The phenomenon of translating Greek texts into Latin marked the very beginnings of what we know as the Roman literary tradition. Starting famously with Livius Andronicus in the mid-3rd century BC, it continued through Ennius, Plautus, and Terence, was embraced across many disciplines by Cicero, and flourished at least intermittently thereafter, especially in the various Latin versions of Aratus and the Homeric epics. From the testimony of the Romans themselves, translation was viewed as a transformative art, the most common verb to capture the technique being vertere and its cognates; the result was a Latin text that was at least on a par with its source, if not superior, a sort of ‘conquest’ of the original that contributed to the Romans’ more general control over and absorption of Greek culture. This one-day conference will explore the dynamics of Latin translational activity within the Roman republic or empire, across a range of text, prose or poetry.

Please note that Event will run form 9:15am until 5.00pm.

The Summer School offers five days of courses on ancient philosophy. Courses are available in translation. The Summer School provides an introduction to ancient philosophy, with special attention devoted to the questions and issues raised by ancient philosophers, as well as to their continuing relevance today.

The Summer School offers five days of intensive teaching of Homeric language and literature. There will be four language classes each day as well as lectures, between 10.30 and 16.30. The course is not residential. The Summer School will be taught online and onsite (hybrid teaching).

Teaching will be generally in groups of 15-20 people which, as far as possible, comprise students of roughly the same level of experience (beginners, intermediate or advanced). The style of teaching is friendly but demanding: a lot of work is expected from students during the School, but they should find the whole experience both stimulating and valuable. Some classes concentrate chiefly on reading texts, while others offer a mixture of grammar and translation practice. Our tutors include some of the most experienced and talented teachers of Classics in the London area and beyond.

This conference aims to tackle a major problem in the study of the ancient world: the fact that cultural traditions only become visible to us once their first written products are produced and subsequently transmitted. The textual sources which remain to us are effectively just the tip of a much larger iceberg representing cultural traditions often defined (with varying degrees of success) as ‘popular,’ ‘oral,’ or ‘folkloric’. By adopting a new interdisciplinary lens that focuses on the key areas where the written record thoroughly permeates the unwritten one - namely song, religion, magic, and myth – and combining the study of the Ancient Mediterranean with cutting-edge anthropological approaches, this project will explore the true dimensions of the ancient ‘cultural iceberg’ and develop a scholarly framework and interdisciplinary network that permits us for the first time to assess its implications for researchers in Classical Studies (understood in the broadest sense).

This ticket is for non-UCL in-person attendance.

This conference will be taking place at Room 106, Gordon House, 29 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PP from 2-4^th June 2025, at 9:30am-6:00pm each day.