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Faculty of Classics

 

The Corbett Lecture

The Corbett Lecture is an annual lecture by a distinguished scholar on a theme connected with ancient Greece. The list of past Corbett Lectures can be found HERE.

Did you know that we also have a collection of audio recordings of some of the previous Corbett lectures? These can be found HERE. 

The Corbett lectures are open to all members of the University and others who are interested, so please do feel free to come along.

 

The 2025 Corbett Lecture

Thursday 13 November at 5 pm in room G.19 [Ground Floor, Entrance 2 & 3], Faculty of Classics

"The Rain of Kings"

Professor Paul Kosmin (Harvard University)

 

 


Recent Corbett lectures

 

The 2024 Corbett Lecture

Professor Gabriel Richardson Lear (University of Chicago) gave the 2024 lecture on Thursday 7 November: 

"Targeting the Good: Archery as an Image of Wisdom in Aristotle and Plato"

 

Professor Daniel Kölligan (University of Würzburg) gave the 2023 Corbett lecture.

Professor Alex Purves, UCLA, gave the 2022 Corbett lecture.

 

 


 

The J.H. Gray Lectures

The Reverend Joseph Henry Gray, one-time Fellow and Vice-President of Queens', honorary canon of Peterborough, decided to endow a lectureship in Classics and the first set of Grays were given in 1928.

 

The 2026 J.H. Gray Lectures

The lectures will take place 19 - 21 May and will be delivered by Professor Denis Feeney on “Abandoning Ariadne”.

Previous J.H. Gray Lectures

 

In 2022, the J. H. Gray Lectures were delivered by Prof. Carlos Norena (UC Berkeley).

17th May

A recording of the lecture on Geographies of Power is available here.

18th May

Seminar: The Calibration of Interests (2pm G.21)

19th May

A recording of the lecture on Acculturation and Authority is available here.

The lectures and seminars will be held in person but a livestream will be available.  If you are interested in the livestream, please register your interest at events@classics.cam.ac.uk.  A link will be sent nearer to the time to those that have registered.

 

2021 Programme

In 2021 the J. H. Gray Lectures were delivered by Prof. Philomena Probert (Wolfson College, Oxford). Recordings of livestreams can be found below.

Video of lecture given on Tuesday 9th March, 5pm: 

Did the ancient Greeks do historical Linguistics?

A bibliography is available here.

Wednesday 10th March, 2pm: 

κακῶς λέγεις: how did Greek grammarians argue?

The seminar handout is available here

Video of lecture given on Thursday 11th March, 5pm:

Did the Romans do historical linguistics?

The bibliography for the second lecture is available here.

 


Latest news

Teaching Associate in Classical Art and Archaeology

27 February 2026

The Faculty of Classics is seeking to appoint a temporary Teaching Associate in Classical Art and Archaeology from 1 October 2026 for twelve months. The post is open to those at any stage of their career, with a primary research and teaching interest in any area of Classical Archaeology. The Faculty is particularly...

Kennedy Professorship of Latin

19 January 2026

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Professor Christopher Whitton has accepted election to the Kennedy Professorship of Latin from 1 October 2026.

Professor Nicholas Zair awarded Leverhulme Research Fellowship

8 January 2026

The Faculty is pleased to announce that Professor Nicholas Zair has been awarded a 3 year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship from 2026-2029 for his project Understanding Oscan. The Fellowship will allow Nick to spend the next three years working on Oscan, which was spoken widely across Southern Italy between the fifth...

Dr Ben Gray, Assistant Professor in Classics (Ancient History)

20 October 2025

The Faculty is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Ben Gray ( Birkbeck, University of London) as Assistant Professor in Classics (Ancient History) from 1st January 2026.