I am a PhD student in Classics with an emphasis on Ancient History.  My particular research interests include cross-cultural connections between Classical and Near Eastern civilizations, especially between the Hellenic world, the Levant and subsequent Punic settlements, and Mesopotamia.  My current focus in these matters is the transmission of magic ritual and belief from Mesopotamia and Syria to North Africa, the Aegean, and the island of Sicily.  I am working on a dissertation which examines the Greek defixiones from the Sicilian city of Selinous and contextualizes them as an intermediary between later Greek curse tablets and earlier Near Eastern traditions of cursing.  I strive to utilize and combine linguistic, epigraphical, and archaeological data in my research in order to provide the clearest possible picture of how these practices were transmitted from one culture to another.

I am currently a Teaching Assistant at the University of British Columbia and most recently participated in the American School of Classical Studies at Athens Summer Session in 2015. I have also taken part in archaeological excavations at Apollonia/Arsuf, Tel Achziv, and Tel Kabri in Israel, as well as the Mapping the Via Appia project with the Royal Netherlands Institute (KNIR) at Rome.
CV available upon request at ryan.johnson@alumni.ubc.ca