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Contact us at greekinitaly@gmail.com, or find a member of the team using the links below.

 

Principal Investigator: Dr James Clackson

James CJames Clackson is a Reader in Comparative Philology and Director of Studies in Classics at Jesus College, Cambridge.

James has wide interests in the history of the Latin and Greek languages, ancient sociolinguistics and bilingualism, the languages and epigraphy of the ancient Mediterranean and comparative Indo-European studies.His past research includes work on Latin, Sabellian, Greek and Armenian, and includes The Blackwell History of the Latin Language, co-authored with Geoff Horrocks. On this project, his work will focus on the early history of the Latin language, including comparison in the treatment of Greek loanwords in Latin with that in other languages.

 

Co-Investigator: Prof. Geoff Horrocks

Geoff HGeoff Horrocks is Professor of Comparative Philology and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge.

He is the author of the seminal work Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers. He is particularly interested in theories of language structure and language change in their application to the Greek language in all its varieties from the earliest attestations in the second millennium BC to the present day. He also has a secondary interest in the development of Latin, both in its Italian context and in its relationships with other languages as it spread within the Roman empire, including contact with Greek.

 

Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr Nick Zair

Nick Z

Nick Zair is a Research Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and an affiliated lecturer at the Faculty of Classics.

He is currently working on a book for Cambridge University Press about how Oscan-speakers in Ancient Italy used the Greek alphabet to write Oscan, and the relationship between speakers of Greek and Oscan. More generally, his research also deals with the history of the languages of Italy (Latin, Oscan, Umbrian, South Picene). Other research interests include the Celtic languages, Proto-Indo-European phonology and morphology, sound change and language grouping.

 

Affiliated Postdoctoral Researcher: Dr Katherine McDonald

Katherine MKatherine McDonald is Research Fellow in Classics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Her research is funded by Gonville and Caius. She has recently finished her PhD thesis on contact between South Oscan and Greek. During the project, she will expand on this work and deal with contact between Greek and Oscan, Messapic and Latin in Southern Italy. She is particularly interested in how modern theories of bilingualism and gender linguistics can be applied to ancient languages. She is also the Webmaster for the project.

Latest news

The Kennedy Professorship of Latin

13 June 2025

The Board of Electors to the Kennedy Professorship of Latin invite applications for this Professorship from persons whose work falls within the general field of the Professorship to take up appointment on 1 September 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter. For more information see details here . Closing date: 8 September...

Masters Student wins Roman Society MA dissertation prize

28 May 2025

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Naomi Norden (King’s College) has won joint first place in the Roman Society MA dissertation prize for her 2024 MPhil thesis 'Creating complexity: Paratextuality and Intertextuality in the Works of Ausonius'. Congratulations Naomi!

St John's College Newell Lecture

27 May 2025

This year the St John's College Newell Lecture was delivered by Jackie Murray on the topic of Race and Injustice in Plato's Republic. You can watch a recording of the event here:

Marie Curie / BA postdoctoral fellowship schemes

19 May 2025

The Faculty of Classics invites potential applicants to the MSCA (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions) and the British Academy’s Postdoctoral Fellowship schemes within areas relevant to our research clusters: Greek and Latin Literature, Greek and Roman Philosophy, Ancient History, C lassical Art and Archaeology, Classical and...