Greta Hawes is a scholar of Greek myth.  Her work examines ancient – and sometimes more recent – contexts for storytelling, the Greeks’ assessment of mythic phenomena in their own culture, and the modes of interpretation to which these gave rise. 

Her first book, Rationalizing myth in antiquity (OUP, 2014), charts ancient dissatisfaction with the excesses of myth and the various attempts made by Greek mythographers to cut them down to size.  It argues that this ancient rationalizing tradition, so often dismissed for its banality, offers important insights into the practical difficulties inherent in distinguishing myth from history in antiquity, and indeed into the fragmented nature of myth itself as an emic concept.

Her current research explores the spatial dynamics of ancient storytelling and the various intricate relationships between myths and land. This is the theme of her edited collection, Myths on the map: the storied landscapes of ancient Greece (OUP, 2017) and a book she is currently working on, Pausanias in the world of Greek myth, which will appear with OUP in 2019.  For the years 2017-20, her research is supported by an ARC DECRA award.

Principal investigator, 'The spatial dynamics of myth in Pausanias' Periegesis' ARC DECRA award, 2017-20.

Principal investigator, 'Greek myth, mapped', an interdisciplinary digital humanities initiative, supported by an RSHA cross-college collaborative grant 2018. 

Co-editor, with Prof. Gregory Nagy, on A Pausanias commentary in progress, a new digital humanities platform hosted by the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. 

Member of 'Estudios sobre transmisión y recepción de Paléfato y la exégesis racionalista de los mitos’, funded by Proyectos de I+D, Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia (FFI2014-52203-P) 2016-18, led by Prof. Minerva Alganza Roldan (Granada).