With an international reputation dating back to the foundation of UCL in 1828, we remain leaders in research and teaching in Classics and the Classical Tradition. Situated in the heart of London, we are at the hub of an unrivalled range of resources for the study of the ancient world, with London’s cultural resources in easy reach.

There are three main factors which make UCL a particularly important centre for teaching and research in this richly varied field:

• its long-standing international distinction
• the wide range of its collective expertise
• its access to the resources of libraries and museums

Teaching:

Teaching of Classics began at UCL in 1828, two years after its foundation. At the turn of the century A.E. Housman, poet and scholar, held the Chair of Latin, while more recently T.B.L. Webster, Professor of Greek from 1948 to 1968, made outstanding contributions to classical studies. It was he who supported Michael Ventris' efforts to decipher Linear B. A prime current interest, initiated by Professor Sir Eric Turner and continued under his successors, Herwig Maehler, Cornelia Römer and now Nick Gonis, is the study of fragmentary papyrus texts from Egypt and Herculaneum.

Recent important publications from members of the staff include work on Homer, Greek choral lyric, Greek drama, Hellenistic poetry, ancient scholarship and literary theory, ancient philosophy, papyrology, Cicero, Boethius and Later Roman military writing.

More about Latin Studies at UCL

Just as important for the reputation of the College is its tradition of wide coverage. For example, students can take options in Greek dialects, the history of the Persian empire, classical Roman law, Latin palaeography, post-Aristotelian philosophy, and Bronze Age civilisation in the Aegean within a single degree course. The Department collaborates with the Department of History and the Institute of Archaeology in the Centre for the Classical World. In addition to classical subjects, in a broad sense of that term, there are many links both in teaching and in research with other specialised fields such as Egyptology and Philosophy. Amid all these options it is important that students should be given helpful guidance in constructing coherent programmes; the tutorial system is designed to meet this need, and there is plenty of small-group tuition for the discussion of language work and essays.

Resources:

The College is admirably located for the study of the Classical World, having excellent library facilities of its own and access to many important collections, both of books and works of art, elsewhere. The College Library is the largest of the College libraries in the University of London, comprising approximately 1.3 million books, pamphlets and periodicals and subscribing to over 8,000 series and periodicals. It possesses excellent holdings of early material, especially in Classics (including papyrology) and Classical Archaeology.

The British Museum and the British Library are only ten minutes' walk away from UCL; students are also able to use the resources of the University of London Library at the Senate House, the Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies at the Institute of Classical Studies (if they join one of the Societies, in the case of undergraduates), and the library of the Warburg Institute. Within the College, the Museum of Classical Archaeology and the Institute of Archaeology have teaching collections of antiquities.

Each year the Classical Society, as part of the London Festival of Greek Drama, organises the production of a Greek or Roman play in translation at the Bloomsbury Theatre, just across the road from the Department.

Statistics:

Research rating: 5*
TQA rating: 23 / 24
No. of students: 100+
No. of postgrads: 40+
No. of full-time staff: 10
Founded: 1828