Classics & Ancient History » Classics News and Events

New on the Material Musings blog

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 09:26:00 GMT

In December's Material Musings, Chris Parr discusses the origins and significance of certain Egyptian obelisks in Rome, in an article titled: 'Points in Time: The Long Shadow of the Montecitorio Obelisk'.

You can read it here.

New on the Material Musings blog

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 10:39:29 GMT

In November's Material Musings blog article, Sue Walker discusses an unusual enamelled statuette from the western Roman cemetery at Cirencester in an article titled: 'The Cirencester Cockerel'.

You can read it here.

New publication - An ash-chest in an English country-garden

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 17:18:29 GMT

New study of a Roman ash chest at Sissinghurst Castle, Kent.

New publication - Inscribing Flavian Rome: Epigraphic Strategies in Martial’s Epigrams by Alessandra Tafaro

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 07:44:01 GMT

Former PhD student at Warwick, Alessandra Tafaro is pleased to announce the publication of her monograph, derived from her PhD.

AI meets antiquity: Warwick ancient historian tests DeepMind’s transformative new model

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:07:50 GMT

Co-authoring a paper published in the world's leading multidisciplinary science journal Nature today, Alison Cooley, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick, has played a key verification role in developing the first artificial intelligence (AI) model for contextualising ancient inscriptions.

The Art of Veiled Speech, from Antiquity to Modern Times: 1st May 2025, 4pm

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 11:59:00 GMT

Subtexts are all around us. In conversation, business transactions, politics, literature, philosophy, and even love, the art of expressing more than what is explicitly said allows us to live and move in the world. But rarely do we reflect on this subterranean dimension of communication. Words don't just say what they say, and often we can understand (as listeners) and convey (as speakers) more, or something else entirely, than what is expressly said. Every day, we send out double-meaning messages and decipher those sent to us by others, without even taking notice. Greco-Roman rhetoric provides invaluable theoretical tools for thinking about this phenomenon, notably with the rhetorical notion of “figured speech”. History offers striking examples of the use of innuendo in ancient and modern political contexts. In personal and public life, veiled speech has many functions, including diplomatic, poetic, humorous and polemical. It also raises difficulties, as it carries the risk of misunderstanding. Criteria can therefore be proposed to remedy uncertainty and guarantee interpretation.

Latest Material Musings blog article

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 11:07:00 GMT

In February's Material Musings blog article, Noah Fenwick discusses a mosaic depicting the four seasons and its display in the Yorkshire Museum, in an article titled: 'Perspectives of Perusal: The Yorkshire Museum's Four Seasons Mosaic'.

You can read it here: here

September's Material Musings Blog Article

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 14:32:00 GMT

New for September on the Material Musings blog, Jurriaan Gouw discusses changes to Greek warfare in the 5th-4th centuries BC and the development of the Macedonian phalanx, in an article entitled 'Less is More: The Transition from Hoplite to Phalangite'.

You can read it here.

New article on the Material Musings Blog

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 11:09:00 GMT

July's article on the Material Musings blog is by Chris Parr, who discusses the origins of the Lacus Curtius in the Forum Romanum: 'Reinventing Rome's Forgotten Past - the lost significance of the Lacus Curtius'. You can read it here.

New for June on Material Musings blog

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 13:03:00 GMT

This month Tallulah George discusses the role of gladiatorial armour and its decoration, focusing on examples found in Pompeii. The article is entitled 'Practical and Stylish - Gladiatorial Armour as Costume' and you can read it here.