Research
General
Research within the School of Classics covers a wide range of aspects of the study of classical antiquity and its influences on contemporary culture and life.
The range of topics covered reflects the growing number of staff within the School, the momentum gained from the creation of the new university, and its strong committment to research.
All members of staff within the School are engaged in ongoing research on the ancient world and there are a number of research projects and strands where staff strengths and specialisms come together both within the School, the Faculty of Humanities, and beyond.
Most members of the School are currently involved in many of the areas outlined below while also pursuing strong individual research interests.
The creation of several of the School’s projects were sparked by a combination of existing research interests and the impetus of new staff with different research angles joining the team in the course of the School’s expansion.
The School values interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary connections and is already involved in a large impact project together with the School of Performing Arts from the Faculty of Arts and Social Studies.
The School is responsible for the organisation of numerous international conferences, as well as a very successful research seminar series.
Research and teaching are intimately connected within the School of Classics with modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels stemming from the research strengths of the team.
Particular research strengths
The School of Classics is a founding member of the international network KYKNOS (Swansea and Lampeter Centre for Research on the Narrative Literatures of the Ancient World). Owen Hodkinson and Magdalena Öhrman both focus their research mainly in this area, working on narratives of the second sophistic and Augustan poetry respectively.
Their research focus is complemented by several colleagues working on topics of Greek and Roman historiography (Errietta Bissa, Kyle Erickson and James Richardson), also a key area for the KYKNOS network.
Currently, the School is also pleased to be host to a Leverhulme International Research Fellow specialising in ancient narrative, Alexander Meeus, who works on Diodorus Siculus and the historiography of the Hellenistic period.
Members of the School have organised a number of conferences on Ancient Narrative Literatures – the latest being Hymns as Narratives and the Narratology of Hymns and Fragmented narrative: The narratology of the letter and epistolary literature in ancient Greek.
Every year the School organises and hosts a number of KYKNOS seminars, with topics centering on ancient narrative literatures, as part of its successful research seminar series.
Another research emphasis within the School is the area of ancient religions. Here the work of Kyle Erickson, Pauline Hanesworth and James Richardson is of particular note, and successful co-operation has led to the foundation of the international research network Sacred Ways.
The School has organised and is preparing number of international conferences on aspects of religion, of which the Priests and State conference was the latest.
The School’s research connects to work done across the Faculty of Humanities focussing on different aspects of religions across time and space and members of the School work together with colleagues in School of Theology, Religious and Islamic Studies and the School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology.
The School also has a unique concentration of scholars working on ancient economies. Errietta Bissa and Marta García Morcillo both focus mainly on this area, together covering Greek and Roman economies.
The School is thus eminently placed to bring the ancient economy to the forefront of research in the ancient world in the UK drawing upon the different fields of studying antiquity for a better understanding of economies and economic systems in the ancient world.
The 2009 Wealth in the Ancient World colloquium started this development, and the School is currently looking forward to exploring the interconnections between economy and religion in the ancient world, as part of the Sacred Ways project.
The School is strong in research on the receptions of classical antiquity in the medieval and modern worlds, where different aspects of the work of Kyle Erickson, Marta García Morcillo, Pauline Hanesworth and Owen Hodkinson come together.
UW Trinity Saint David is a supporting institution for the Imagines Project researching the reception of Antiquity in the Visual and Performing Arts of which Marta Garcia Morcillo is a founding member.
The School has also been involved in work on the reception of antiquity in children’s literature; a project created by Owen Hodkinson.
Currently, the School is also developing a large-scale research project geared towards contemporising ancient drama and mythology together with the School of Performing Arts from the Faculty of Arts and Social Studies.
Finally, the School of Classics is currently founding an international project and research network on the City of Rome from antiquity to today, focusing on the presentation of the City of Rome in material and literary culture. Marta García Morcillo and James Richardson are leading the development of this project in co-operation with colleagues at Newcastle University.
The prevalence of religious imagery and material remains in the City of Rome throughout its history has created a number of links between the City of Rome project and the Sacred Ways project.
In addition to these main areas of strength, the School also has considerable space for individual research interests. Several members of the team undertake work on mythology and its uses in classical antiquity, where research ranges from its representation in literature to its uses in religion and political propaganda.
The work of Kyle Erickson, Pauline Hanesworth, Magdalena Öhrman and James Richardson contributes to this strand of research.
A further area where research interests of several members of staff come together is research on gender and sexuality in the ancient world, particularly as represented in literature. Errietta Bissa, Owen Hodkinson and Magdalena Öhrman all cover aspects of this area in their ongoing research.
There are strong and enduring links between research within the School on this topic and research under the KYKNOS umbrella.
