Rate My Professor George Kovacs

George Kovacs serves as Associate Professor (Teaching Intensive) in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at Trent University, a position he has held since 2019 following promotions from Assistant Professor (Teaching Intensive) roles since 2012. He first joined Trent University in 2007 as a course instructor and Senior Lecturer, maintaining continuous affiliation except for a Limited Term Assistant Professor appointment in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia from 2009 to 2011. Prior to that, he served as an instructor in the Department of Classics at the University of Toronto from 2004 to 2007 and as a teaching assistant at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Kovacs completed his B.A. Honours in Ancient History and Classics, along with English Literature, at Trent University in 1999; his M.A. in Classics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2002, with a thesis on Hyginus’ Fabulae as a Source for Non-Extant Greek Tragedies; and his Ph.D. in Classics at the University of Toronto in 2010, with a dissertation titled Iphigenia in Context: Myth, Performance and Reception.

Prof. Kovacs specializes in Greek poetry of the Archaic and Classical periods, with special interests in Greek and Roman drama, stagecraft, and the reception of Greek myth in modern popular culture, including comics, film, and television. He directs the Classics Drama Group at Trent University, which annually produces an ancient Greek tragedy or comedy in English translation. His major publications include co-edited volumes Classics and Comics (Oxford University Press, 2011), No Laughing Matter: Studies in Athenian Comedy (Bristol Classical Press, 2012), and Son of Classics and Comics (Oxford University Press, 2016), as well as the textbook Radices Linguae Anglicae: The Ancient Roots of Modern English (Radix Antiqua Publishing, 2020). Key articles and chapters encompass “Stringed Instruments in Fifth-Century Drama” in Performance in Greek and Roman Tragedy (Brill, 2013), “Moral and Mortal in Star Trek: The Original Series” in Classical Traditions in Science Fiction (Oxford University Press, 2015), “Truth, Justice, and the Spartan Way: Freedom and Democracy in Frank Miller’s 300” (Oxford University Press, 2013), and “Reception Theory and Performance” in Scapegoat Carnivale’s Tragic Trilogy (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023). Awards and fellowships include the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (2003-2006), Crake Doctoral Fellowship in Classical Studies (2008-2009), University of Toronto Graduate Fellowship (2002-2007), and Award for Excellence in Online Teaching (2024-2025). He has delivered invited lectures such as “The Mechane and Its Impact on Fifth-Century Theatre” at Trent University (2013) and contributed entries to The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy (2014) and The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Greek Comedy (2019).