R. (Rebecca) Van Hove, Dr

Rebecca Van Hove is Assistant Professor in Ancient History at the University of Groningen. Her research examines ancient Greek society and culture, with a particular focus on Greek religion and Greek law, including the complex entanglements of these two normative systems. 

After studying History and Classics in Edinburgh, Rebecca obtained her PhD in Ancient History in 2018 at King’s College London. A study of religion and authority in Attic oratory, her PhD research scrutinised the construction of religious authority in political and judicial decision-making in the classical Athenian democracy. It questioned not only what orators in the Assembly and the law courts could say about the gods, the gods’ relationship to the mortal sphere, and the human experience of negotiating this relationship, but – crucially – dissected how these orators could say what they did about such divine matters.

Previously, she worked as postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University (2020-2021),  the University of Liège and the Collège de France (2019-2020), with funding from the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and the Leverhulme Trust. Whilst completing her doctorate, Rebecca also held studentships at the British School at Athens, Greece (2016-17) and the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies in Erfurt, Germany (2017-18). 

Her current project examines the role of writing and the function of written records in ancient Greek religion.