Skip to main content

Department of Classics and Ancient History

Our Research Excellence Framework 2021 results
Alternative text

Welcome to the Department of Classics and Ancient History

The Department of Classics and Ancient History submitted 20 members of staff, comprising 20 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff, to the REF Classics Unit of Assessment (UoA).  The submission included two Early Career Researchers.

Find out more about us
13th in the 2022 QS World University Rankings by Subject
90.7% overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2021
Athena Swan Bronze Award In 2019 we were awarded an Advance HE Athena Swan Bronze Award
4th in the UK for overall research quality in REF 2021

Opening up the Classics to the digital world

Durham’s research helps people all over the world to access ancient Greek and Latin literature.

Our Department of Classics and Ancient History has made freely available Diogenes and DiogenesWeb, open-source software providing digital access to the Classics. Professor Peter Heslin is the developer of Diogenes, a desktop application, and DiogenesWeb, an app for phones and tablets.
Read the full case study
Diogenes screenshot

About Us

Digital Humanities 

Digital Humanities are at the core of our future research plans, including projects to support neural machine translation and machine learning approaches to stemmatics and dating text, in partnership with Durham’s new Institute for Data Science. Learn more about Professor Peter Heslin’s widely acclaimed Diogenes project to support open access to online classical texts.

Staff Body 

Diversity remains at the heart of our recruitment process. Since 2021, we have appointed five women to posts in the Department. Learn more about our staff. 

Links to teaching 

September 2022 will see the first intake of students on Durham’s new PGCE in Classics: the only teacher training resource in Classics for students in the north of England. Learn more about this important new development.

Impact 

Dr Lucy Jackson is developing exciting links with the National Theatre (NT) and exploring the history of the performance of Greek tragedy in the UK through archives at the NT. 

Classics REF Impact Case Studies

Classics submitted three impact case studies including access to classical texts and censorship. 

View some of our Highlights

Diogenes: Open Access to Ancient Greek and Latin

Diogenes is an open-source software application that many people around the world use to interact with classical Latin and Greek texts.

Living Poets

‘Living Poets’ has transformed access to classical lives and letters in some of the most marginalised schools and communities in the North of England.
Open historical artifact

Romosexuality: sexuality and censorship

‘Romosexuality’ allows us to explore the larger topics of censorship and of attempts to categorise and control sexuality throughout history.

 

 

This is the image alt text

Research Themes

Selected research areas within the department include Classical Latin and Augustan Poetry, Syriac, Ancient Science, and Digital Humanities. The Department currently hosts one of the largest concentrations of scholars working on classical Latin anywhere in the world.

More about our Research Themes

Like to Know More?

The Department hosts three Research Centres: 

  • The Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East (CAMNE) 
  • The Centre for Classical Reception (DCCR) 
  • The Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (DCAMP)  

DCAMP capitalises on Durham’s position as a world-leading centre for the study of philosophy in the pre-modern period, bringing together specialists from across Departments and Faculties to foster innovative collaboration in research and teaching.  It promotes work at the leading edge of research in ancient and medieval philosophy, develops unique training opportunities at Durham for young researchers, and brings to the widest possible public an appreciation of the first 2,000 years of philosophical debate that has shaped our world. 

  • Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East

    CAMNE promotes the study of cultural encounters and exchanges in the ancient world, from India in the East to the Iberian Peninsula in the West; and to foster diverse approaches to, and perspectives on, this area. Centre members teach and research across a wide spectrum of relevant disciplines.

  • Centre for Classical Reception

    The Centre for Classical Reception promotes the study of the afterlives of ancient Greece and Rome: from medieval romances to Renaissance architecture, nineteenth-century art to modern cinema.

Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East

CAMNE promotes the study of cultural encounters and exchanges in the ancient world, from India in the East to the Iberian Peninsula in the West; and to foster diverse approaches to, and perspectives on, this area. Centre members teach and research across a wide spectrum of relevant disciplines.

Centre for Classical Reception

The Centre for Classical Reception promotes the study of the afterlives of ancient Greece and Rome: from medieval romances to Renaissance architecture, nineteenth-century art to modern cinema.
Job Opportunities