Barbara Clayton works primarily on the poetry of Homer, although she has been known to take this interest in non-traditional directions, such as a conference paper that looked at the relationship between the Homeric heroes and professional wrestlers ("Trash-talking Achilles"). A recent project has taken her as far afield as gender difference and cranial sutures in Aristotle's Parts of Animals. She has taught Classics at Oberlin (her alma mater) and at Santa Clara University as well as at Stanford. Currently, in addition to teaching Greek Prose Composition, she is part of the teaching team for Stanford's freshman introductory humanities course, "Structured Liberal Education," and a Continuing Studies course, "Greek Mythology."
Research Intereststhe Homeric epics, gender theory, psychoanalysis, ancient comedy, and the classical tradition. Her next project will attempt to combine all of these in a study of Polyphemus, the Cyclops
