Renske Janssen
Researcher
- Name
- Dr. K.P.S. Janssen
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2727
- k.p.s.janssen@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-3020-064X
Renske Janssen is a postdoctoral researcher in Classics and Ancient History, with a particular interest in Roman law, administration and religion.
Fields of interest
- Roman law and administration
- Ancient legal thinking
- Roman Imperial politics
- Religion in the Ancient world
- Early Christianity and Ancient Judaism
- Greek and Latin literature and culture
Research
Renske Janssen's research is positioned at the intersection of law, classics and ancient history, and is characterised by a focus on the ways in which people in the ancient world perceived, and engaged with, systems of law, morality and power. She was awarded a Dutch Research Council (NWO) Rubicon Postdoctoral Fellowship in early 2022, for which she is currently based at the University of Edinburgh Centre for Legal History.
Her research project, titled "More laws, more problems? The role of (Roman) law in society according to Cornelius Tacitus", is focussed on legal thinking in the works of the Roman author and magistrate Tacitus, which provide invaluable insights into the ways in which educated Romans could perceived the law, and how they viewed its role in wider society. The project will analyse the way in which Tacitus discussed the origins and role of the law, its beneficiaries and its application, and connect this thinking to the wider legal discourse of his time. This interdisciplinary approach will shed a light on legal thinking among educated non-experts in the Roman Imperial Period, and will as such look beyond the professional sphere of the jurists, whose specialist work has long dominated scholarship in the field. As such, it allows for new insights into wider societal thinking about the role of law during a period in which attitudes towards the Roman legal system were starting to change in both the provinces and the imperial administration.
Curriculum vitae
Dr. Janssen obtained her MA in Classics at Leiden University, and defended her PhD on the legal position of marginalised religious groups in the Roman Empire ("Religio Illicita? Roman Legal Interactions with Early Christianity in Context") at the same university in September of 2020. From 2019 to 2022, she was active as a lecturer in Ancient History at Leiden University and VU Amsterdam. She is also the initiator and editor in chief of the blog- and vlog series "Roads to Rome" ("Wegen naar Rome") which is organised alongside the annual Week of the Classics ("Week van de Klassieken") and is focussed on representations of the Ancient World in popular culture.
Researcher
- Faculty of Humanities
- Centre for the Arts in Society
- Griekse T&C
- Janssen K.P.S. (7 January 2024), Legal Principles: (Re)positioning Rome’s Legal History in Tacitus’ Annals 3.25-28. Society of Classical Studies, Chicago IL. [lecture].
- Du Plessis P.J. & Janssen K.P.S.. University of Edinburgh Centre for Legal History. Edinburgh. Organiser. [contribution to an event].
- Janssen K.P.S. (6 December 2023), Tacitus: Denken over het Recht in Rome. Interviewed by Epping T. for 'Oudheid' Podcast. [interview].
- Janssen K.P.S. (7 July 2023), Legal Principles: (Re)positioning Rome’s Legal History in Tacitus’ Annals 3.25-28. Ancient Law: Outside the Norms. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (16 November 2023), Engaging the emperor: local populations and imperial power in Claudius’ Letter to the Alexandrians. Radboud University, Nijmegen. [lecture].
- Pelt N.T. & Janssen K.P.S. (15 December 2023), “Declarándole su ardiente pasión amorosa”?: Exposing Arthur Tudor’s love letter at the Archivo General de Simancas as a school exercise. Leiden University, Leiden. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (10 December 2023), Tacitus: recht voor iedereen. Interviewed by Epping T. for 'Oudheid' Podcast. [interview].
- Janssen K.P.S. (21 April 2023), Public education? Discussion surrounding legal education in Tacitus’ Dialogus de Oratoribus. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (30 March 2023), De Principiis Iuris: Tacitus talks Legal History. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (11 June 2022), More Laws, more Problems? The Case for Tacitus as a legal Thinker. Ede. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (5 April 2022), Zelf en Ander. Christenen, Romeinen en hun Nalatenschap. Leiden. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (12 March 2022), Christenen voor de Leeuwen? Vroeg Christendom in een Romeins juridische Context. Online. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (3 March 2022), Christiani et Ceteri. The Treatment of Christians in the Roman Empire. Universiteit Leiden, Leiden. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (11 April 2022), Cattle's Gut and Owlet's Wing. Divination in Ancient Rome. Leiden. [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (9 October 2020), Christenen niet massaal vervolgd in het Romeinse Rijk. Interviewed by Klaas van der Zwaag for Reformatorisch Dagblad. [interview].
- Janssen K.P.S. (22 February 2020), Before Dominion – Christians in the Roman Empire; Introduction to book presentation of the Dutch edition of Tom Holland’s Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind (Dutch National Museum of Antiquities). [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (24 November 2020), Religio Illicita? Christianity in its Roman Context; Video lecture and digital Q&A at University of Oslo (Norway). [lecture].
- Janssen K.P.S. (28 September 2020), De Romeinen vervolgden de Christenen niet. Interviewed by Funnekotter B. for NRC Handelsblad. [interview].