Area coordinator: S J Bastomsky
How did we come to be what we are? One approach to this profound question is to interrogate the past. Looking backwards we are confronted inevitably and conspicuously with the key formative role of the classical civilisations of Greece and Rome. In them above all we are able to recognise the origins of our political system (democracy is a Greek invention and word), our code of law (Rome's legions alone did not bring order to an empire), our principal literary genres, mathematics, astronomy, physics, philosophy (that is a Greek word too and all western thought has been diagnosed as footnotes to Plato!), and much, much more.
Conscious that there are as many reasons for studying Greek and Roman history and culture as there are potential students, the department has made its classical history and culture subjects as wide-ranging and encompassing as it is able, given the expertise and interests of staff members. Collectively, we believe, they provide an effective introduction to major historical and social developments, literary works, styles and ideas of the classical world, all of which are central in one way or another to the evolution of western culture. Each individual subject is designed to tie in with and complement other areas of study (history, European literatures and philosophy, for example) within the faculty, whose subject matter is permeated by the classical tradition.
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