Rate My Professor Chloe Borowska

Dr Chloe Borowska is a Lecturer in the Classics programme at the University of Otago. She completed her BA (Hons) in 2012 and MA in 2014 at the University of Otago, and her PhD in 2019 at the University of St Andrews. Her doctoral thesis, 'Interrogating Liminality: Threatening Landscapes in Ancient Greek Tragedy', examined the concept of liminality in tragic landscapes, arguing that such spaces often play connective roles linking times, places, and concepts through critical theory, phenomenology, and cognitive linguistics. Prior to joining Otago in 2023, she served as Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, Germany (2020–2022), where she investigated temporality and emotion in the natural environments of Homer and Hesiod.

Borowska's research explores human interactions with the environment in ancient Greek narrative poetry (8th–5th centuries BCE) from a phenomenological perspective, focusing on the role of the body in shaping identity, agency, perception, and emotional responses. Her interests encompass Greek myth, epic, tragedy, and environments/landscapes. She has participated in international clusters including Ancient Environments and their Legacy and Mountain Dialogues from Antiquity to Modernity, and organises outreach events and postgraduate training in environmental humanities. Key publications comprise 'Time and Human Fragility in the Landscape Similes of the Iliad' (Classical Quarterly 72.1, 2022), 'Mountains of Memory: A Phenomenological Approach to Mountains in Fifth-Century BCE Greek Tragedy' (Mountain Dialogues from Antiquity to Modernity, 2021), 'Limits of Dread: ἐσχατιά, πεῖραρ, and Dangerous Edge-Space in Homeric Formulae' (Landscapes of Dread in Classical Antiquity, 2018), and 'Trees as Human Bodies in Homeric Death Scenes' (ASCS 46 Proceedings, 2025). She teaches CLAS 105 Greek Mythology, CLAS 245/345 Tales of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood, GREK 111 Introductory Greek 1, and special topics on experiencing the environment in ancient Greek poetry. Supervision areas include early Greek epic, tragedy, myth, interdisciplinary Greek literature, and ancient environments.