Professor Julia Kindt
People_

Professor Julia Kindt

MA Munich PhD Camb
FAHA
Classics and Ancient History
Professor Julia Kindt

Julia Kindt (FAHA) is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Sydney, a former Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council (2018-22), and a member of the Sydney Environment Institute. She has contributed to TLS, History Today, Meanjin, the Australian Book Review, The Conversation, and other magazines. The first woman appointed full professor in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney, she is a historian of ancient Greece with a broad interest in the social, cultural, and intellectual history of the ancient world and a particular expertise in the history of ideas (including religion, historiography, and classical reception studies). Her research has informed the Google research team in Mountain View, California, and she has been an agenda contributor to the 2019 World Economic Forum. Between 2019 and 2022 she was a member of the ARC College of Experts. She is currently serving on the editorial boards of the Journal of Ancient History and Antichthon and is an Associate Editor of Public Humanities – a new journal published by Cambridge University Press.

Kindt has authored three books, and (co-) edited four. Her most recent book, The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten Ancient Creatures that Make Us Human (Cambridge University Press, 2024) comes with a recommendation by Stephen Fry and won the 2024 Rhakotis prize (‘book of the year’). It follows the trails of ten Greek and Roman creatures that cross from the ancient into the modern world and speaks to the question of ‘what makes us human’.

Kindt is widely recognized for her original approach that brings the ancient world in conversation with the modern, her conceptual work on ancient Greek religion, and her innovative way of writing the history of ideas and concepts out of the ancient literary, historical, and material evidence. Her current project draws on the classical past to shed light on what truth is for and what would be lost if we give up on it now. It juxtaposes the emergence of the idea of truth as a communal value in Ancient Greece without current struggles surrounding truth and truthfulness today. A particular focus is on the roles and functions of cultural institutions (both past and present) that serve as public ‘stakeholders’ of truth. In 2024 she joined an expert working group on information resilience commissioned by the Office of the Chief Scientist/ National Science and Technology Council.


At the University of Sydney, she is a member of the project advisory group of the Chau Chak Wing Museum, and on the advisory board of the Vere Gordon Childe Centre dedicated to the study of humanity through time.

Dr Luara Ferracioli has recently completely a book manuscript entitled Parenting and the Goods of Childhood (under contract with OUP). She is currently undertaking an ARC DECRA project entitled "Life without Birth: The Ethics, Politics, and Law of Artificial Wombs."
Project titleResearch student
Plutarch’s Lives: In Search of IdentityMax CAMPBELL
Adoption and Early Use of the Archaic Greek AlphabetNicholas COWELL
The Role of Monstrosity in Greek and Roman MythologyKitty SMITH
An animal koine? Scales of comparison and evidence for the practical treatment of animals in ancient Greece, 800-300 BCRosie SYKES

Selected publications

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Publications

Books

  • Kindt, J. (2024). The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten Ancient Creatures that Make us Human. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2016). Revisiting Delphi: Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2012). Rethinking Greek Religion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]

Edited Books

  • Kindt, J. (2024). Ancient Greek Personal Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kindt, J., Beck, H. (2023). The Local Horizon of Ancient Greek Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kindt, J. (2021). Animals in Ancient Greek Religion. Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]

Book Chapters

  • Kindt, J. (2025). Animals (forthcoming). In J. Bremmer, G. Petridou, and J. Ruepke (Eds.), Religion in Context. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
  • Kindt, J. (2025). Belief (forthcoming). In J. Bremmer, G. Petridou, and J. Ruepke (Eds.), Religion in Context. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
  • Kindt, J. (2024). Afterthought: Sacred Space, Sanctuaries, and Religious Experience in the Ancient World. Sanctuaries and Experience: Knowledge, Practice and Space in the Ancient World, (pp. 461-472). Germany: Franz Steiner Verlag.

Journals

  • Kindt, J. (2025). Classical Studies and the Public Humanities (Forthcoming). Public Humanities.
  • Kindt, J. (2025). Towards a comparative political theology of human-animal relations: Greek, Roman, and Ancient Chinese Perspectives (Forthcoming). Political Theology.
  • Kindt, J. (2024). Truth, Truthfulness, and the Beginnings of Ancient Greek Historiography. A Critical Response to Bernard Williams. The Classical Quarterly.

Conferences

  • Kindt, J. (2001). On Sheep and Men: Delphic Oracles and Social Control. Studien zur Funktion von Zukunftsvorhersagen in Literatur und Geschichte seit der Antike, Germany.

Magazine / Newspaper Articles

  • Kindt, J. (2024). From Political Bees to Talking Pigs: How Ancient Thinkers Saw the Human/Animal Divide. The Conversation, 15 March 2024. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2024). Was the Trojan Horse Real? Did the Greeks Really Trick their Way into Troy inside a Gigantic Wooden Horse. History Today, 74:3. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2022). Queen of Heaven: The Rocky Relationship between a Divine Husband and Wife (Review Piront/Pirenne-Delforge. The Hera of Zeus). Times Literary Supplement, 22.

Reference Works

  • Kindt, J. (2020). Dedications. The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Wiley.
  • Kindt, J. (2020). Delphi. The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Wiley.
  • Kindt, J. (2020). Oracles. The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Wiley.

Other

  • Kindt, J. (2024), Power in Antiquity: A Conversation with Professor Mary Beard for school students. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2024), Siapakah bangsa Sparta itu?. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2020), Sobre la escritura academica: una nota personal, Ojo en Tinta. [More Information]

2025

  • Kindt, J. (2025). Animals (forthcoming). In J. Bremmer, G. Petridou, and J. Ruepke (Eds.), Religion in Context. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
  • Kindt, J. (2025). Belief (forthcoming). In J. Bremmer, G. Petridou, and J. Ruepke (Eds.), Religion in Context. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
  • Kindt, J. (2025). Classical Studies and the Public Humanities (Forthcoming). Public Humanities.

2024

  • Kindt, J. (2024). Afterthought: Sacred Space, Sanctuaries, and Religious Experience in the Ancient World. Sanctuaries and Experience: Knowledge, Practice and Space in the Ancient World, (pp. 461-472). Germany: Franz Steiner Verlag.
  • Kindt, J. (2024). Ancient Greek Personal Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kindt, J. (2024). From Political Bees to Talking Pigs: How Ancient Thinkers Saw the Human/Animal Divide. The Conversation, 15 March 2024. [More Information]

2023

  • Kindt, J. (2023). Evoking the Supernatural: Text and Image in Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri. In J. Johnston and I. Gardner (Eds.), Drawing Spirit: The Role of Images and Design in the Magical Practice of Late Antiquity, (pp. 29-43). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2023). Localism and the Study of Ancient Greek Religion: The Example of the Divine Persona. In H. Beck and J. Kindt (Eds.), Local Horizons of Ancient Greek Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kindt, J. (2023). Text and Image in the Theban Magical Library (forthcoming). In J Johnston (Eds.), Text and Image in Ancient Magical Papyri. Leiden: Brill.

2022

  • Kindt, J. (2022). Queen of Heaven: The Rocky Relationship between a Divine Husband and Wife (Review Piront/Pirenne-Delforge. The Hera of Zeus). Times Literary Supplement, 22.
  • Kindt, J. (2022). The Enigmatic Divine Voice and the Problem of Human Misinterpretation. In Crystal Addey (Eds.), Divination and Systems of Knowledge in Greco-Roman Antiquity, (pp. 30-48). London: Routledge. [More Information]

2021

  • Kindt, J. (2021). Animals in Ancient Greek Divination: Oracles, predictions, and omens. In Julia Kindt (Eds.), Animals in Ancient Greek Religion, (pp. 197-216). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2021). Animals in Ancient Greek Religion. Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2021). Gods, Humans, and Animals Revisited. In Julia Kindt (Eds.), Animals in Ancient Greek Religion, (pp. 289-299). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]

2020

  • Kindt, J. (2020). 'The essential is invisible to the eye': the wisdom of The Little Prince in lockdown. The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2020). Dedications. The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Wiley.
  • Kindt, J. (2020). Delphi. The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Wiley.

2019

  • Kindt, J. (2019). Animals in Ancient Greek Religion: Divine Zoomorphism and the Anthropomorphic Divine Body. In T. Scheer (Eds.), Nature, Myth, Religion in Ancient Greece, (pp. 155-170). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
  • Kindt, J. (2019). Curious Kids: who were the Spartans? The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2019). Forgotten Women of History: The Priestess Pythia at the Delphic Oracle. The Conversation.

2018

  • Kindt, J. (2018). Guide to the Classics: Darwin's On the Origin of Species. The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2018). On Nostalgia. Meanjin, 77(2), 199-205. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2018). Revelation, Narrative, and Cognition: Oracle Stories as Epiphanic Tales in Ancient Greece. Kernos, 31, 39-58. [More Information]

2017

  • Kindt, J. (2017). Capturing the Ancient Animal: Human/Animal Studies and the Classics. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 137, 213-225. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2017). Guide to the classics: Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War. The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2017). Prophetic Interference fro Tiresias to Trump. Eidolon. [More Information]

2016

  • Kindt, J. (2016). Cheating, Bribery and Scandal: How the Ancient Greeks Did the Olympic Games. The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2016). Friday essay: secrets of the Delphic Oracle and how it speaks to us today. The Conversation. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2016). Guide to the Classics: "The Histories" by Herodotus. The Conversation. [More Information]

2015

  • Eidinow, E., Kindt, J. (2015). Introduction. In Esther Eidinow, Julia Kindt (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion, (pp. 1-7). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2015). Oracular Shrines as Places of Religious Experience. In Rubina Raja and Jorg Rupke (Eds.), A Companion to the Archaeology of Religion in the Ancient World, (pp. 268-278). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2015). Personal Religion: A Productive Category for the Study of Ancient Greek Religion? Journal of Hellenic Studies, 135, 35-50. [More Information]

2012

  • Kindt, J. (2012). Omphalos. Wiley Online Library.
  • Kindt, J. (2012). Oracles, Greece and Rome. Wiley Online Library.
  • Kindt, J. (2012). Pythia. Wiley Online Library.

2011

  • Kindt, J. (2011). Ancient Greece. In Timothy Insoll (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion, (pp. 696-709). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [More Information]

2010

  • Kindt, J. (2010), Herodotus and the Discovery of History - A Sydney Ideas Lecture.
  • Kindt, J. (2010). Parmeniscus' Journey: Tracing Religious Visuality in Word and Wood. Classical Philology, 105(3), 252-264. [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2010), The Delphic Oracle: On Knowledge - State Library of New South Wales.

2009

  • Kindt, J. (2009). Anthropology in Greco-Roman Antiquity. In C. Burfeind, M.A. Collins, U. Lehnert et.al (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. (pp. 14-18). Germany: Walter de Gruyter.
  • Kindt, J. (2009). On Tyrant Property Turned Ritual Object: Political Power and Sacred Symbols in Ancient Greece and in Social Anthropology. Arethusa, 42(3), 211-250.
  • Kindt, J. (2009). Polis Religion - A Critical Appreciation. Kernos, 22, 9-34. [More Information]

2008

  • Kindt, J. (2008). Oracular Ambiguity as a Mediation Triple. Classicum, XXXIV(1), 23-27.

2007

  • Kindt, J. (2007). Apollo's Oracle in Euripides' Ion. Ambiguous Identities in Fifth-Century Athens. Ancient Narrative, 6, 1-30. [More Information]

2006

  • Kindt, J. (2006), "Studying the Classics", Counterpoint, ABC Radio (jointly with A. Blanshard). [More Information]
  • Kindt, J. (2006). Delphic Oracle Stories and the Beginning of Historiography: Herodotus' Croesus Logos. Classical Philology, 101(1), 34-51. [More Information]

2001

  • Kindt, J. (2001). On Sheep and Men: Delphic Oracles and Social Control. Studien zur Funktion von Zukunftsvorhersagen in Literatur und Geschichte seit der Antike, Germany.

Selected Grants

2023

  • Monsters and Dehumanisation in Ancient Greece and the Early Modern Period, Waldow A, Kindt J, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/The Nicholas Anthony Aroney Research Fund

2018

  • The Humanity of Man and the Animal in Ancient Greece, Kindt J, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Future Fellowships (FT)