“I began my second year studying intermediate Greek, and I realised, quite quickly, that I had made a mistake! I realised that I wanted to do the Second Year independent project module instead, so I essentially ran to the office to change it.

Fortunately, they allowed me to do this! I began my first term project for the module Empire and its Others in Virgil’s Aeneid led by Dr Efi Spentzou. My task was to write from the perspective of an “other” character in the Aeneid, to give a voice to a character without much of one. I went through many ideas, starting with Camilla, then the Sybil, before I landed on my final decision, Apollo. Apollo has always been my favourite Classical figure, and with the limited presence of the gods in the Aeneid, it felt like the perfect decision.

At first, I found myself very challenged by the task, I was unsure how to effectively write in first person, and my experience in creative writing was quite limited! Though eventually, I broke through my writer's block by just writing down the feelings I’d expect Apollo to have felt during the events of the Epic.

I focussed on a feeling of helplessness uncharacteristic of gods in Epic. I wanted to explore the impact of predetermined fate on the god of prophecy, how seeing an unchangeable future for the mortals you love can be heartbreaking and devastating. I used the dynamic of Apollo as Aeneas’ protector to my advantage, creating a reflective piece in which Apollo looks back on the times he helped Aeneas, or wished he could have done more. By applying these feelings to a god, it almost humanises them, and I felt as if I had gained a greater understanding of the seemingly absent god in the Aeneid.

I also found trouble in deciding when to set my piece, I could not find a suitable moment in the Epic that made sense to me. Eventually, I decided to set it in Augustan Rome, with Apollo looking down on it and reminiscing about the past. This turned out to be an excellent decision as it helped me include the importance of Augustus in the Aeneid.

All in all, it was a great experience! Even in the final moments of a last-minute submission, I enjoyed this project through it all. It might even encourage me to do more creative pieces in the future!”

"Hello! I’m Harry Triggs, a 3^rd year PhD student in the Classics Department. I also lead seminars for the Introductory Roman History module.

My research focuses on memory, conquest and community in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. I examine how group memory in Britannia, Gaul and Germania was used to create communities. In post-conquest settings memory had a generative impact on local communities, and examining how people commemorated themselves is a fascinating way of tracing ancient community development. Tombstones are evocations of personal memory that integrate these memories into the collective memory of multiple social groups. They depict multifaceted, hybrid communities that champion complex individual identities far deeper than simply “Roman” and “non-Roman.”

This tombstone from Cologne commemorates Marcus Valerius Celerinus. He had a Roman name, Roman citizenship, and was a veteran. But his tombstone celebrates membership to other communities. He was from Astigi in Spain, and was a civis Agrippinensis, a citizen of Agrippinensium, the Roman name for Cologne. His memory is tied to multiple different places and groups. This gives us an indication of the general makeup of Cologne’s community, but it more importantly demonstrates that personal identities in the Roman Empire were fluid and hybrid. A “Roman” soldier from Spain could settle in Cologne and happily call himself a citizen of Cologne at the same time. It is through memory that Marcus integrated himself forever into these various communities, and in turn established these groups as part of Cologne’s own memory framework."

“Hi, I’m Kevin, a third year Classical Studies student and, also, on the committee of London Classicists of Colour as Academics Officer this year. For those who haven’t heard of LCOC (London Classicists of Colour), it’s a student-led society made up of students from the University of London group (UCL,KCL, RHUL, Birkbeck) with the mission to diversify and decolonise Classics. We try to do this by creating a community for students, especially POC (Persons of Colour) classicists, by hosting events like talks, tours, socials and welfare sessions. Our tours are usually some of our more popular events since we aim to introduce more nuance to how we approach heritage by giving a spotlight to more niche items in collections and the history behind their typically dodgy acquisitions. Our tours also try to highlight other Ancient cultures from the world and explore lesser taught subject matters like Assyria. Also, occasional collaborations with other unis or groups lets me really broaden the research I do, for example I am doing a small presentation with KCL-LGBT society soon about queer literature in Ancient China under the title; ‘Tales of tombs, Twinks and T-Shirts’.

(Below - Kevin doing tours talking about Lady Layard’s necklaces’ awful archaeological ethics and the LCOC logo)

But I think some of the really impactful and fun work is getting to know Classics departments at the other London unis to get in touch for changes to improve the way Classics is taught. So, I just wanted to share a little of my work as part of LCOC with our Classics department here at RHUL! It’s been super cool to have organised a departmental meeting where many of the lovely staff here were able to meet online with LCOC committee to discuss potential improvements to inclusivity and diversity along with the preexisting work that the Uni already does to help solve any EDI issues. Getting to work with the Classics department itself feels like real progress in helping improve the way Classics is taught for current and future students to embrace diversity or promoting the field of study to larger demographics. Other meetings with departments at UCL and KCL mean that I hope to help create a promising network of cooperation between universities teaching Classics.

If you’re interested in LCOC, check out our website or social media! It’s a great society for change and meeting new people from some of the other London unis, so I’d totally recommend younger year students check it out. It's been a great way to engage with the Classics department along with academia itself through fun community led work and I’ve loved being part of it for a year-ish now!”

"Hello, my name is Lily, I am a 2nd year Classical Studies student and a student ambassador. I started my job as a student ambassador back in September 2023, and I have enjoyed every moment since. Being able to meet prospective students with similar and also different to me backgrounds has been amazing; being able to see how so many different people have been brought together through Classics has been super eye opening. I was first introduced to Classics at A-Level where I fell in love with the subject, and my teacher, Sam, encouraged me to continue with my Classics education at university, and I did. You could always hear in her voice during lessons how much of a passion she had both for teaching and Classics, and I will always be grateful for her. Sam was an undergraduate student here at Royal Holloway, and it was her encouragement and stories of the university that made me want to come here. When I came here on an Open day and when I began studying here in 2022, I couldn’t have agreed more with her.

Being able to engage with a whole range of prospective students is something I find really fun. In the January 2024 Open Day, I sat in on mini lectures given by Dr Liz Gloyn and Dr Erica Rowan, and getting to see how different individuals began to light up at certain facts or how the lecturers gave the lecture inspired me when going back to my studies after the event. And I still have in mind the face of one particularly enthusiastic visiting student who approached me with really inquisitive questions and the pride in their parents’ face watching discreetly from a little way back. I remember the feeling very well, not being able to get the smile off of my face on Open Days, and even to this day I can be sitting in my lectures, and I can’t hep but smile at how lucky and inspired I feel.

Within the Classics department at Royal Holloway, everything is aimed at making my studies here better, the lecturers are super communicative, and I am always able to contact them whenever I need them, both in an academic and personal way. They are extremely supportive of me, and their feedback helps me to become the best student I can be. It is very nice to be able to have an academic talks with my lecturers but also be able to talk to them about things going on outside of my academic life."

Our fantastic student ambassadors (Lily, left) with Prof. Christos Chremmydas.

'Hello there, I’m Ellis and I’m a Techne-funded PhD candidate in Classics. As a part of my funding arrangements, I am allowed to undertake up to 6 months of CEAs (Career Enhancement Activities). Thomas Sowell was recently asked: "How do you make something of yourself today?". He replied: "You equip yourself with skills that people are willing to pay for." This was in fact my second CEA. Back in 2022, I was a historical researcher for 6 weeks with Lion Television, the guys that produce Horrible Histories.

Look! Honest! I am right at the end of the credit roll, juuust as the autoplay feature comes in. 

This time, however, I worked for 12 weeks with Magnitude Surveys which is a commercial geophysical survey company based Up Norf’ in Bradford. They look to ‘assess sub-surface archaeological potential', often in advance of planning permission applications for construction and infrastructural projects. In ideal circumstances, we find amazing things like previously-unknown Roman villas or medieval villages; at other times, it's underground services, ridge and furrow or nowt.

What then did the normal day-to-day experience of working with a “geo-fizz” company look like? Well, blisters galore! At least at first for a growing lad with office-made feet. The best piece of advice that I received was to double sock at all times, otherwise you’ll be in for similarly nasty surprises (I won’t share images, it’s before the watershed hour). Moreover, being cold, wet and windswept on the edge of Bronze-age barrow pitted with muddy badger sets is not my usual idea of a nice stroll in the countryside.

We worked away most of the time, so the entire experience was also some sort of strange social experiment in which you need to run with some socially acceptable part of your personality with another human for up to a week at a time. Having been a bookworm for the past decade and not trialled myself in a long time, I was initially hesitant but acclimatised and even started to enjoy working with and getting to know lots of different people. I can now confirm that I am resoundingly…‘normal’.

Once your feet toughen up and you no longer wheeze with each step, you even start to take in the majesty of your surroundings and embrace some pseudo-Buddhist sense of ‘being at one with nature’. This was especially true on bright Winter mornings, crunching to site over frozen cobwebs on the grass. Surveying in Lincolnshire also brought us near to several RAF bases for a few weeks. We were bedazzled with Red Arrows training flights and jet fighters which flew in squadron formations and were dogfighting over our heads. We travelled the length and breadth of the country to places you would rarely dream of visiting – is Sleaford on anyone’s travel bucket-list? Also, no offence to the inhabitants of Sleaford but your river is really more of a stream. I was disappointed.

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I admit, these are all superficial at the end of the day. It’s because the staff at Magnitude were fantastic and I felt welcome from the get-go. In particular, I would like to give a shout-out to Laika, the Head of Security. I was slightly nervous on my first day walking into the office but Laika, the director’s German shepherd, quickly calmed me down by dumpffing onto my feet and demanding strokes. I felt immediately at home. I also learned loads of new useful skills, including of course geophysical survey skills (especially magnetometry and GPR), but more importantly skills in using GIS as an analytical tool (which is currently on the UK’s shortage skills/occupation list), and even limited knowhow in power-tools (electric sanders and pillar drills being among my favourites. Strangely everyone took a step back when I grabbed one…?). Wonderfully, Magnitude asked for me to keep in touch with them because they’d like me to go back after the end of my PhD. I’ll let you in for a secret – these foot-in-the-door scenarios are invaluable because so many new-born Doctors come out the other side of a PhD with a nice piece of paper, a floppy hat and little else. Magnitude are always on the hunt for new surveyors but I have decided that this was a personalised invitation.

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I even received a lovely leaving card. This was in fact my first proper job and therefore my first proper leaving card. I blushed when I received it! The card is covered in ducks and had miniature ducks packed inside of the envelope, too. I must have mentioned that I have Halloween-themed rubber ducks in my bathroom at some point. The things you talk about in the van…you forget after a while…'

"When I first came up with my thesis, ‘Artistic Representations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses in The National Gallery, London’, I was lost at where to start. I had no background knowledge of art history when starting my dissertation, and although I had studied Ovid in detail throughout second year, my lack of expertise when attempting to enter the world of art studies was, of course, daunting. However, I believed in my idea, and this eventually led me to The National Gallery, where I began building my experience of studying classical myth through more than just ancient texts, and into the world of iconography and art history.

The idea for my dissertation had stemmed from my study of Metamorphoses in the second year of my English and Classics degree, where considerable amounts of the study involved reading criticism from scholars who interpreted the mythic traditions in Ovid in less conventional ways, for example reading from a feminine perspective. This is what lead me to combine my interest in art, as I believed that comparing the representation of myths in another medium would create an interesting, insightful, and a slightly unique dissertation.This search for art lead me naturally to Trafalgar Square, through the doors of one of the world’s most renowned galleries, The National Gallery, and even further into room twenty-nine, The Wolfson Gallery, which has slowly become the main focus of my dissertation. Its walls, arranged with Venetian art, display four of Titian’s boldest mythologies, representing three of the most well-known mythologies in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Narrowing my dissertation down to just studying this singular room stemmed from visiting the gallery itself. Understanding the true scale of room twenty-nine and the impact of Titian’s mythologies became clear the moment I walked into the Wolfson gallery for the first time. Its pure size, barreled ceiling, and striking green walls combined with the dramatic canvases depicting lively mythologies stood out to me not only as just an impressive representation of Venetian art, but also as something that could be studied in extensive and more importantly interesting detail.

Of all the paintings in the gallery, there was one that stood out to me the most. Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne is a painting which I believe everybody who has access to London and The National Gallery should strive to go and view in their lifetime. Not only is the painting striking, colourful and dynamic, its iconography is entertaining, and develops the tale of the two lovers using the brief mention that Ovid gives to the pair at the end of ‘Ariadne and the Minotaur’. This painting stood out to me for these very reasons, and although my dissertation goes into extensive detail and somewhat rereads the painting from a feminine perspective, focusing on Ariadne rather than Bacchus and his entourage, when put simply, I believe that this painting is one that should be on anyone who is interested in art, classics, or mythologies lists. If it can strike me enough to produce an eight-thousand-word dissertation on, it is likely to be impactful on anyone else who views it!"

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“This year I am teaching a year 3 course of social and economic history. We ask key questions: how did the Romans survive? How did Roman society get from generation to generation? And we start with early Rome.

Everything points to the first Romans being very poor. Their farms were really small, often only as big as a football pitch. My class has to work out how they can survive on so little land and what does it mean for their lives and livelihoods. I think what surprised them most is that not having much land affects whom they can marry. So, we role-played scenarios.

Four of them became farmers and they were given varying amounts of imaginary land. So now they had to find someone to marry them. And when someone was deciding to get married, there were more pressing concerns than whether the perspective spouse had nice eyes and an excellent sense of humour. Choose the wrong partner and you or your children don’t get enough to eat. We paired them off; the dowries were exchanged and then we randomly assigned children (with the help of dice). The family property was split in the next generation. Then we repeated the process.

A couple of generations later we had some who were landless and couldn’t attract a partner. Others had quite nice little estates and were looking for people to work for them. And suddenly, we had reconstructed a Roman class structure and we had people muttering about revolutions. From farming to families to class to politics.

But now the class really wants to try their hands at farming. We are trying to persuade someone to buy us a little plot. We can plant grain and vegetables. Maybe we could run to some olives and grapes. We are pretty sure we know how to plough, but less certain that we can find a plough or an ox to pull the plough. We are preparing business plans in the hope of attracting some capital investment.

They are pretty determined that the farm will be in Southern Italy though… I am wondering whether the Classics Departmental budget might run to that. It is after all an excellent investment in the many skills of my talented students.”

The Humanities School Careers Event on Tuesday was a great success according to all the reports we received both from staff and from students who took part. Classics alumnae, such as Megan Wright (now working in the Charity sector) and Hannah Lessiter (working for a Rare Book firm) and current students were central to the success of the event.  Two of the students involved, Linnie and Oscar, have shared their impressions:

Linnie writes: “On Tuesday the 16^th of January, I interviewed alumni of Royal Holloway for a careers event centred around helping humanities students. It was my second year helping out at this event, and both years I’ve seen how useful it’s been for students that chose to attend. The evening followed a brilliant format organised by Louise Ogle and her colleagues; for a duration of 10 minutes, myself or my co-presenter, Mia Cavanagh, would improvise questions to ask the alumni speakers that we thought would be commonly brought up, and then students had the chance to speak in depth to alumni at booths outside the lecture hall for further questions.  

As a Classics student, I found it particularly wonderful to interview alumni that shared my degree, which was the case for multiple speakers. Especially useful were their talks on ways classics as a discipline had boosted their employability: this came as a reassurance to students with post-graduation job concerns. Lots of people attended the evening from across the humanities departments, and I managed to get some feedback from some Classics students – who only had positive things to say. Most commonly it was brought up that they liked the experience of being able to talk in person to alumni to ask advice, and that the event opened their eyes to career paths they didn’t know existed – or that were possible for them to pursue.  

Personally, it was an incredibly fun night, and I was delighted to accept an interviewing role again. The idea of speaking to alumni in front of a filled lecture theatre can seem a bit daunting – especially with how much improvisation goes into it – but as someone looking to go into teaching it was a valuable night. It was so interesting to see how people’s degrees led them to where they were, particularly the classicists, who were employed in such a variety of fields!” 

And Oscar adds: “This event was to help humanities students in looking for a job market to do with a humanities degree. Whilst I was there to help out by pouring drinks, and collect the speakers so that they could have their interviews (on what they do for a living and how they managed to get from their degree to their degree), I managed to talk to the speakers which was incredibly helpful in understanding where to go after my degree in Classics.

Of course, I didn't do this by myself, and I was there to help out with 3 other students, Linnie Serstobojeva, was one of the main interviewers for the event, Holly Workman, who also gave up her free time just as I did, to help out at this event  as a runner who did a lot more work than I did as she had more people to take into the interviews. There was another student who does English (Mia Cavanagh) who also worked as an interviewer. All these students knew that this was a worthwhile experience and helping out was a very good experience to do.  I can say for myself that the event did give me confidence in finding a job after a university degree. All I can say is that the event was useful for those interested in a future in the  humanities department  and that all who helped should be given the credit and thanks they deserve in making it as enjoyable as possible for those who attended.”

Dr Efi Spentzou, the Myth and Voice Lead, writes:

“Myth and Voice thrives on the youthful energy, commitment and creativity of our volunteer student co-creators of our participatory Myth and Voice workshops. I am continuously impressed by our students’ ability to think on behalf of others, to put themselves in the shoes of new audiences and to act as enablers of community and expression.  So, we are delighted that we can now offer a modest financial recognition to a small part of this rich contribution with a program tailored to the intern students’ needs that will help them develop skills and experience in: co-creation and student-led syllabus design; in working with young people; in getting involved with programs of active citizenship and community programs, more broadly; in storytelling and applied theatre as community building tools.

Linnie Serstobojeva (2^nd year undergraduate), Jojo Hills (Masters by Research in Classical Reception) and Tom Barrett (1^st year PhD student) are embarking on their internships this January and I very much look forward to mentoring them and supporting their exciting work.

These three internships were made possible due to an educational grant by the Council of University Classical Departments (CUCD) matched by the Royal Holloway School of Humanities - many thanks to both. And please watch this space for the students’ reports later in the year!

If you are interested in finding out about our Myth and Voice community storytelling program please check https://mythandvoice.org/ with info on the workshops, community voices, my reflective journal, gallery and more."

Our first-year student, Chris Richmond, explains how he managed to fit Parthenon… into a glass ball:

"Originally the case was for a desk mounted clock, until someone carelessly knocked it off the desk. (I admit nothing.) I removed the centre brass section that held the clock mechanism, took measurements and using a 3d printer replicated the centre section in plastic.  If you have never done 3D printing, you probably don’t realise that you can actually print almost any photograph in a single colour. This works by printing the original colours at different thicknesses so when light shines through it the picture is visible due to the the different thickness making some parts darker, simulating grey scale.

Pictures made using this method are called Lithophanes, and this is how I made the Parthenon in a glass ball.”

One of our recent alumnae, Zoe Norman (BA Classical Studies 2021) is currently working within drug and alcohol and complex needs commissioning at Cornwall Council. Commissioning includes developing policy, strategy, and designing local services to best support vulnerable people.  Zoe was recently interviewed by the Communications Team. here at college Read her blog article on the College Intranet fr top tips and thoughts on why one might want to work in local government: https://intranet.ro yalholloway.ac.uk/students/jobs-careers/careers-blogs/careers-blog-articles/working-in-local-government-and-the-ngdp.aspx

On 29 November the Classics Society put on an excellent Symposium that brought together students, undergraduate and postgraduate, alumni and staff. We all enjoyed four high-quality papers about a range of sources on different aspects disability in the Ancient Greek and Roman World. Dr Liz Gloyn offered some useful methodological points and very helpful reminders about different attitudes and perspectives that prevailed in the Roman world. There was quite a lot of laughter too, largely due to Dr Hannah Baldwin who was testing …Humour Theory on the audience! Meanwhile Dr Brady surveyed historiographical references to over-dramatic displays of valour by Roman generals, very often far from the battlefield. We all agreed that this was a fantastic co-curricular event and hope that our indefatigable Classics Society can organise another Symposium in Term 2!

This summer our freshly minted graduates Eleanor Atterton and Maisie-May Gilchrist helped with the production of a Classics-themed documentary and Maisie shares some of their experiences. Maisie writes:

 “Eleanor and I worked on a Classics documentary/retelling of the Odyssey over the summer and the first episode was released on Sunday! We were production assistants who were part of a team that flew to Corfu and took part in two amazing weeks filming on gorgeous beaches, in beautiful little towns and Airbnbs. We helped with the filming by holding cameras and lights, standing in for shots to check angles, running around setting up the sets, and being generally useful to everyone. We also had lots of roles behind the filming including driving everyone around, cooking for the crew as well as providing our Classical knowledge when needed (and Eleanor is now a pro at slating each shot). It was very intense with 5am starts in order to fight the heat and shoot for as long as possible, but it was an amazing experience despite the tiredness. The project is called The Odyssey in a Day and splits the story up into three parts - breakfast, lunch and dinner - in order to make Classics interesting and engaging for people (especially for non-Classicists). It was all created and organised by a Classicist friend, Cosi, who wanted to create something to make Classics accessible and fun! But here is the link for anyone interested: https://youtu.be/xzIjB-yGPrk?si=WrwULV3UDj-1h50c”

Dr Erica Rowan, Professor Jari Pakkanen and Dr Zena Kamash, co-teach the second-year archaeology module CL2194 Dig to Digital. Dr Rowan writes about a special session:

“The module always includes a lot of practical components. Last week we took things one step further and the students ventured out of their usual classroom and into the Munro Fox teaching lab for an archaeobotany practical. Students took a look at some ancient and modern seeds down the microscopes, and practiced separating the seeds from the charcoal in samples from the Roman city of Utica in Tunisia.”

“On social media, you often see classicists answering which three texts they would like to have saved from antiquity that we don’t already have. The answers always tell you a great deal about the person answering; for instance, I would love Agrippina’s Memoirs, Ovid’s Medea, and one of the historical plays that was written in the gap between the Republican comedies and the Senecan tragedies, which is all we have of the vibrant and vigorous genre of Latin comedy. We might have come one small step closer to recovering those lost texts with the recent news that the Vesuvius Project has bestowed its award for discovering the first word on an unopened scroll from Herculaneum to a 21 year old computer science student. The library in Herculaneum is a gold mine of texts and we have absolutely no idea what’s in there – and until now, had no way to get into the carbonised scrolls without totally destroying them in the process. When I was an undergraduate, the view was that putting the scrolls aside until the technology was available to read them was a smart move – which makes it even more remarkable, for me, that we are now living in the future and that technology is, slowly but surely, starting to recapture texts which might otherwise have been lost for ever.”

During study week, Prof. Jari Pakannen took out to Athens a student group who are taking his “City of Athens” module this term. The link to the fantastic video they made for us is after the end of the paragraph below.

“We had a fantastic time on this trip, not only was it a great way of solidifying the knowledge we’ve gained in the lectures, but it was such a fun experience. Although we have learned so much about the sites, nothing compares to seeing these artefacts in person and we are very grateful to have had this opportunity to further our classics knowledge. It was a privilege to have other specialists join us at various sites and share their knowledge and works with us. Jari made the trip extra special by recommending us lots of lovely restaurants and places to visit as well as taking us for a welcoming dinner which was one of the highlights of the trip. Not only did we learn about ancient Greek culture but also modern and we enjoyed trying traditional Greek dishes such as Pastitsio and Souvlaki (and Ouzo!). Our favourite activity was hiking to the top of the Pnyx and seeing an incredible view of the city as well as the coast, we ended up going back to the top of the hill a further two times in our free time fuelled by the buzz of endorphins and the gyros in our stomachs! We collectively agree this trip was one of the best weeks of our lives and we enjoyed every moment and have already spoken about going back! We are very thankful to Jari and the classics department for this memorable adventure we went on.”

Follow the link to fantastic video they made on RHUL Classics YouTube channel https://youtu.be/KyDsfERGTQg - and please remember to subscribe to our channel (https://www.youtube.com/@rhulclassics/), if you haven’t already done so!

A couple of weeks ago, one of our PhD students, Emily Howe, arrived in Seoul (South Korea) for her second stint in the city, now as a postgraduate research student. She kindly sent us this report and a photo of herself in traditional Korean dress (Hanbok):

"I was fortunate enough to participate in the Study Abroad scheme during my undergraduate studies, adding a year of study at Korea University in Seoul, before returning to RHUL for my final year. With the freedom to explore other subjects, I got to take classes in Ancient to Modern Chinese, Japanese and Korean history alongside studies in international affairs and Asia-Pacific relations. I was also able to take intensive Korean to fast-track my language learning. Being a part of a different education system taught me new ways of thinking and skills, which have been instrumental throughout my master’s and PhD. It was an incredible opportunity that I highly recommend to any Classics student. My year abroad broadened my horizons to alternative experiences and cultures I wouldn’t have been able to find in London, providing me with a newfound confidence to push myself further. I made life-long friends, returning from my year in Seoul to move in together with some of them in London. Many have since returned to Korea, and I’m pleased to say that I have been able to join them! Since returning, I’ve been busy reconnecting with all our Korean friends and previous lecturers. The department has fully supported me in this as part of my PhD so that I can meet and work with Classics Professors throughout the city to build a London-East Asia network of classicists. It is my long-term goal to strengthen our connection with other global classics departments, to widen the community and broaden the scope of our research.”

“Hi, my name’s Beth and I’ve been a part of Dance Society for 3 years. My favourite style is tap dancing which I’ve done since I was about 9 but I had no training in any other styles when I initially joined the society. Since then, my confidence as a dancer has grown so much and I’ve done things I never thought I could, such as co-choreographing our Advanced Tap competition team last year, which won second place once and first place twice.

This year I’m Events Coordinator on our committee. My job is to organise our showcases where we perform routines that we teach across the term. Our showcase for this term will be happening on December 2^nd – please get tickets and come watch!

My passion for dance has led me to write my dissertation on ancient Greek dance. Currently I’m researching how ancient dance is gendered, looking at war dances and dancing in religious cults. One source that’s been helpful is “Dance and ritual play in Greek religion” by Steven H Lonsdale as well as various vases - I’m very excited to see where it takes me!”

Red-figured hydria, depicting a Dancing lesson. Attributed to the Phiale Painter. Athens, date: ca. 430 BC.  © The Trustees of the British Museum

“I never thought that I’d find myself laughing to the point of tears over one of Cicero’s letters, but that’s what I found myself on doing on Thursday morning! My Latin students and I were translating some of Cicero’s letters – we’ve noticed already that he’s very concerned with the mechanics of sending letters, which makes perfect sense in the ancient world where you can’t always be sure someone will deliver what they’ve said they will – and with people writing back to him very frequently. This observation, in combination with a letter where Cicero is apologising to his wife Terentia for being in a foul mood and explaining it must have been because of the black choler he threw up shortly after he left her, led us to a hilarious exchange about the possibilities of writing to your tutors under the most unlikely of trying circumstances to prove yourself a loyal correspondent. On reflection, I brought it upon myself by recommending my students pay as much attention to their e-mail as Cicero did to his correspondence… but that’s the joy of teaching, you never know what each new class is going to bring.”

“Hello everyone! My name is Mia Ince, and I am a postgraduate student within the Classics Department here at Royal Holloway. Over the past year and a half, I have also been a radio host at the university’s very own radio station, Insanity Radio, with my show: Pandora’s Box. Every week I have explored a new area of classics, covering anything from ghosts in the ancient world to Disney’s Hercules, and have been lucky enough to have several lecturers guest-star on my show – including professors Liz Gloyn and Richard Hawley.

Although I must admit that I am strongly a Hellenist at heart, through my show I have expanded my knowledge of the ancient world through to Roman literature and politics, as well as Lydian and Persian history and the role of North African myths within the ancient Mediterranean mythographic corpus. The show has given both myself and my listeners the amazing opportunity to learn so much about the world of classics that we might otherwise never have heard of, and with the support of the Classics Department here at Royal Holloway my experience hosting it has been such a privilege of my undergraduate career.

This year, as a postgraduate, I have returned to both the department and the station with a new show: The Classics Hour, which will run every Friday at 1pm from January 12th 2024. Following much the same style as my show last year (which you can listen to at Insanityradio.com/player/), this show will again feature familiar faces from our classics department as we explore new and exciting elements of the ancient world and study of classics, and I invite you to join us on this journey!”

"The week before the start of term is always exciting and nerve-wracking. I am never quite ready for the start of term. There are always just too many jobs. But people are back from the summer and refreshed and it is time to plan big.  

One of my key roles in 2023-24 is to think about the future of research. A big drive at the moment is the internationalisation of research. Although it often seems like our political masters are fighting against international connections and waving the nationalistic flags. We are and should be ever more connected on our fragile planet. We have welcomed Dr Menghzen Yue to the Department for three years to work on projects on Greek history and the reception of Classics in China. And we are anxious to build links into further East Asian communities in Japan, China and South Korea. Fortunately, one of our PhD students, Emily has good links to Korea. She spent the covid year in Korea, which turned out to be one of the safest places to be. And she is anxious to go back. Since we can continue supervision on-line, she is off again to meet the small community of Classics scholars in South Korea. We hope that we can bring some of them back to London.  

Emily had promised us a vlog, Emily in Seoul, a shameless title rip off of Emily in Paris, but with less of fashion focus (probably).  

But thinking about internationalisation, I discovered that the History Department has a link to Yale. Yale just happens to have one the great US Classics libraries as well as an outstanding Classics Department. A few mails later and having identified someone I vaguely know, it looks like we can piggy back on the History Department’s connections and start sending our PhD students for a term to Yale and hopefully get staff and students to come over and return the visits."