Ludovico Runco

Research

My thesis:

My doctoral research examines the development of identities in pre-Roman Bruttium and the wider central Mediterranean between the fourth and second centuries BC. Using archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence, the project explores how local communities negotiated processes of mobility, cultural interaction, and political transformation within an interconnected Osco-Hellenic landscape.

The thesis challenges older models that treated ethnogenesis as a singular or linear process by instead approaching identity as fluid, situational, and operating at multiple social scales. In particular, it develops a framework distinguishing between macro-identities and micro-identities in order to analyse the relationship between regional ethnē, local communities, and broader Mediterranean networks.

More broadly, the project engages with questions of migration, multilingualism, cultural hybridity, and connectivity in the ancient Mediterranean, with particular attention to the role of non-elite actors and local agency in processes of identity formation.

Research interests

• Pre-Roman Italy
• Magna Graecia
• Ancient Mediterranean connectivity
• Identity and ethnicity
• Migration and mobility
• Myth and origin stories
• Epigraphy and sociolinguistics
• Cultural interaction and change
• Roman Republic

Thesis

The ethnogenesis of the Brettians: a product of the Ver Sacrum?

With this research I aim to shed light on the dynamics of the Brettians, an Oscan group of South Italy, and to provide a better understanding of the ritual of the Ver Sacrum (‘The Sacred Spring’). I aim to construct an up-to-date and more refined interpretation of the embellished and mythicized stories found in the literary sources engaging with migration and ethnogenesis.

More specifically, I aim to develop a clearer picture of the culture of the Brettians within Magna Graecia – and the ancient world – paying special attention to the varying degrees of mutual influence that they had with the Lucanians and the Italiote Greeks at various points in time. More broadly, the objective of this research is to develop a more precise picture of migratory movements and integration processes within the Italian peninsula through the course of the first millennium BCE.

I also aim to find clearer evidence regarding the political organisation of the Brettians, without having to rely on assumed analogies with other better-known polities of Italic populations. One of the main goals of this project is to identify – through the analysis of epigraphic material – political entities and offices that belonged to the Brettians specifically, and to verify whether their closeness to the Italiote Greeks generated “hybrid” customs within the Brettian political institutions.

Teaching

• HS3108 - The Near East, Greece and Rome, 1000-323 BCE
• HS3103 - Investigating the Ancient World: Skills and Evidence
• HS2123 - The Archaeology of Mediterranean Societies: Egypt, Greece and Rome

Biography

I was born in Cosenza, Italy. I started my classical formation already at a high school level through Liceo Classico, moving then to the United Kingdom in 2017 to begin my university career. I graduated in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Leicester before completing a MA in Ancient History and Classical Culture at Swansea University. Currently, I am undertaking a PhD at Cardiff University under the supervision of Professor Guy Bradley and Dr. Maria Fragoulaki.

Education and qualifications

• PhD, Ancient History - Cardiff University (2022-present).
• MA, Ancient History & Classical Culture - Swansea University (2020-2021).
• BA, Ancient History & Archaeology - University of Leicester (2017-2020).

Honours and awards

• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) (2025)

Professional memberships

• Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (2022-present)
• Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (2022-present)

Academic positions

• Graduate tutor (2023-present)
• Research assistant (2023)
  • Tweeting the War: Herodotus, Thucydides, and the War in Ukraine on Social Media

Speaking engagements

• Celtic Conference in Classics 2025. - Coimbra, Portugal
  • Paper titled: 'Migratory Phenomena in Bruttium in 4th to 3rd century BC', within the panel 'Rethinking Colonization in Ancient Italy and the Western Mediterranean (500-250 BCE)' organised by Prof Guy Bradley (Cardiff University) and Dr Jeremia Pelgrom (University of Groningen).
• Celtic Conference in Classics 2024. - Cardiff, UK
  • Paper titled: 'The Role of Myth within Brettian Identity', within the panel 'War and Peace: People and the State in Pre-Roman Italy' organised by me and Kieran Blewitt.
• Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient History (AMPAH) 2024 - Cardiff, UK
  • Paper titled: 'Identity and "space" in Bruttium between the 4th and 2nd century BC'.

Committees and reviewing

• Organiser of a panel at the 15th Celtic Conference in Classics 2024.
  • Panel title: 'War and Peace: People and the State in pre-Roman Italy'.
• Committee member of the Organising Committee, AMPAH (Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient History) 2024.
  • Theme: Interdisciplinary Approaches to People, Power and Place.

Supervisors

Guy Bradley

Professor of Roman and Early Italian History, Director of International

Maria Fragoulaki

Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek History