Περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ
(Updated in May 2026. This is not an official CV, just some curious comments written at random.)
I was born in the Mediterranean city of Barcelona, the city where I spent most of my first 41 years of life before moving to the UK. I studied Classics at the Universitat de Barcelona (BA 1985, PhD 1991) and at the University of Sheffield (MA 1986). My current position is Senior Language Tutor in Greek and Latin at the University of St Andrews (UK), where I am in charge of the teaching of these two languages. Formerly, I was teaching (also Greek and Latin) at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics, from 2003 to 2007.
My main teaching activities with undergraduates at St Andrews are distributed into three areas:
1/ First-year students who either start any of both languages (or both at the same time) from scratch in an intensive course or have already taken an A-level (or equivalent) at high school and engage here in language-reinforcement classes.
2/ Second year students who go on having language-reinforcement classes (whether they started the language from scratch in their first year or not).
3/ Teaching of Greek Prose Composition and Latin Prose Composition to third- and fourth- year students (currently, these two subjects have been quarantined awaiting some restructuration).
I also teach graduate students who start either language from scratch.
Apart from these teaching activities, I carry out other duties like supervising a PhD thesis (at another university, not at my own) about the teaching of Latin and the usual administrative duties that any academic position implies. And, obviously, the production of new materials like for example the grammars about which I speak in the section "About my books", their correspondent books of exercises, books on vocabulary, etc. (see my other website for all this, as there is much more stuff than just the grammars).
About a more personal level of activities not related to Greek and Latin, many years ago I started writing a World History book that will cover from the very beginning (the Big Bang; in spite of trying really hard, I have not managed to start from before; if you would like to know about even before the Big Bang, please get in touch with Stephen Hawking, University of Cambridge) to the events we are living nowadays; in this book I try to deal with the most important events, but trying at the same time to keep a line of continuity. I am doing it in a somehow old-fashioned way, the kind of History you were taught at school decades ago, instead of following the modern tendencies, and I include some personal comments; it will be a kind of "Commented World History”. Of what I have written up to now, the part I like most is the first pages dedicated to the very first minute of the Universe. Of course, after my incorporation at the University of Oxford first and at the University of St. Andrews later my free time has been drastically reduced to something symbolic, so you will have to wait if you want to read my book. Currently, the project is stopped, as I am too entangled in my own job and studies, sport life, etc.
Also the study of foreign languages has always been one of my favourite activities, especially German and Russian, and the study of Chinese which I started around 2021 (funnily enough, my interest in Chinese language started not in China but in Singapore) is also taking a good part of my scarce free time. Whenever I have the opportunity, I make an escapade to China to immerse myself in an intensive course to improve it.
For some reason, since I started being interested in Chinese language I became attracted to the phenomenon of the GaoKao (高考), the university entrance exam in China, which is much more than just an exam, it's a national event. I became so immersed in it that I ended up being chosen as supervisor for a Laidlaw Scholars research project about it, with the title "The GaoKao culture and its implications in Chinese society," for a student of the School of International Relations.
From time to time I take part in some congress abroad, some conference, etc.; for example, in the years 2022 and 2023 I took part in the Delphi Economic Forum; what a classicist was doing in a forum of politicians and economists is a long story, but it was quite curious to be there on the terrace of the European Cultural Centre where everybody was having a coffee and ask the person standing by you "And who are you?" to get the answer "I am the Minister of Economy of (whichever country)" or "I am the CEO of (whichever multinational company)" and then when asked back "And you?" having to give the answer "Ah, well, I teach the ablative absolute and the strong aorist..."
Last summer (2025) I had the pleasure of giving two talks in China: at the Beijing International Studies University and at the Northeast Normal University (Changchun city). I have recently (2026) taken part in the exchange programme with William & Mary College, Virginia, USA. I spent some wonderful days there, very productive academically, and a month before that I was again in Greece to take part in a series of conferences at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. So, the usual academic activities from time to time.
I also enjoy spending a couple of weeks every year at the Fondation Hardt in Geneva, where my productivity multiplies. If in my normal daily life I write let's say one page of a new book, there I write ten.
Marathon training always took from me a lot of time every day, especially as I also like studying about sport functional anatomy, sport injuries, treatment methods, etc. Nevertheless, a terrible injury in January 2017 when I was preparing for Copenhague Marathon in May for second time (I had taken part in 2015) put an end to my intensive marathon dedication (in the category that could be called "high-intensity amateur"), after the best five years (with the exception of the intensive 1988) I have got in my life sportswise (2012-2016), although I go on running almost daily (but not with two daily training sessions, speed series on the track, etc.). Firenze Marathon in November 2016 (where I had registered my PB in 2014) was my last one, the injury came while preparing for the next marathon; I did not self-retire, nature retired me...
Personal best times:
• In Marathon: 2 h 52 min 21 sec, Firenze Marathon, Italy, 30th of November 2014 (three consecutive years beating my PB: twice in Mont-Saint-Michel Marathon (France) and last time in Firenze).
• In Half-Marathon: 1 h 18 min 48 sec, Half-Marathon of Sant Cugat (near Barcelona), January 1988.
I was born in the Mediterranean city of Barcelona, the city where I spent most of my first 41 years of life before moving to the UK. I studied Classics at the Universitat de Barcelona (BA 1985, PhD 1991) and at the University of Sheffield (MA 1986). My current position is Senior Language Tutor in Greek and Latin at the University of St Andrews (UK), where I am in charge of the teaching of these two languages. Formerly, I was teaching (also Greek and Latin) at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics, from 2003 to 2007.
My main teaching activities with undergraduates at St Andrews are distributed into three areas:
1/ First-year students who either start any of both languages (or both at the same time) from scratch in an intensive course or have already taken an A-level (or equivalent) at high school and engage here in language-reinforcement classes.
2/ Second year students who go on having language-reinforcement classes (whether they started the language from scratch in their first year or not).
3/ Teaching of Greek Prose Composition and Latin Prose Composition to third- and fourth- year students (currently, these two subjects have been quarantined awaiting some restructuration).
I also teach graduate students who start either language from scratch.
Apart from these teaching activities, I carry out other duties like supervising a PhD thesis (at another university, not at my own) about the teaching of Latin and the usual administrative duties that any academic position implies. And, obviously, the production of new materials like for example the grammars about which I speak in the section "About my books", their correspondent books of exercises, books on vocabulary, etc. (see my other website for all this, as there is much more stuff than just the grammars).
About a more personal level of activities not related to Greek and Latin, many years ago I started writing a World History book that will cover from the very beginning (the Big Bang; in spite of trying really hard, I have not managed to start from before; if you would like to know about even before the Big Bang, please get in touch with Stephen Hawking, University of Cambridge) to the events we are living nowadays; in this book I try to deal with the most important events, but trying at the same time to keep a line of continuity. I am doing it in a somehow old-fashioned way, the kind of History you were taught at school decades ago, instead of following the modern tendencies, and I include some personal comments; it will be a kind of "Commented World History”. Of what I have written up to now, the part I like most is the first pages dedicated to the very first minute of the Universe. Of course, after my incorporation at the University of Oxford first and at the University of St. Andrews later my free time has been drastically reduced to something symbolic, so you will have to wait if you want to read my book. Currently, the project is stopped, as I am too entangled in my own job and studies, sport life, etc.
Also the study of foreign languages has always been one of my favourite activities, especially German and Russian, and the study of Chinese which I started around 2021 (funnily enough, my interest in Chinese language started not in China but in Singapore) is also taking a good part of my scarce free time. Whenever I have the opportunity, I make an escapade to China to immerse myself in an intensive course to improve it.
For some reason, since I started being interested in Chinese language I became attracted to the phenomenon of the GaoKao (高考), the university entrance exam in China, which is much more than just an exam, it's a national event. I became so immersed in it that I ended up being chosen as supervisor for a Laidlaw Scholars research project about it, with the title "The GaoKao culture and its implications in Chinese society," for a student of the School of International Relations.
From time to time I take part in some congress abroad, some conference, etc.; for example, in the years 2022 and 2023 I took part in the Delphi Economic Forum; what a classicist was doing in a forum of politicians and economists is a long story, but it was quite curious to be there on the terrace of the European Cultural Centre where everybody was having a coffee and ask the person standing by you "And who are you?" to get the answer "I am the Minister of Economy of (whichever country)" or "I am the CEO of (whichever multinational company)" and then when asked back "And you?" having to give the answer "Ah, well, I teach the ablative absolute and the strong aorist..."
Last summer (2025) I had the pleasure of giving two talks in China: at the Beijing International Studies University and at the Northeast Normal University (Changchun city). I have recently (2026) taken part in the exchange programme with William & Mary College, Virginia, USA. I spent some wonderful days there, very productive academically, and a month before that I was again in Greece to take part in a series of conferences at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. So, the usual academic activities from time to time.
I also enjoy spending a couple of weeks every year at the Fondation Hardt in Geneva, where my productivity multiplies. If in my normal daily life I write let's say one page of a new book, there I write ten.
Marathon training always took from me a lot of time every day, especially as I also like studying about sport functional anatomy, sport injuries, treatment methods, etc. Nevertheless, a terrible injury in January 2017 when I was preparing for Copenhague Marathon in May for second time (I had taken part in 2015) put an end to my intensive marathon dedication (in the category that could be called "high-intensity amateur"), after the best five years (with the exception of the intensive 1988) I have got in my life sportswise (2012-2016), although I go on running almost daily (but not with two daily training sessions, speed series on the track, etc.). Firenze Marathon in November 2016 (where I had registered my PB in 2014) was my last one, the injury came while preparing for the next marathon; I did not self-retire, nature retired me...
Personal best times:
• In Marathon: 2 h 52 min 21 sec, Firenze Marathon, Italy, 30th of November 2014 (three consecutive years beating my PB: twice in Mont-Saint-Michel Marathon (France) and last time in Firenze).
• In Half-Marathon: 1 h 18 min 48 sec, Half-Marathon of Sant Cugat (near Barcelona), January 1988.
