M. Davies is Associate Professor of Classical Languages and Literature, and Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. He has published a study of the Theban epics, editions of the fragments of Greek epic and lyric poetry, a commentary on Sophocles' Trachiniae, and (with J. Kathirithamby) a book on Greek insects, as well as many articles on Greek poetry, especially its interactions with folk-tale and other mythological traditions.