Spring into May with Cambridge Classics

To kick off this term we have an exciting array of talks and events for you to enjoy: 

The 2025 Classical Equalities Lecture by Henry Stead

G.19, Faculty of Classics, Sidgwick Av., Cambridge

17:00-18:00, Thursday 1 May

Classics and the British Radical Left, 1917–56

In 2020 Mary Beard asked how a balanced case could be made for Classics that also took in the discipline’s contribution to radical and progressive causes (TLS: A don’s life: ‘Is Classics Toxic?’). The seventh of her seven suggestions read simply: “And don’t forget the subject of Karl Marx’s doctoral thesis (the Greek philosophy of Epicurus).” This drew explicit attention to the (for some unlikely) encounter between the grandee of the global left and classical antiquity. Marx’s classicism has frequently been invoked as a symbol for a whole universe of leftist classicism. The trouble is, that universe has long been veiled by the cloud cover of the Cold War and its aftermath. One way of improving the left’s relationship with Greco-Roman antiquity is to learn from radical precedent, to see what the “classics” have looked like when viewed through a "red" lens. This paper will share some examples of British communist receptions of classics before 1956 from a wider project of gazing towards a “Brave New Classics” (bravenewclassics.info).

Roberta Mazza’s Stolen Fragments: Book Panel

Jane Harrison Room, Newnham College, Cambridge

17.00-18.30, Friday 9 May

Roberta Mazza will be in conversation with Tom Harrison, Suzanne Paul, and Tim Whitmarsh

Join Roberta Mazza and an expert panel for a public discussion of her sensational recent book Stolen Fragments, which explores the complicity between the academic world and illegal trade in papyrus fragments. Roberta will respond to questions from Tom Harrison (Keeper of the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum), Suzanne Paul (Keeper of Manuscripts and Rare Books at the University Library) and Tim Whitmarsh (Regius Professor of Greek). Shushma Malik (Assistant Professor of Classics) will chair the event. There will be plenty of opportunity to put your own questions to Roberta and the panel.

For more on Roberta's book please see this TLS review

The 2025 J.H. Gray Lectures, given by Helen Morales

G.19, Faculty of Classics, Sidgwick Av., Cambridge

17.00-18.00, Tuesday 13 May: Re-encountering antiquity with Harmonia Rosales

17.00-18.00, Thursday 15 May: Theorizing race through the art of Firelei Báez

The 2025 Newell Classics Event, with Jackie Murray

Online via Zoom, Register here

19.15-20.30, Thursday 22 May

From Kallipolis to Timocracy: Race and Injustice in Plato’s ‘Republic’.

For more information on Jackie's talk and the history of the Newell Classics event please visit the St. John's Website