When writing a bio of yourself, you are almost obligated to say how much you dislike doing such things. In my case, its not quite true; after all, I didn't have to add a profile section to the website. That said, I tend to dislike how they come out once written. That I still do it probably just means I am a masochist.

I'm born, raised and still residing on the west-coast of Sweden, since -99 together with my imported fiancé, Elio. I work as a subtitler from English to Swedish, though lately various projects that have developed from our involvement with A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones have threatened to take over both of our lives. This includes running Westeros but also working on The World of Ice and Fire together with George R.R. Martin as well as assisting on a couple of other Ice & Fire projects from Bantam.

I am also a seemingly perpetual student; as long as there remains interesting classes at the University of Gothenburg that I haven't taken, I'm in, at least part-time. I have a 1-year Masters degree in Classical History which I plan to turn into a full 2-year Masters when my schedule allows. They changed the degree system here in Sweden just as I finished up, and of course I cannot resist the opportunity to expand on mine. I am also eyeing the post-graduate program in Classical History, but the openings are few and far between. For the moment, I am just adding interesting classes on the side of my work; my latest project is to add a Bachelor or maybe a 1-year Masters in Literature.

When I am not spending too much time on-line, I love to read (my favourites including George R.R. Martin, Guy Gavriel Kay, Judith Tarr, Stephen R. Donaldson, Jacqueline Carey, Anne Bishop and Robin Hobb, among others) or, though I don't get to do this nearly often enough, go riding. Horses are, without a doubt, my main passion in life, and when I'm in a stable I am still essentially a horse-crazy girl of about 8 or 9. Apart from that, personality-wise I am such a perfect match for a Scorpio that I just have to believe in Astrology at least a little bit. In particular, I am temperamental and strong-willed (sounds better than stubborn, right?). I am also prone to more than a bit of "doom and gloom" at times, not to mention a habit of placing very high demands on myself.

Academia

My main area of study within Classical History has been various horse-related matters and this is reflected in my work for my Bachelor and for my 1-year Master. I've only put up the abstracts so far, but I hope to add the actual papers as well.

Aspects of the Horse in Mycenaean Society

The Paired Horse-burials from Dendra in a Larger Context

Focusing on the two paired horse-burials from Dendra -- dated to the Middle and Late Bronze Age, respectively -- this paper attempts to explore aspects of the horse in Mycenaean society. To begin with, the Dendra horses are looked closely at, in order to investigate what they alone can tell us about the roles of the horse in the Mycenaean period and, in particular, about the roles of the four horses from Dendra.

Following upon that, the scope of the paper is widened and the Dendra horses are used to form the core of a broader investigation of the roles of the Mycenaean horse. To aid in this task, comparisons are drawn to similar finds. Additionally, pictorial, mythological and literary evidence is used to highlight various aspects of the horse and help in the attempts to answer such questions as when the horse was re-introduced to Greece, what functions the horse-drawn chariot served, what role horseback riding may have played and what symbolic and religious roles the horse may have filled in Middle and Late Bronze Age Greece.

The Mounted Etruscan Horseman

Nature, Context and Purpose of Riders on Archaic Architectural Terrecotta Reliefs

The horse is one of the more popular motifs occurring upon the architectural terracotta reliefs that once decorated a variety of Etruscan buildings. While many of the depicted horses are shown harnessed to chariots, a large number are also shown ridden in processions, in what clearly appears to be races and in other, less easily interpreted contexts. The riders themselves are sometimes shown armed, sometimes unarmed, and a few are even depicted as mounted on one horse while leading a second.

This paper explores aspects of the Etruscan aristocracy and Etruscan horsemanship as illustrated by these depictions of mounted Etruscan horsemen. The primary questions that this paper attempts to answer are what activities these relief plaques are intend to portray, in what contexts both the relief plaques themselves and said activities belong and what purpose the actual relief plaques as well as the activities in question may have served in Etruscan society. Of particular interest is what significance they may have held for the Etruscan aristocracy.