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Faculty of Classics

 

Many of the most exciting questions in the contemporary study of the ancient world cannot be adequately approached by the standard techniques of philology, philosophy, history or archaeology on their own. They require approaching ancient culture simultaneously with the whole range of disciplinary tools. ‘X’ or ‘Interdisciplinary Classics’ was founded in Cambridge to explore these questions at all levels of teaching and research, and offers what has rapidly become one of the most popular groups of courses in the Faculty. It capitalizes on Cambridge's unique range of intellectual resources to provide a different sort of classical study from that offered by other departments in Britain.

For undergraduates

Each year ‘X’ offers two part II courses, each of which takes a central issue in Classics, examining it from several different angles and through diverse genres of evidence (literary, visual, philosophical, linguistic, ancient and modern). Discussion is paramount: lectures are supplemented by two-hour classes in which areas of expertise are shared and ideas tested. Courses change regularly as the most pressing questions in contemporary Classics change. On offer at the moment are ‘Idols? Imagining Gods and Heroes in the Greek and Roman Worlds’ and ‘Prostitutes and Saints’. Previous papers include ‘Myth’, ‘Cultural Identity’, ‘Personal Politics’, ‘Time’, ‘Rhetoric’, ‘The Body in Antiquity’, ‘Death’, and ‘Sexual Ethics’. Many students also elect to do their third-year dissertation in an interdisciplinary area.

For postgraduates

‘X’ teaching, and the collaborations and debates that this has fostered, have helped produce some of the finest recent research and contributed greatly to Cambridge's outstanding reputation for the application of modern approaches to the study of the ancient world. Many successful Ph.D. thesis-projects have been directly inspired by it, and many others have reflected its influence. The Faculty is exceptional in having a large number of its members working on interdisciplinary topics (many of them with a ‘reception’ angle) at any one time.

Who are we?

Initiated by John Henderson and Geoffrey Lloyd in the 1980s, the 'X' Caucus has embraced a broad cross-section of internationally distinguished scholars known for their interdisciplinary interests. Below is a list of faculty-members whose research interests fall under 'X' and who contribute to 'X' teaching.


Research Fellow in Classics
Sidney Sussex College
Professor  Paul  Cartledge
A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow, Clare College
Emeritus A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture
Dr Renaud  Gagné
Professor of Ancient Greek Literature and Religion
Fellow of Pembroke College
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Dr Ingo  Gildenhard
Professor of Classics and the Classical Tradition
Fellow and Director of Studies at King's College
Professor of Greek Literature and Culture
Fellow, King's College
Senior Lecturer in Classics (Ancient Philosophy)
Fellow and Director of Studies at Homerton College
Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek
Fellow of Trinity College
Dr Rebecca  Laemmle
Associate Professor in Classics (Greek Literature)
Director of Postgraduate Admissions in Classics
Fellow & Postgraduate Tutor of Pembroke College
Professor Martin  Millett
Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology
Fellow of Fitzwilliam College
Professor Robin  Osborne
Professor of Ancient History
Fellow at King's College
Dr Nigel  Spivey
Senior Lecturer in Classics (Classical Art & Archaeology)
Fellow, Emmanuel College
Professor of Classics
Director of the Museum of Classical Archaeology (on sabbatical, Michaelmas 2023)
Fellow in Classics at Christ's College and Director of Studies, Prelim and IA
Byvanck Chair of Classical Archaeology/Art History at the University of Leiden
Professor Andrew  Wallace-Hadrill
Director of Research
Honorary Professor of Roman Studies
Dr Hannah  Willey
Associate Professor of Classics (Ancient History)
Fellow & Director of Studies in Prelim and 1A Classics at Murray Edwards
Dr Jingyi Jenny  Zhao
ISF Research Fellow, Clare Hall/Needham Research Institute

Latest news

Election of two new Professors in the Faculty of Classics

27 March 2024

The Faculty is delighted to announce the election of Professor Josephine (Jo) Crawley Quinn to the Professorship of Ancient History and Professor Serafina Cuomo to the A. G. Leventis Professorship of Greek Culture . Jo will join the Faculty on 1 January 2025 and will be the first woman to hold the Professorship of Ancient...

Craven Seminar 2024

26 March 2024

The programme for the Craven Seminar 2024, ‘Interface Interpretation: exegesis as encounter in Greco-Roman literature’ , is now available online . This will be an in-person event. Please click here to register.

Classical Equalities Lecture 25 April 2024 at 17.00 in G19

4 March 2024

Jane Draycott will be giving this year’s Classical Equalities lecture, on ‘ Prostheses in Classical Antiquity: Everything You Never Knew You Wanted To Know’. Jane Draycott is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Glasgow. Her research investigates science, technology, and medicine in the ancient world. She has...

Soundmarks Project

12 February 2024

Soundmarks, an art/archaeology collaboration between Rose Ferraby, Cambridge Archaeologist, and Rob St John using sound and visual art launches at DIG in York. In 2019 the pair created work exploring and animating the sub-surface landscape of Aldborough Roman Town in North Yorkshire, UK. Soundmarks Aldborough was re-shown...