Nottingham’s Department of Classics incorporates scholars of international standing and several dedicated research centres and institutes. With an excellent reputation for both teaching and research, the Department has special strengths in Greek drama; Greek political and institutional history; Roman history, society and culture; late antiquity; visual culture; and the reception of the classical world in European culture.
It includes the Centre for Ancient Drama and its Reception, and participates in The University of Nottingham Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies and the Institute for the Study of Slavery - all of which have wide international contacts, facilitating study visits to universities abroad. Other international collaborations include the Copenhagen Polis Project on the nature and institutions of the Greek city-state, and the Impact of the Roman Empire research network centred at Nijmegen.
There are many opportunities for postgraduates to present their work at seminars and conferences – the Department’s own regular research workshops, the annual regional meeting of the Midlands Classical Seminar and conferences held at Nottingham by the research centres and other bodies. Postgraduates are also encouraged (and, where appropriate, subsidised) to attend conferences elsewhere that are relevant to their studies, and each year several present papers at the Classical Association’s national conference.
The Department’s postgraduates form a lively community which holds weekly Tuesday lunchtime gatherings in term time and runs other social events. They also share in editing the online journal Digressus, which publishes papers by postgraduates and established scholars. For research students, the Graduate School offers a comprehensive range of research training courses. Postgraduate students in the Department are also eligible to take the Academic German course offered by the School of Humanities and designed for students with little or no German language experience.
Recent Developments and Current Research Projects
The Department of Classics has grown extensively and intensively in recent years. New members of staff have brought new areas of research expertise and enhanced existing strengths of the Department.
The current research project, funded by the AHRC and directed by Professor Stephen Hodkinson, is entitled Sparta in comparative perspective, ancient to modern. The project combines the study of Spartan social institutions in comparative perspective with examination of the appropriation of Sparta within European thought as a comparative model for contemporary societies. The project includes one postdoctoral research associate and three PhD students. It held a large international conference in September 2007. A second major research project has just been completed. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust and directed by Professor Alan Sommerstein, it investigated the Oath in Ancient Greece in its various religious, social, cultural and political ramifications. The project included two postdoctoral research associates and two PhD students.