Vale Marguerite Johnson (1965-2026)

(picture from her AWAWS Mentor webpage)

AWAWS was shocked and saddened to hear of the recent death of emerita professor Marguerite Johnson on the island of Lesvos. She was a brilliant, kind and thoughtful supporter, mentor and teacher of so many students, friends and colleagues in Australia and abroad, as well as a beloved mother, dear partner and accomplished writer, researcher and performer. A world-renowned scholar of ancient Greek and Latin literature, especially the Archaic poet Sappho, her interests and contributions span Ancient Greek, Roman and Australian religions, magical practices, cultural history, lived realities, gender studies and Classical receptions.

She was an Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland at the time of her passing, with a final PhD student working on Hellenistic epigrams, but spent most of her career at The University of Newcastle in NSW, where she was Professor of Classics until 2024. She received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from The University of Newcastle in 1988, where she won the university medal. She then earned her PhD in 1997, completing a thesis on Catullus’ Lesbia and her early Greek models, and taught at UofN for over 20 years.

She wrote for the AWAWS Mentorship scheme that, “In addition to her expertise in ancient genders and sexualities, primarily based on Greek and Latin literary traditions, (she) works in the area of Classical Reception Studies, particularly in relation to early colonial Australia. She is a feminist whose work is inspired by a variety of feminist scholarship, and is a supporter of women in the academy.”

On her Academia.edu and UQ espace pages (see links below), she listed some 11 published books, over 60 articles and 14 completed theses by her postgraduate students. Her output was prolific, and ranged widely between academic and popular work on Sappho, Catullus or Ovid to histories of ancient and modern sexualities, magical practices, Wicca and the “practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton.” She performed Lucan’s witch Erictho from his 1st century Latin Civil War epic Pharsalia, gave keynote lectures and composed the 2nd ed of Sexuality in Greek and Roman society and literature: a sourcebook (Routledge 2022). She edited (with Leah O’Hearn) a 2021 Antichthon special issue “Catullus in the 21st Century,” and Antipodean Antiquities: Classical Reception Down Under (Bloomsbury 2019).   

Presenting a 2024 paper at Athens conference Ακατάγραφες ζωές: Για μια ιστορία της λεσβιακής επιθυμίας στην Ελλάδα (19ος–20ός αι.) inspired a new project for her on “Classical Reception and 20th Century Greek Creatives,” and she remained academically engaged from Lesvos discussing witchcraft and magic online with the Australasian Ovidian Society, and teaching Hunter College CUNY summer sessions.

In this brief blog posting in her honor we celebrate her accomplishments and contributions to AWAWS, her students and her field of study, which she has enriched so much. We invite your memories, and send our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. We acknowledge the painful gap she leaves in all of our lives, which can only be partially filled by the shadows of our memory of her love, and by the joy and erudition of her works and legacy.

​Αἰωνία ἡ μνημῆ : May her memory be eternal : Σκίας ὅναρ ἅνθρωπος : The person is the dream of a shadow (Pindar) : Καλή μνημοσύνη, καλό κατευόδιο : Well may be her memorial, well her journey on.

(Chalkis Museum no. 5617 (2180), an over life-size marble Goddess Head, Roman, from a Hellenistic model, perhaps Aphrodite, photo by Amelia R. Brown, © Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea (Law 4858/2021))

Support Marguerite's Family

A GoFundMe campaign is raising funds for the children of Marguerite and her partner, Leni, who also passed away last week. Donations will help provide support for the family in the months and years ahead.

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