Marguerite Johnson

Marguerite Johnson is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History in the School at the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at The University of Queensland and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Marguerite is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton.

Much of her work for the media, including The Conversation, addresses magic and the occult, folklore and mythology, reflecting her interests in the cultural histories of belief, stories and storytelling, and traditions around magical thinking.