Cecilia Perinelli is a PhD researcher in Classics at the University of St Andrews, supported by the Millar Lyell Scholarship and supervised by Dr Nicolas Wiater and Dr Thomas Biggs. Her doctoral research examines the political and cultural uses of the myth of Aeneas across the ancient Mediterranean, with particular attention to Greek and Roman historiographical and scholarly traditions.

The project focuses on all pre Augustan attestations of Aeneas in Greek and Roman historiography and grammatical literature, reconstructing an early and fragmentary tradition that predates the ideological consolidation of the Augustan regime. Through this analysis, the thesis explores how myths of origin, migration, and ancestry involving Aeneas were deployed to articulate cultural identity and political legitimacy in different historical and regional contexts.

Ancient historiography, with a particular focus on fragmentary Greek and Roman historiography. Cultural memory and memory studies in antiquity. Reception and transformation of mythic narratives within historiographical and scholarly traditions. Context based and historically grounded approaches to myth, political discourse, and cultural identity across the ancient Mediterranean.

Cecilia Perinelli holds a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Studies from the University of Sapienza, awarded with full marks and honours (110/110 cum laude). She subsequently completed a Master’s degree in Philology, Literature, and Classical Tradition at the University of Bologna, also awarded with full marks and honours (110/110 cum laude), with the additional distinction of dignità di stampa. Her academic training provided a strong foundation in Greek and Latin philology, ancient historiography, and the critical study of literary and scholarly traditions, with particular emphasis on methodological rigour and contextual interpretation of ancient sources.