Francesca Prescendi Morresi

Francesca Prescendi Morresi is a leading scholar in Roman religion and classical philology, currently serving as Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), PSL University. She has held permanent teaching and research positions at the University of Geneva, Lausanne, and EPHE, with expertise spanning ritual practices, mythography, and historical anthropology of antiquity.

• Doctorate in Classical Philology (University of Freiburg, 1996)
• Doctorate in History of Religions (EPHE/University of Geneva, 2005)
• Italian Habilitation (2013)

Her research focuses on Roman polytheism, sacrificial theory, and gendered religious practices. She explores how Roman antiquarians constructed religious knowledge through etiological myths, with a particular interest in funerary customs, female victimology, and comparative methodologies. Her publications include interdisciplinary collaborations on breastfeeding symbolism, Roman deities, and ritual networks.

Recent projects examine divine communication mechanisms, the evolution of sacrificial ideologies, and the intersection of religious and political power in imperial contexts. She contributes actively to collective volumes and critical editions, often working with scholars like Philippe Borgeaud, Agnes A. Nagy, and Irene Becci Terrier.

• Swiss National Science Foundation scholarship (2008-2014)

As an academic advisor, she collaborates on doctoral research and interdisciplinary studies, with a focus on Mediterranean religious networks and the historiography of ancient religions. Her forthcoming monographs address Roman foundation myths and contemporary spiritual practices, including the Damanhur community.