Dr. Jeremy J. Swist

Dr. Jeremy J. Swist is a lecturer in the Department of Classical Studies at Brandeis University. He earned his BA in European History and Latin from the University of Maine, and his MA and PhD in Classics from the University of Iowa. His primary research areas include Greek and Latin historiography under the Roman Empire, the thought and writings of the emperor Julian, and the reception of ancient Greece, Rome, and Byzantium in metal music. Jeremy has discussed this last topic in multiple conference presentations, invited lectures, and podcasts, with special emphasis on appropriations of antiquity by politically far-right bands. His publications in this area include “Satan’s Empire: Ancient Rome’s Anti-Christian Appeal in Extreme Metal” in Metal Music Studies (2018); “Headbanging to Byzantium: The Reception of the Byzantine Empire in Heavy Metal Music” in What Byzantinism in Istanbul is This? (Istanbul Research Institute, 2021); “Sparta and Metal Music’s Reception of Ancient History” in the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Metal Music (Cambridge University Press, 2023). He lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his four, fluffy, feline research assistants.