Department of Classics

Anthony Smith is a PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Classics. He received a BA in Classics from Boston College and an MA in Classics from the University of Florida. He is currently writing his dissertation “Looking Forward, Looking Back: Katabasis on Contemporary Stages,” which examines the role of the ancient katabant (particularly Hercules, Odysseus, Orpheus, and Aeneas) and how this is modified and transformed for contemporary popular media (Hadestown, Supernatural, and The Magicians). He has published on Vergil and pedagogy and presented on numerous topics, including Vergilian and Ovidian metapoetry, pedagogy, and the modern reception of ancient katabasis. He is a two-time winner of the UF Graduate Student Teaching Award (2022, 2025) and will be a Tedder Family Fellow in the Humanities (2025-26) through the UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere. Beyond his research and teaching courses in the Classics Department, Honors Program, and First Year Florida, he has actively won grants for public humanities projects, hosted research conferences for graduates and undergraduates, and served as a Preview Graduate Assistant.