William Johnson

From Bookroll to Codex - Mellon-Sawyer seminar, Cultural and Textual Exchanges: The Manuscript across pre-modern Eurasia · December 2016 Invited Talk University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Judaic and Christian Readers and Reading Cultures- A Response - The Reading Cultures of Judaism and Christianity in Late Antiquity: A Dialogue with William A. Johnson · November 2016 Invited Talk SBL Conference, San Antonio, Texas

Ancient Magic and Ancient Literacies - Inscribing Power in Antiquity · October 2016 Invited Talk Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany

Imperial Pantomime and Satoshi Miyagi’s Medea - Music in the Time of Vergil · June 2016 Lecture Villa Vergiliana, Cuma, Italy

Triangulating Publication in Rome - Conference - Triangulationships: Between Authors, Readers, and Texts in Imperial Literature · July 2015 Invited Talk Cambridge University

An Intriguing Ptolemaic Commentary in the Yale Collection - The North America Papyrology Seminar · May 2015 Lecture University of Michigan

Publishing without Publishers in Ancient Rome and in New Media Today - Transitions in Reading and Writing · April 2015 Invited Talk Consortium for the Study of the pre-Modern World, University of Minnesota

The Sociology of Publishing in Ancient Rome - Oral Literateness and Literate Orality · April 2015 Invited Talk Stanford University

Ancient Literacy Reprised (Seminar Leader/co-organizer) · January 2015 Other Society for Classical Studies, New Orleans

Publishing without Publishers in Ancient Rome and in New Media Today · November 2014 Invited Talk Shanghai Normal University, China

Herodotus and his Readers · October 2014 Invited Talk Fudan Unversity, Shanghai

Imperial Pantomime and Satoshi Miyagi's Medea · January 2014 Lecture American Philological Association Meeting (Chicago)

Invited Lectures

Publishing without Publishers: Books, Publication, and Community in Imperial Rome · October 2012 Lecture Princeton University

Invited Lectures

Books and the Idea of Publication in Classical Antiquity - Writing Europe before 1450 · June 2012 Invited Talk University of Bergen, Norway

Invited Lectures ; keynote address at a conference, “Writing Europe before 1450”

The History of Books and Reading in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Panel Organizer/Moderator) · May 2012 Other Association of Ancient Historians

Imagining the Great Library of Alexandria: Cultural History and the Reconstruction of Antiquity · April 2012 Invited Talk Franklin and Marshall College

Invited Lectures

Publishing without Publishers: Books, Publication, and Community in Ancient Rome and Today · October 2011 Invited Talk Harvard University

Invited Lectures

Two Things · September 2011 Invited Talk Dickinson College

Invited Lectures

Teaching and the Literary Papyri · November 2010 Invited Talk University of Michigan

Invited Lectures

Libraries and Reading Culture in the High Empire - The Philological Society · November 2010 Invited Talk Johns Hopkins University

Invited Lectures

Herodotus and his Readers · November 2009 Invited Talk Cornell University

Invited Lectures

Publication, Text, and Community - Conference, Reclaiming the Past, Envisioning the Future · September 2009 Invited Talk University of California, Irvine

Invited Lectures

Libraries and Reading Culture in the High Empire - Conference - Ancient Libraries · September 2008 Invited Talk University of St Andrews, Scotland

Invited Lectures

Constructing Elite Reading Communities in Rome · November 2007 Invited Talk American School for Classical Studies, Athens, Greece

Constructing Elite Reading Communities in Rome · October 2007 Invited Talk Indiana University, Bloomington

Scholars’ Texts and Reading Communities - Classics Lecture Society (annual speaker elected by the Classics graduate students). · November 2006 Invited Talk University of Chicago

Constructing Elite Reading Communities in Rome - Distinguished Classics Alumnus Lecture · October 2006 Invited Talk Oberlin College

Constructing Elite Reading Communities in the High Empire - Semple Symposium, Constructing Literacy among the Greeks and Romans · April 2006 Lecture University of Cincinnati

Semple Symposium, Constructing Literacy among the Greeks and Romans (Organizer/Convener) · April 2006 Other

Seminar: Ancient Greek Music · October 2003 Invited Talk University of California, Berkeley

The Posidippus Papyrus: Bookroll and Reader · October 2003 Invited Talk University of California, Berkeley

The Posidippus Papyrus: Bookroll and Reader · April 2003 Invited Talk University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana

Bookrolls, readers, and the Posidippus papyrus - The New Posidippus, a Semple Symposium · November 2002 Invited Talk University of Cincinnati

Commentary on Plato - Panel on Plato as a Literary Author · January 2002 Lecture American Philological Association , Philadelphia, PA

Scholars and readers in Greco-Roman Egypt - Conference, Editing Ancient Texts · October 2001 Invited Talk University of Toronto

From papyrus to song: the discovery of two new fragments of ancient Greek music · October 2000 Invited Talk Ohio University , Athens, OH

New discoveries in ancient Greek music · April 2000 Invited Talk Bowling Green State University , Bowling Green, OH

Did the Greeks and Romans read silently or aloud? · February 1999 Lecture Rutgers University , New Brunswick, NJ

A New Greek Musical Papyrus (Beinecke CtYBR inv. 4510) - American Society of Papyrologists session · December 1998 Lecture American Philological Association , Washington D.C.

Musical Evenings in the Early Empire: New Evidence from a Greek Papyrus with Musical Notation · November 1998 Invited Talk Cornell University , Ithaca, NY

Reading Cultures and Education - Transformations: Technology, Foreign Languages, and Undergraduate Education · October 1998 Invited Talk Yale University and MIT , Cambridge, MA

Paradigm Shifts: The Sociology of Reading in Ancient Greece and in Today's Computer Age - Anthos: A Symposium in honor of Nathan A. Greenberg · September 1998 Invited Talk Oberlin College , Oberlin, OH

A new papyrus with musical notation: P. CtYBR 4510 - Greco-Roman lunch · December 1996 Lecture Calhoun College, Yale University , New Haven, CT

Classics, Computers, and Pedagogy (Panel Organizer/Moderator) · December 1996 Other American Philological Association Meeting, New York, New York

When is a poem a poem? The Augustan poetry book and problems of poem division in Propertius and Ovid · February 1996 Invited Talk Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Classics and the Internet (Panel Organizer/Moderator) · December 1995 Other American Philological Association Meeting, San Diego

Greek Electronic Resources and the Lexicographical Function - Panel on Resources for Biblical Lexicography at annual meeting · November 1995 Invited Talk Society for Biblical Literature , Philadelphia, PA

Oral Performance and the Composition of Herodotus' Histories - Classics Department colloquium · May 1994 Lecture University of California, Irvine

An earlier and oral version of the paper published in GRBS (supra).

Towards an Electronic Greek Historical Lexicon - Conference on Greek and Latin Lexicography · December 1993 Invited Talk University of California, Irvine

An oral version of the paper published in Emerita (supra).

The Aesthetic of the Luxury Book Roll - Conference on the Greek and Roman Book · October 1993 Invited Talk University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Is Oratory Written on Narrower Columns? A Papyrological Rule of Thumb Reviewed - 20th International Congress of Papyrology, Copenhagen · August 1992 Invited Talk Copenhagen, Denmark

A Computer for the Classics: The Design Philosophy of the Ibycus Scholarly Personal Computer · April 1989 Invited Talk Oberlin College , Oberlin, OH

Service to the Profession

Member, Professional Societies - American Philological Association (life member) • American Society of Papyrologists • Association internationale de papyrologues • Egypt Exploration Society • Phi Beta Kappa · 2015 Other

(current)

Associate Editor · 2010 - 2016 Editorial Activities Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies

Board of Directors, Secretary-Treasurer · 2000 - 2026 Other American Society of Papyrologists

Board of Directors · 1996 - 2024 Other Packard Humanities Institute

Service to Duke

ad hoc promotion committee - Philosophy (Department) · 2025 - 2026 Committee Service

ad hoc committee to review the promotion and reappointment of Wenjin Liu, Philosophy Department

ad hoc promotion committee - Classics (Department) · 2025 - 2026 Committee Service

ad hoc committee to review the promotion and tenure of Erika Weiberg, Classical Studies Department

Humanities Curriculum subcommittee, LACC; Steering Committee, LACC (University) · 2015 Committee Service Duke/DKU

DKU EVC Search Committee (University) · 2015 Committee Service Duke/DKU

Chair of Faculty, Duke Kunshan University · 2014 - 2015 Other DKU

Liberal Arts in China Committee (University) · 2014 - 2016 Committee Service Duke University/DKU

Director of Graduate Studies, Classical Studies Department (Department) · 2011 - 2014 Committee Service

Humanities Writ Large Steering Committee (University) · 2011 - 2014 Committee Service

Univ Services