SANTAGATI Elena

Elena Santagati is Associate Professor of Greek History at the Department of Ancient and Modern Civilizations of the University of Messina, where she carries out teaching and research activities in the fields of Greek history and the history of ancient Sicily. After obtaining her classical high school diploma with top marks at the “F. Maurolico” High School in Messina, she graduated with honors in Classical Studies from the University of Messina and subsequently attended an advanced specialization course at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa. She earned her PhD in Ancient History at “La Sapienza” University of Rome and, since 1999, has been a faculty member at the University of Messina, where she has developed extensive academic and teaching experience. She has also obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification for Full Professorship.
Her scholarly production is distinguished by its broad thematic range and constant interdisciplinary perspective. Her research interests focus primarily on the Greek history of Sicily, examined across a chronological span extending from the pre-Hellenic horizon to the political and cultural dynamics of the fourth and third centuries BCE. Within this framework, she has devoted particular attention to interactions between Greeks and indigenous populations, forms of political power, Sicilian tyrannies, and identity-building processes within the ancient Mediterranean world.
Alongside her studies on Sicily, her research has also explored Epirus and Hellenistic Macedonia, with particular regard to the figure of Pyrrhus, models of kingship, and strategies of political propaganda. A significant part of her work has furthermore been dedicated to the analysis of civic and federal identity through numismatic evidence, regarded as a privileged source for understanding symbolic languages and representations of power in the Greek world.
Over the years, she has also addressed anthropological and cultural themes, such as transvestism in ancient Greece between myth, ritual practice, and the social construction of gender identity, as well as topics related to the history of food production and economic practices in the ancient Mediterranean, with studies on the production and consumption of wine and honey. More recently, her research activity has focused on warfare in the ancient world, examining issues related to intelligence, military stratagems, poliorcetics, and urban resilience strategies during sieges.
She is the author of numerous scholarly publications, including monographs, edited volumes, and articles published in leading national and international peer-reviewed journals. Among her most significant works are studies devoted to Timoleon, Pyrrhus, Sicilian kingship, political propaganda, and defensive systems in the Greek world. Her volume Timoleonte, ἱερὸς ἀνήρ tra storia e propaganda was awarded the International Anassilaos Prize for Essays in 2018.
Her scholarly activity has been accompanied by intense participation in both national and international academic life. She has taken part, as both speaker and organizer, in numerous scientific conferences in Italy and abroad, presenting papers on topics related to mainland and Western Greek civilization, the political and cultural history of the ancient Mediterranean, numismatics, poliorcetics, and identity dynamics in the Greek world. She has also participated in national and international research groups and projects, collaborating with European and non-European universities and research institutions, including the Universities of Oviedo, Valencia, Tokyo, Musashino, Krakow, and Tours.
At the institutional level, she has continuously carried out advanced training activities within the doctoral programs of the University of Messina. Since 2007, she has been a member of the Doctoral Boards in Archaeological and Historical Sciences, Historical, Archaeological and Philological Sciences, and subsequently in Humanities, undertaking teaching, tutoring, and doctoral dissertation supervision activities. Her teaching activity includes courses in Greek History, History of Greek Sicily, History of the Mediterranean in the Greek Age, and Institutions, Epigraphy and Society of the Greek World within undergraduate and graduate degree programs at the University of Messina. He is a member of the scientific committees of ANVUR Class A journals (Thiasos, Sicilia antiqua, Quaderni di Archeologia etc.) and of numerous editorial series (Antico, Ithaca, Peloro etc.).
Alongside her academic and teaching activities, she has gained significant experience in academic governance and student services. From 2013 to 2024 she served as Departmental Delegate for Disabilities and, since June 2024, she has held the position of Rector’s Delegate for Services for Students with Disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (DSA), promoting policies of inclusion and accessibility within the University. Since 2023, she has also served as Director of the Teacher Qualification Programs for the following teaching classes: A011 (Italian Literature and Latin), A012 (Italian Literature in Secondary Schools), A013 (Italian Literature, Latin and Greek), and A022 (Italian, History, Civic Education, and Geography for Lower Secondary Schools).