News

Mary challenged some of the 'myths' that classicists believe about the history of the subject -- arguing, for example, that most people in the nineteenth century were little or no more fluent in Greek and Latin than we are, and that classics had not always been the faithful handmaiden of dictators and imperialists (yes, its themes had underpinned the symbols of the British Empire, but it had also empowered the opponents of empire). She made a plea for the classical profession, still very largely white, to commit to greater diversity. That would make it not only a fairer subject, but a better subject for all.

 The talk will soon be available online, and will be posted here.

Oxford and Cambridge Classics Open Day, Friday 15^th March 2019, Oxford

Register: https://event-reg.classics.ox.ac.uk/

This open day is aimed at all students (UK and abroad) interested in pursuing a Classics degree. They offer the chance to find out more about Classical subjects in general, but also the specific degree programmes offered by Oxford and Cambridge in particular.

Both individuals and school groups are welcome.

Find out more about applying to study Classics at Oxford and Cambridge, with course presentations, taster lectures, and opportunities to ask questions to current students and academics.

During the day we run a programme of events, including an introductory session in the Sheldonian Theatre, college and museum tours, taster lectures, stalls covering various courses and application questions, and a teacher’s forum. The aim of the day is to help young people make informed decisions about their university choices, encourage them to consider Classics as an exciting and worthwhile option, and to help them develop their interest and understanding of the ancient world. More details will be available at https://classics.web.ox.ac.uk/open-days

Rebecca Flemming, from the Faculty of Classics, is a co-editor of an important ‘field-defining’ book just published by Cambridge University Press, 'Reproduction: From Antiquity to the Present Day'

Read all about the book HERE.

Tailored to the OCR Latin AS and A Level specifications 2019–2021, the book offers the original Latin text, vocabulary aids, study questions, and an extensive commentary. Designed to stretch and stimulate readers, it extends beyond detailed linguistic analysis to encourage critical engagement with Virgil’s poetry and the most recent scholarly thought.

For more details on any of these events, please feel free to visit the EVENTS section of our Greeks Romans and Us website or if you have any questions, please email them to Esme Booth

We post regular updates on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages as well, to ensure you are kept up to date with what is going on at the events and when booking will open. 

This prestigious scheme aims to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers, but who have a proven record of research.

The Faculty operates an internal selection process. We are keen to support high quality applications that intersect with research already being undertaken or developed in the Faculty of Classics. So, applicants should be in touch with an academic who works in their area of research, and could act as their sponsor, to discuss their proposed project as soon as possible. Full details of the internal application process (with links to more details of Faculty members) can be found at: https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/research/funding

Details of the scheme itself, including rules on eligibility, are available from:

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/grant-schemes/early-career-fellowships

Please contact the Faculty Research Officer with any general queries: research.officer@classics.cam.ac.uk

The Faculty Deadline for applications is Friday 4^th January 2019. 

Make Your Myth 2018

Our brand new Classics competition is aimed at students in years 3-8 and all the information and entry details can be found HERE. 

It is a fun and exciting way to get students involved in learning more about Greek/Roman history and mythology, arts and design or creative writing and short stories - so there is something for everyone! Please feel free to share the website link, or pass it on, to anybody you know who may be interested. We are looking forward to seeing all of the wonderful entries and sharing the winning works with you at the start of 2019. 

 Any questions can be emailed directly to Esme Booth at efb43@cam.ac.uk 

Thank you! 

The Gildersleeve Prize has been presented to Dr Leventhal for the best article published in the American Journal of Philology in 2017, “Eratosthenes’ Letter to Ptolemy: The Literary Mechanics of Empire,” AJP 138.1: 43–84.

Full details, including the call for papers, are available on the project’s conference page.

The Council of the Cambridge Philological Society has agreed to establish an annual prize competition for the best submitted article under 10,000 words by a graduate student or early-career researcher, with £1,000 awarded to the winner. The winner will also have their article published in the Society's journal, the Cambridge Classical Journal.

Eligible submissions will fall within one or more area(s) in Classical Studies chosen annually by the Council. For 2019 (that is for publication in CCJ vol. 65) and 2020 (that is for publication in CCJ vol. 66), these will be Classical Archaeology and/or Ancient History.

The regulations for the competition may be consulted HERE.

The closing date for submissions for 2019 is 15 January 2019 and for 2020 is 15 January 2020.

http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/17743/

We are very proud of our Alumni community and what they have all gone on to achieve. This is why we have added a new page to our website where you can read through some alumni profiles. Here they tell us, in their own words, a bit about their lives and work following their Cambridge studies.

It is truly inspiring to see all of the fascinating work and achievements of our Classics Alumni and great for potential Classics applicants to see just how enriching studying Classics can be and the diverse range of opportunities that can follow.

We have counted down the finalists and announced our winner for this year's Video Competition! There were some really brilliant and imaginative entries and we thoroughly enjoyed watching them all. Thank you to all of those involved and, if you have not yet, please have a look through them. 

The competition takes place every year and is open to students from years 9-13. To read more about it have a look on the Greeks, Romans and Us page HERE. It is a fantastic and exciting way to allow students to get creative with the Classics and we have had some brilliant and original entries this year. Have a look at some of them HERE.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2018/may/29/university-league-tables-2019

For more information on the Sather Professors see here

On Monday 12th February at 9pm, Mary Beard and the BBC endeavoured to reveal the truth about the famous Roman emperor - Julius Caesar.

Who was Julias Caesar and how does his influence resonate in our everyday lives? How have dictators since utilised his PR tricks in striving to achieve autonomous power? 

Catch up with the episode HERE.

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

The CREWS project now has a display at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum. It was opened yesterday, Tuesday 16th January, and will run until Sunday 10th June 2018. 

To read the full blog post about the installation day and the collaboration with the British Museum and Fitzwilliam, please CLICK HERE. Here, Dr Phillipa Steele (Principal Investigator of the CREWS project) tells us all about it and where the display is located in the Museum.

You can also keep up to date with the exciting progress and developments of the project on the CREWS project blog. 

To find out more about this fascinating project and its aims please CLICK HERE.

Professor Reeve has been elected to membership of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. See the Academy website for further details.

Dr Ferraby, co-Director of the Aldborough Roman Town Project, has been given the Illustration Award for The Tender Map by Melanie Challenger (Guillemot Press). Further details may be found here

Professor Millett's co-edited book, 'The Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain' 2016 (M. Millett, L.Revell and A. Moore) has been shortlisted for the Current Archaeology book of the Year Award. Voting for the awards (open to everyone) went live on 1st December on www.archaeology.co.uk/vote,  – and is open until 5th February. The winners will be announced at the Current Archaeology Live! 2018 conference, held at the University of London's Senate House on 23-24 February.

We are very pleased to announce the 2018 Cambridge Classics Ancient Worlds Video Competition! For more details and details on how to enter, please click HERE.

‘We are pleased to announce that the 2019 Cambridge Greek Play will be Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, directed by Daniel Goldman. Sophocles’ tragedy about the last days of Oedipus, now blind and exiled, is one of the greatest plays about old age, the bearing of life's horror, and the transcendence of the ordinary.

Daniel Goldman is known for his imaginative theatre work in several languages with his Tangram Theatre Company and beyond, and is looking forward to the exciting challenge of staging Sophocles in the original Greek.’

To read more about the Cambridge Greek Play and it's fascinating history, please click HERE.

This December the Faculty of Classics and Museum of Classical Archaeology were delighted to host a celebratory event for students who had participated in a very special competition organised by the Cambridge Schools Classics Project. Year 7 students from a number of local state-maintained secondary schools listened to tales from Ovid in their English lessons before being asked to produce a creative response to their favourite myth. Teachers in each school had a tough job choosing the best pieces of work produced by their students so that they could present it to a panel of judges, who would decide who would ultimately be the winner across all seven schools which took part.

On 7th December, the winning students from each school visited the Faculty to enjoy tales from the Odyssey with storyteller Hugh Lupton, for a chance to explore the Museum of Classical Archaeology and, most importantly, to be awarded with certificates and prizes and to find out the winner of the competition. 

The judges were so impressed with all of the wonderful videos and works of art produced by the students that they found it terribly hard to choose a winner but in the end, the Minotaur model and poem seen above by Joshua Cobbold from Sybil Andrews Academy in Bury St Edmunds was judged the very worthy winner.

Congratulations and many thanks to all the students and teachers involved from Samuel Ward Academy, Sawston Village College, Saffron Walden County High School, Thomas Gainsborough School, The Netherhall School, Sybil Andrews Academy and Anglo European School.  

Applicants should be in touch with an academic in the Faculty who works in their area of research, and could act as their sponsor, to discuss their proposed project as soon as possible (academic staff and their research interests are listed at https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/directory/faculty).

Draft applications should then be submitted to the Faculty’s Administrative Officer, Mr Nigel Thompson (Nigel.Thompson@admin.cam.ac.uk) by Thursday 4th January 2018. For further details of the process see: https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/research/funding

The medal is awarded biennially in recognition of work in the field of classical studies and archaeology.  Further details on the award are available on the British Academy website

https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/prospective/postgraduate/graduate-open-day-1

See press release for more details.

Coverage in The Times (Norman Hammond, 14 October 2017) may be read here.

Since 2010 the students of the Faculty of Classics have been actively involved in archaeological fieldwork at the Roman town of Interamna Lirenas (Central Italy).

Over the next four weeks the students will be excavating the theatre: if you would like to know what they are up to now, follow them on Twitter and Instagram!