Welcome to my website

Ancient rhetoric, political thought, and the lives of texts.

I am a classicist working on Greek rhetoric, epistolography, political thought, and exemplary literature. My research asks how ancient texts intervene in political debates, construct intellectual authority, and transmit moral and political ideas across time.

Portrait of Tobias Hirsch

About me

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in Classics at the University of Technology Nuremberg. Before joining UTN, I completed my doctorate at Heidelberg University and held an International Research Fellowship at Fudan University in Shanghai.

My work combines close philological analysis with broader questions about genre, intellectual networks, and the cultural transmission of political ideas. I am especially interested in how ancient authors use literary form to intervene in political and moral debates.

Latest news

Book · 2025

Monograph published in Hypomnemata

Die Briefe des Isokrates appears as volume 223 of the Hypomnemata series.

Research · In progress

Companion to Isocrates

Edited with Michael Edwards, Sophie Gotteland, Eleni Alexandri, and Massimiliano Carloni.

Service · 2025-2029

Review Editor, Societas Isocratica

Supporting international research on Isocrates and fourth-century Greek rhetoric.

Education & employment

Nov. 2023-present

University of Technology Nuremberg

Postdoctoral Researcher, Classics

Aug. 2024-June 2025

Fudan University, Shanghai

International Research Fellow, Department of History

July 2019-Nov. 2023

Heidelberg University

PhD in Classics, magna cum laude

Oct. 2012-May 2019

Heidelberg University

First State Examination in Ancient Greek, Latin, and History

Research

My research focuses on the political and intellectual culture of Classical Greece, with particular attention to the interaction between rhetorical discourse, philosophical reflection, and contemporary political realities.

Isocrates and political rhetoric

My monograph studies the Isocratean letters as rhetorical interventions, forms of political advice, and instruments of social networking in the fourth century BCE.

Greek epistolography

Current projects examine Platonic and Socratic letter collections, pseudepigraphy, intellectual lineage, and the ethics of authorship in antiquity.

Exemplary literature

A further strand explores moral exempla in Valerius Maximus, Plutarch, Frontinus, and Polyaenus as literary vehicles for ethical instruction.

Recent talks

Feb. 2026

Education, Political Advice, and Social Networking in Fourth-Century BCE Greece: The Letters of Isocrates

Isocrate: un corpus di testi per la formazione, Viterbo

Nov. 2025

Shaping Moral Paradigms: Women, Virtue, and Narrative in Plutarch’s Mulierum Virtutes

Transformations, Transfigurations & Alterations in Plutarch, Córdoba

June 2024

Ancient and Digital Teaching and Learning Methods

Interdisciplinary workshop, UTN

Publications

Selected recent publications are listed below. A complete list of publications is available for download.

Download complete list of publications

Monograph

Die Briefe des Isokrates: Politische Ratschläge und soziale Netzwerke im vierten Jahrhundert v. Chr.

Hypomnemata 223. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2025. DOI

Article

The Daimonion of Isocrates: Anti-Socratic Polemics and the Power of Politikoi Logoi in the Philippos

Rhetorica 44.1, forthcoming / 2026.

Article

Putting the Platonic Letters in Order: A Pen Pal Break-Up and the Legacy of Dion

Classical Quarterly, forthcoming.

Article

Der Ausbruch des Krieges zwischen Makedonien und Athen 340 v. Chr. und [Dem.] 12

Historia 74.2, 2025, 161-184. DOI

Article

Thucydides on Aetolia: A Lesson on Cultural History and the Possibilities of Historical Learning

Ancient Society 52, 2022, 69-96.

CV

Download my CV

You can download my academic CV and full list of publications here.