CV
2021-present
Sessional academic (Biblical Studies & Ancient Hebrew), Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University, Australia
Lecturer in Charge and Tutor for the following units:
* Introduction to the Bible (2022, 2023)
* Hebrew A (2023)
* Hebrew B (2021, 2023)
* A Synoptic Gospel (2022)
* Special Studies in Theology: Approaches to the Bible (2021)
2022
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University, Australia
Project: Emotions, Space, and Identity Politics in Ancient Israel
2021
Awarded Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History (Biblical Studies), Macquarie University
Dissertation title: Space, Emotion, and Power: Jerusalem as Contested Space in Ezekiel 16
2017-2019
Sessional academic, Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University
Lecturer in Charge and Tutor for the following units:
* Hebrew A (2017, 2020)
* Hebrew B (2017, 2019)
2016
Master of Research (Late Antique Christianity), Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University
Thesis title: Characterisation, Cross-Dressers, and Castrated Men in Late Antique Christianity
2012
Bachelor of Arts First Class Honours (Biblical Studies), Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, University of Sydney
Thesis title: Is the Fourth Gospel Anti-Jewish?
2011
Bachelor of Arts (Modern & Classical Hebrew), University of Sydney
Natalie F. Mylonas, Jerusalem as Contested Space in Ezekiel: Exilic Encounters with Emotion, Space, and Identity Politics (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies) (London, Bloomsbury: 2023)
Natalie Mylonas uses Ezekiel 16 as a case study in order to reveal the critical relationship between space, emotion, and identity politics in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing on interdisciplinary research that emphasises how space and emotions are inextricably linked in human experience, Mylonas explores the portrayal of Yhwh’s wife, Jerusalem, in Ezekiel 16 as a personified city who feels. In order to deliver its argument, the book foregrounds purity and gender issues, as well as debates on emotions in the Hebrew Bible, emphasising that spatiality is a key component of how these issues are conceptualised in ancient Israel.
Mylonas argues that the power struggle between Jerusalem and Yhwh in Ezekiel 16 is a struggle over the contested space of Jerusalem’s body and the city space. Jerusalem’s emotions are in a dynamic relationship with the spaces in the text – they signified by these spaces, they shift as the constitution of the spaces shifts, and they are shaped by Jerusalem’s use of space. Jerusalem’s desire, pride, and shamelessness are communicated spatially through her use of city space, while her representation as disgusting is underscored by her “uncontrollable” female body. Mylonas concludes by showing how Ezekiel’s vision of the new Jerusalem in Ezekiel 40-48 re-establishes sacred space through the erasure of the feminine city metaphor coupled with strict boundary policing, which is a far cry from the assault on Jerusalem’s boundaries described in Ezekiel 16.
Natalie F. Mylonas, “Erasing Alterity: Gendered Characterisation in the Different Versions of vita anastasiae,” Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, vol. 13 (2017): 19-46
Despite official declarations against cross-dressing in the fourth century, eleven vitae that praise the ascetic superiority of female assigned saints who dressed like men were produced in late antiquity. Engaging in a practice that was explicitly forbidden by numerous ecclesiastical synods, these individuals were often labelled as ‘others’ because they resisted social expectations and gender norms and trespassed into the masculine realms of independence and holiness. This study examines the gendered representation of one of these saints named Anastasia/Anastasius. It traces the gendered representation of the saint across three versions of their Greek vita, two of which are preserved in Vita Danielis and one in the Greek ‘Menaion’. These texts are fascinating because of the differing degrees to which they tolerate and promote the gender ambiguity of the saint. While the former versions allow Anastasia/Anastasius a degree of gender ambiguity, the ‘Menaion’ version suppresses much of this ambiguity. I will demonstrate this by exploring three aspects of Anastasia’s/Anastasius’s gendered characterisation in the texts: 1) designations for the saint throughout each narrative; 2) the saint’s identification as a eunuch; and 3) the degree of agency attributed to the saint. I conclude by offering some thoughts about how alterity theory can help account for these different representations, which I argue are responses to the perceived alterity of the saint.
Natalie F. Mylonas, Stephen Llewelyn & Gareth J. Wearne, “Speaking to One’s Heart: דבר and Its Semantic Extension,” Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, vol. 16 (2016): 1-26. https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2016.v16.a7
Cognitive linguists are increasingly recognising the value of metonymy for understanding the way language works. This article applies recent advancements in the theory of metonymy to the Hebrew noun דבר in order to explain its broad semantic range. It argues that metonymy and its function in the processes of grammaticalization account for the majority of lexical senses listed for דבר. It also aids in the translation of this polysemous noun by highlighting some contextual features of speech that help determine the meaning of דבר in any given sentence.
2023
Australasian Society for Classical Studies ECR Award, $3000
2022
Postdoctoral fellowship, Macquarie University, $95,000
Publication Subsidy Scheme, Macquarie University, $1750
2019
Faculty of Arts HDR Candidate Conference Travel Scheme, Macquarie University, $2656.23
2017
HDR Research Project Funding, Macquarie University, $1712
Australian Friends of the Hebrew University Financial Assistance, $1591
Wolf Family Scholarship, Macquarie University, $2500
Australian Early Medieval Association Best Postgraduate/ECR Paper Prize, $200
Patricia Geidans Best Thesis Prize, Macquarie University, $200
2017-2020
Research Training Program Scholarship, Macquarie University, $26,682 per annum
2016
Society for the Study of Early Christianity Travel Grant, Macquarie University, $500
Research Training Pathway Scholarship, Macquarie University, $26,682
2015
Research Training Pathway Scholarship, Macquarie University, $8000
2012
John Rector Scholarship in Jewish Studies, Sydney University, $2000
Walter Reid Memorial Prize, Sydney University, $500
Conference Paper, “The role of emotions in the portrayal of Jerusalem as contested space in Ezekiel 16,” Society for Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Denver, America, 2022
Invited Speaker, “‘At every street corner’ (Ezek 16:25): The importance of space for the interpretation of emotion in the Hebrew Bible,” Fellowship for Biblical Studies, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 2022
Conference Paper, “‘Like mother, like daughter’: Femininity, foreignness and emotions in Ezekiel 16,” 43rd Conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies, Hobart, Australia, 2022
Conference Paper, “Space, gender, and emotions in ancient Israel,” Mediterranean Archaeology Australian Research Community, Melbourne, Australia, 2022
Conference Paper, “Cast Out onto the Open Field: Emotion and Place in Ezekiel 16,” Society for Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, America, 2019
Invited Panel Respondent, “The Law and Emotions,” Society for Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, America
Invited Keynote Speaker, “Getting Emotional About the Land and Covenant,” Studies of Religion Teachers Conference, Lindfield Synagogue, Sydney, Australia, 2019
Conference Paper, “No Eye Pitied You: Emotions and the Formation of Social Status in Ezekiel 16:1-7,” Fellowship for Biblical Literature, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia, 2019
Seminar paper, “Honour Killings and Ezekiel 16 and 23,” Macquarie University Ancient History Seminar, Sydney, Australia, 2018
Conference Paper, “What do Sex Workers, Cross-Dressers, and Eunuchs Have in Common? Characterisation and Focalisation in the Syriac Life of Pelagia,” 38th Conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies, Wellington, New Zealand, 2017
Conference Paper, “Embracing and Resisting Alterity: Gendered Characterisation in the Different Versions of the Life of Anastasia as a Response to the “Otherness” of the Cross-Dressing Saint,” 12th Conference of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 2017
Conference Paper, “Angry Men and Scared Women: The Intersection of Gender and Emotion in the Hebrew Bible,” First International Conference on Contemporary and Historical Approaches to Emotions, University of Wollongong, Sydney, Australia, 2016
Conference Paper with Dr Gareth Wearne, “The Heart of Your Servant was Sick: The Use of Embodied Metaphors to Express Emotions in Classical Hebrew,” Moving Minds: Converting Cognition and Emotion in History, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 2016
Conference Paper “The Manly Eunuchs of Late Antique Egypt,” Fourth Australasian Egyptology Conference, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, 2016
Invited Speaker, “Exposing the Cross-Dresser: The Paradox of Living an Authentic Life in the Cross-Dressed Saints’ vitae,” Markers of Authenticity: Scripture, Reception, Authenticity, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 2016
Peer Review
2017
My expertise in cognitive linguistics in the Hebrew Bible led to an invitation to peer-review a special three-article volume on cognitive linguistics and the book of Judges for the internationally acclaimed Journal of Hebrew Scriptures
Public Engagement
2023
Invited public lecture, “The Biblical Prophets from Jewish and Christian Perspectives,” Sisters of Our Lady Sion, Australia Region
2022
Featured on Joshua Schrei’s The Emerald Podcast episode “Neckhairs of the Shapeshifter”
2019
Public lecture, “Sex and the City: Jerusalem the Ungrateful Lover,” Limmud Oz: Festival of Jewish Ideas, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2018
Invited speaker, “Admirable or Abominable: Representation of Late Antique Eunuchs and the Interpretative Dilemma Posed by Matthew 19:12,” Sydney Medieval and Renaissance Group, Sydney, Australia
Secondary Sector Outreach
2022
I ran a workshop for HSC religious studies’ students on introduction to midrashic interpretation in Judaism at SCEGGS, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia
2017
I ran a workshop on methods of historical investigation for HSC history students at Glenmore Park High School, Sydney, Australia
Volunteer Work
2016-2018
Co-Chair of Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies (AWAWS), Sydney Chapter
AWAWS is a professional society that promotes gender equality and diversity across multiple disciplines of ancient world studies including archaeology, classics, and ancient history
My roles as co-chair included:
- Developing a workshop educating Macquarie University students travelling abroad to attend archaeological digs about safety, particularly safety pertaining to sexual harassment
- Organising multiple inter-institutional networking events to bring together archaeology, classics, and ancient history in Sydney areas