Disciplines of Classics, Archaeology and ancient history

Study with us, and gain all the fundamentals you need to understand the history of the classical world (ancient Greece and Rome), their languages, literature, art and architecture, religions and ideas.

We focus on developing your skills in building evidence-based arguments (in ancient history and archaeology), understanding and unpacking ancient texts in translation, and developing your own linguistic skills through learning Latin.

We begin with two courses introducing you to the basics of ancient history and of Greek and Roman literature. Continue with more specialised historical courses about democratic Athens, Republican and Imperial Rome. Trace the evolution of Roman identity and culture through archaeology - including an opportunity to visit Rome and Pompeii. Learn some Latin; or study how Latin and Greek still influence scientific language. Explore how literature expressed emotions in Greece and Rome. Broaden your interests by exploring the role and meanings of classical myths, how the ancient Mediterranean world viewed death and afterlife, and the impact of Christianity upon the Roman empire.

Our teaching

We begin with two courses introducing you to the basics of ancient history and of Greek and Roman literature. Continue with more specialised historical courses about democratic Athens, Republican and Imperial Rome. Trace the evolution of Roman identity and culture through archaeology - including an opportunity to visit Rome and Pompeii. Learn some Latin; or study how Latin and Greek still influence scientific language. Explore how literature expressed emotions in Greece and Rome. Broaden your interests by exploring the role and meanings of classical myths, how the ancient Mediterranean world viewed death and afterlife, and the impact of Christianity upon the Roman empire.

Our people

Academic Staff

Name	Role
Professor Amanda Nettelbeck	Head of Department of Historical and Classical Studies
Professor Han Baltussen	Hughes Professor of Classics
Dr Margaret O’Hea	Senior Lecturer
Associate Professor Sally May	Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow

Titleholders/Research Associates/Emeritus

Name	Role
Associate Professor Peter Davis	Adjunct Research Fellow
Professor Emeritus Richard Green	Adjunct Professor
Professor Emeritus Graham Zanker	Adjunct Professor
Dr David Rafferty	ARC DECRA Fellow
Dr Jacqueline Clarke	Adjunct Research Fellow

Our research

The Department of Classics produces publications ranging from emotions and the representation of pain in Late Latin poetry, to Graeco-Roman attitudes to body, mind, and health, to the archaeology of the Late Antique Near East.

Each of our academics focus on different areas of research.

Professor Han Baltussen	Greek and Roman philosophy; Aristotle’s school; philosophical commentary; consolations; censorship
Dr Jacqueline Clarke	Latin poetry, especially lyric and elegiac; Reception of mythology
Dr Margaret O’Hea	Ancient glass; Late Hellenistic and Roman archaeology in the Near East; Late Antiquity
Associate Professor Peter Davis	Flavian epic; Seneca’s tragedies; Ovid
Professor Richard Green	Greek and Roman drama; Greek pottery
Professor Graham Zanker	Hellenistic poetry and visual art; Virgil; Stoicism