School of History, Classics & Archaeology

Classics seminars

The Classics research seminars provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and the promotion of new research and debate among the research community, both within and outside the University. All are welcome. 

Time and location

Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 5.10 p.m. and on Thursdays at 2.10 p.m. With the exception of CAS/ESE seminars, they are hybrid. Please contact Dr Janja Soldo (janja.soldo@ed.ac.ukfor details of how to join these sessions remotely.

Event schedule

Semester 2, 2023/24

Date Speaker Topic Venue Note/Chair (University of Edinburgh)
Wed 17 Jan

Dr Lucy Grig (University of Edinburgh)

'Representations of the emperor in late antique popular culture'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School

CAS/ESE

Thu 18 Jan Dr Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham) 'Space, Place, and Ecology in Colluthus’ Abduction of Helen' Doorway 3, Old Medical School, Teaching room 13, 1M.473 Dr Calum Maciver

Wed 24 Jan

Dr Jesse Hill (University of Edinburgh)

'Our Word is Our Bond: Catullus, Ennius, and fides'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School

Dr Donncha O’Rourke

Thu 25 Jan

Dr Viola Periti (University of Edinburgh)

'Snakes of history and snakes of exemplarity in Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta memorabilia (1.8 de miraculis)'

Doorway 3, Old Medical School, Teaching room 13, 1M.473 Dr Janja Soldo
Wed 31 Jan

PD Dr Julia Hoffmann-Salz (University of Mannheim)

'They who must not be named? Hellenistic Empires and their Enemies'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School

Dr Benedikt Eckhardt

Thu 1 Feb Dr Diana Rodriguez Perez (University of Edinburgh) 'Where have you been? "Heirloom" (Athenian) Vases in Iberian Tombs and Settlements' Doorway 3, Old Medical School, Teaching room 09, 1.1416 Dr Anja Slawisch
Thu 8 Feb Professor Henriette van der Blom (University of Birmingham) 'Oratory in Valerius Maximus: sources, traditions and interests' Old College, Teaching room 12 Dr Viola Periti
Wed 14 Feb

Professor Maurizio Giangiulio (University of Trento)

'Delphic Oracles and Greek History: A Reassessment'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School

MACKAY LECTURE

Thu 15 Feb

Professor Maurizio Giangiulio (University of Trento)

'How federal was the political organization of the Locrians in Central Greece? On M&L 20 once more' LG.09, 40 George Square MACKAY SEMINAR
Wed 28 Feb

Dr Matthew Haysom (University of Birmingham)

'What's wrong with the Minoans? Crete from an east Mediterranean perspective' Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School CAS/ESE
Thu 29 Feb Professor John Bintliff (University of Edinburgh) 'Rethinking Roman Urbanism: The ERC Empire of 2000 Cities Project' Doorway 3, Old Medical School, Teaching room 13, 1M.473 Professor Ben Russell 
Wed 6 Mar

Dr Thomas Biggs (University of St Andrews)

'Transformative poetics: Aeneas, Attis, and Chloreus in Virgil’s Aeneid'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School

Dr Jesse Hill

Thu 7 Mar Professor Catherine Steel (University of Edinburgh) 'The cursus honorum in the Republican Senate: expectation and reality' G.16, Doorway 4, Old Medical School Dr Dominic Berry
Wed 13 Mar Dr Mario Paganini (University of Edinburgh) 'The Experience of Migration in Hellenistic Egypt: Some Remarks' Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School Dr Andrew Erskine
Wed 20 Mar Professor Christian Amitzbøll Thomsen (University of Copenhagen) - POSTPONED

'Isopoliteia – a reappraisal' - POSTPONED

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School Dr Lina Girdvainyte
Thu 21 Mar Dr Pablo Rojas (University of Edinburgh) Geographic, Strategic, and Tactical Space: Caesarian Spatial Thinking in Tacitus' Agricola Doorway 3, Old Medical School, Teaching room 09, 1.1416 Dr Janja Soldo
Wed 27 Mar

Professor Andrew Morrison (University of Glasgow)

Philosophy, Friendship, Forgery: making sense of Greek letter collections Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School

Dr Benjamin Harriman

Wed 3 Apr

Professor Esther Eidinow (University of Bristol)

tbc Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School CAS/ESE

Semester 1, 2023/24

Date Speaker Topic Venue
Wed 20 Sep

Dr Dominic Berry (University of Edinburgh)

'What, or who, was Sallust's principal source for the Bellum Catilinae?'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 
Wed 4 Oct

Laura Loddo 

'Legal Regulations for Exiles in Ancient Greek Law: Some Remarks on I.Sinope 1' Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 
Wed 11 Oct Professor 

Ewen Bowie

Leventis Inaugural Lecture

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 
Wed 18 Oct

Stephen Oakley

'The transmission and text of Pontius’ Life of Saint Cyprian'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 
Wed 25 Oct

Elizabeth Greene

'Local and global dynamics in a Roman frontier settlement. Deceiving expectations. '

CAS/ESE (online)

Thu 26 Oct

Vicente Flores Mitello

'Immersive Narrative Strategies in Late Latin Epic? (Claud. Eutr. 2.409-461)'

Seminar room 5, Chrystal Macmillan Building
Wed 1 Nov

Catherine Steel

'The cursus honorum in the Republican Senate: expectation and reality '

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 
Thu 2 Nov Consuelo Martino

'Surviving the Trauma of Civil War: Propertius and the Memory of Perusia'

Lister Learning and Teaching Centre G.13
Wed 8 Nov

Ingvar Brandvik Mæhle

'Patronage, exploitation and honour in Archaic Athens'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 

Thu 9 Nov

Rolf Strootman

TBC

Seminar room 5, Chrystal Macmillan Building

Wed 15 Nov

Martin Henig

'Tiberius Claudius Togidubnus, Rex Magnus Britanniae, a client king and his achievements in the First century AD'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 

Wed 22 Nov

Catharine Edwards

'Breathing freely: mind, body and personal identity in Seneca’s philosophical writing'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 
Thu 23 Nov

Roberta Leotta 

Yolanda Panou

'Coniunx viduata taedis ardet et odit: embodied experiences and jealousy metaphors in Latin'

'Representations of filicide on the tragic stage: The child-as-seed metaphor and the ‘uprooting’ of the oikos'

Seminar room 5, Chrystal Macmillan Building
Wed 29 Nov

Richard Rutherford

'Ambiguity and the classical critic'

Meadows Lecture Theatre, Doorway 4, Old Medical School 
Thu 30 Nov Corey Brennan

'The Villa Ludovisi in Rome: Display and Dispersion of its Collections (1621-2023)'

40 George Square

NB 3:10pm

Further information

Organiser: Dr Janja Soldo (janja.soldo@ed.ac.uk)

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The School of History, Classics and Archaeology offers an exciting programme of seminars across many subjects areas. Visit the research seminars website to find out what else is happening.