School of Classics, University of St Andrews

School of Classics, University of St Andrews Vibrant research community with wide expertise: literature, archaeology, reception, philosophy, anci

The STARR start on 17 September. !📍 In person: Room S11, Swallowgate.💻️ Online: MS Teams. (Email starrgroup@st-andr...
31/08/2026

The STARR start on 17 September. !

đź“Ť In person: Room S11, Swallowgate.
💻️ Online: MS Teams. (Email [email protected] to get meeting links)

👇Link in first comment👇

"Fighting Is Fun, Peace Is a Yawn" Jon Hesk discusses what Nolan's reveals about us, and modern understandings of pea...
28/08/2026

"Fighting Is Fun, Peace Is a Yawn" Jon Hesk discusses what Nolan's reveals about us, and modern understandings of peace:
👇Link in first comment👇

During the summer, a group of St Andrews colleagues and students headed on an archaeological research project to Knossos...
28/08/2026

During the summer, a group of St Andrews colleagues and students headed on an archaeological research project to Knossos, Crete. The trip was part of the new Knossos Roman Archaeology and Legacy Data Project, launched in May 2026 by Professor Rebecca Sweetman from the School of Classics and Dr Daniel Stewart from the University of Leicester.

While Knossos, the second most visited archaeological site in Greece after the Acropolis, is renowned for its Minoan Palace, it was also an important Roman colony. Despite its significance during the Roman period, relatively little is known about the city’s later history. The information we do know comes from the Knossos Urban Landscape Project, a small number of rescue and research excavations, scattered remnants of architecture and burials throughout the valley, and sites such as the Villa Dionysus and a Roman bath house.

The aim of the Knossos Roman Archaeology and Legacy Data project is to deepen understanding of the occupation of the city during the Roman period. Following an intensive geophysical survey of the Knossos Valley, the team focused on an area to the west of the Villa Dionysus to try and uncover evidence about the living and working city.

In the first few weeks of the excavation trip, it became clear to the team that they were uncovering the remains of a house that had been significantly modified, and the remains of an industrial area that may have been used for metal and/or glass working.

This year, five University of St Andrews students accompanied Professor Sweetman to participate in the project. They were Deanna Cunningham (PhD candidate and Site Supervisor), Avery Konwiser, Isabella Febbo, Zoe Kosmowski, and Sarah Prince (recently completed PhD). The team worked on the excavation and archival material in May and June 2026 and made a huge contribution to the project with their good humour, hard work, and collaboration.

**Images**
👉L to R: Isabella Febbo, Avery Konwiser, Zoe Kosmowski, Rebecca Sweetman, Sarah Prince, Deanna Cunningham.
👉Some of the team washing pots in the evening.
👉L to R: Avery Konwiser, Gord MacDonald & Isabella Febbo carrying out soil floatation.

Congratulations to Justin Biggi who passed his PhD viva recently. 🎉🙌 His thesis was titled "The Disabled Citizen in Anci...
27/08/2026

Congratulations to Justin Biggi who passed his PhD viva recently. 🎉🙌
His thesis was titled "The Disabled Citizen in Ancient Greece".

Justin's thesis looked closely at the archaeological, literary, epigraphical and artistic record to explore the relationship between embodiment and identity in the sensory experiences of disabled fifth and fourth century Greeks. Focusing on several architectural environments—the healing sanctuary of Epidauros, the Athenian agora, and the theatre of Dionysus—it highlighted how the reality of disability in the ancient world was malleable, context-dependant, and intersected in a myriad of ways with ideas of citizenship, gender, status, and class, shaped by not only the person's own self-perceptions, but societal expectations as well. Recently, the thesis was awarded the 2026 Watson-Arnott Award in Research Excellence in the category of Postgraduate Researcher Achievement.

Justin's work was supervised by Dr Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis and Dr Jon Hesk. It was supported by the Douglas and Gordon Bonnyman Scholarship in the Arts and Humanities, and the Hector and Elizabeth Catling Doctoral Award.

Emily Wilson on "Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea"📆 27 November, 6:50pm. 📍 In-person: St Mark's Church, St AndrewsBookings: 👇L...
26/08/2026

Emily Wilson on "Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea"

📆 27 November, 6:50pm.
đź“Ť In-person: St Mark's Church, St Andrews
Bookings: 👇Link in first comment👇

Hosted by Topping & Company Booksellers of St Andrews
Enquiries to: [email protected]

"Visualising the Eastern Mediterranean Landscape" , 📆 10 to 11 June 2027, University of St Andrews ⏰️ deadline next we...
26/08/2026

"Visualising the Eastern Mediterranean Landscape"

, 📆 10 to 11 June 2027, University of St Andrews

⏰️ deadline next week!
Submit abstracts by 1 September 2026.

The conference seeks to bring together historians of the environment, art, archaeology and classical reception to discuss the importance of images for shaping perceptions of the region's varied environments.

🔗 View more information and the full : 👇link in first comment👇
--

Congratulations to Christopher Anaforian who passed his PhD viva recently. 🎉🙌His thesis was entitled “From Agora to Asse...
25/08/2026

Congratulations to Christopher Anaforian who passed his PhD viva recently. 🎉🙌
His thesis was entitled “From Agora to Assembly Line: A Study of Socialist Reception of Greco-Roman Antiquity in the United States (1919-1939)”.

The thesis examines working-class engagement with ancient Greek and Roman culture in the United States through the Little Blue Books (LBBs), a series of inexpensive publications produced by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius of Girard, Kansas. Focusing on the series at its peak of cultural and commercial prominence in the 1920s and 1930s, this thesis analyses three translators of ancient texts for the series – Miriam Allen deFord (1888–1975), Alexander Harvey (1868–1949), and Henry M. Tichenor (1858–1922) – and argues that their political affiliations, biographical formations, and historical circumstances within the American socialist tradition profoundly shaped how they presented antiquity to their working-class readership. This thesis identifies the specific strategies – selection, omission, lexical substitution, and editorial framing – by which each translator presented an ideologically-charged view of the ancient world.

Christopher argues against the prevailing idea of Classics in 20th century America belonging solely to elite, institutional actors by showing that there was a significant undercurrent of informal study and access to the ancient world; one that was highly ideological, influenced by the contemporary circumstances of American capitalism, the national and international Socialist movement, and the translators’ particular socio-political outlook. He argues that the ancient world in the Little Blue Books, for the working-class reader of the early twentieth century, was not remote history but proof; proof that their exploitation had precedent, their resistance had tradition, and their struggle had always been, in some form, the oldest stories in the world.

The thesis was supervised by Dr Henry Stead (School of Classics) and Dr Gillian Mitchell (School of History) and was generously funded by the School of Classics Handsel and Guthrie Mortification Scholarship.

In the latest episode of the BnC , Gonda Van Steen joined Anna Coopey to discuss Karolos Koun's life and work: 👇Link i...
24/08/2026

In the latest episode of the BnC , Gonda Van Steen joined Anna Coopey to discuss Karolos Koun's life and work:
👇Link in first comment👇

Our research seminars start on 16 September. ! The seminars will be held at 2:15pm on Wednesdays, or at 4:15pm on Fri...
21/08/2026

Our research seminars start on 16 September. !

The seminars will be held at 2:15pm on Wednesdays, or at 4:15pm on Fridays.

Attendees are welcome to join us either:
🔵 In person - in Room SO3 on the ground floor of Swallowgate.
🔵 Online - via Teams.

👉 Join our mailing list!
Email [email protected], and put "subscribe classics-ressem" in the subject.
You will receive regular updates about seminars, and Teams meeting links on the day of each event.

We're inviting applications from outstanding Early Career Researchers to the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship sch...
20/08/2026

We're inviting applications from outstanding Early Career Researchers to the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme, for Fellowships beginning from 1 September 2027.

Deadline for initial applications: Monday 31 August at 5pm.

View details and apply: 👇Link in first comment👇

Address

University Of Street Andrews, Swallowgate, Butts Wynd
St Andrews
KY169AL

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm
Friday 9am - 1pm
2pm - 5pm

Telephone

+441334462600

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when School of Classics, University of St Andrews posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The University

Send a message to School of Classics, University of St Andrews:

Shortcuts

Share

Category