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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

VIEWS PhD Studentship

4 April 2023

The Faculty of Classics is recruiting for a PhD student to join the Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems (VIEWS) project in October 2023. The student will work on a predetermined topic, namely visual aspects of the linear scripts of the Bronze Age Aegean (Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear A and Linear B), although there...

Classics Shorts with Mary Beard: videos for schools

19 February 2023

We are thrilled to be launching Classics Shorts : a series of videos for schools introducing the ancient Greek and Roman worlds and exploring themes with continuing resonance for the modern classroom. Each film is accompanied by teaching materials for use in schools. Celebrity guests join Mary Beard and her colleagues to...

New appointment in Classical Archaeology

10 February 2023

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Dr Jane Rempel has been appointed to an Assistant Professorship in Classics from 1 September 2023. She is currently Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University of Sheffield.

Regius Professorship of Greek

16 January 2023

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Professor Tim Whitmarsh FBA has been elected Regius Professor of Greek from 1 April 2023. He is currently the A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture in the University. Looking ahead to his new role, Professor Whitmarsh commented: ’I am thrilled and honoured to be taking up this...