)

Selected Publications

  • ​​Westwood, U. “Silent tyrant: an interpretation of Moses’ Silence in Josephus’ Antiquities 4.150-151.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 55:4 (2024): 550-571
  • Westwood, U. "Free speech and Moses' Laws: the limits of παρρησία in Josephus' works," in From Josephus to Yosippon and beyond: Text - Re-interpretations - Afterlives, edited by Carson Bay, Michael Avioz, and Jan Willem van Henten. Leiden: Brill (2024)
  • Westwood, U. Moses among the Greek lawgivers: Reading Josephus' Antiquities through Plutarch's Lives. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 210. Leiden: Brill (2023)
  • Westwood, U. “Prophecies and princesses: Moses in Egypt and Ethiopia according to Josephus," Akroterion 67 (2022), 65-85.​

Awards

  • First-Year Teaching Award, 2022
  • Clarendon Fund and Littman Trust Scholarship (2017-2020, for doctoral study at Oxford)
  • Ertegun Graduate Scholarship in the Humanities (2015-2017, for graduate study at Oxford)