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Research Clusters

Our research interests embrace the full range of classical disciplines from literature, history and material culture to philosophy and thought. Search our staff by their research areas.

We share many interests with other Warwick departments (Philosophy, History, Centre for Renaissance Studies, Italian, History of Art, English and Comparative Literatry Studies) and have research collaborations with universities within the UK and internationally.

There is a lively community of postgraduates studying for taught MAs, research MAs and PhDs, including students from the UK and Europe. Current postgraduates are involved in research projects focusing on various aspects of material culture and literature in the ancient world and beyond.

Medical Humanities and Greco-Arabic Studies.32158679090_688aa706f3_b.jpg

Ancient medicine is a booming area in Classics and ancient history. In the last two decades, the field has changed beyond recognition with the publication of new reference tools such as critical editions and translations and many new studies on the historical, linguistic, philosophical and social aspects of ancient medicine.

Ancient Numismatics

hadrian_coin.jpg

Numismatics is the study of coins and coinage, and objects that look like coins but may not have had an economic function: medals, tokens, coin-weights – even religious amulets, pilgrim badges or fake coins made to deceive collectors. At Warwick we specialise in Greek and Roman coinage from their origins up to the seventh century AD, as well as the connection of numismatics to the Roman Economy. This encompasses the first coins, made in Asia Minor round about 600 BC through Classical, Hellenistic and Roman issues to the early phase of Byzantine coinage.

latin inscriptionClassical Epigraphy

Classical Epigraphy encompasses the study of the ancient Mediterranean world via its inscriptions, whether elegantly carved on marble monuments or rudely scratched upon a piece of pottery. These offer insights into the society, culture, economy, and religions of Classical Antiquity. Our approach to epigraphy is interdisciplinary, exploring the connections between inscriptions and art, architecture, texts, and coins. We are also interested in analysing the reception of classical inscriptions in the modern world, how they have been published from the Renaissance onwards and how they have been collected and displayed. We are also committed to work with teachers in order to explore how Latin inscriptions can be used in schools, both primary and secondary.

cicero readingAncient Literature and Thought

The Department has a thriving research culture in many areas of ancient literature and thought, and prides itself on innovative, interdisciplinary approaches. Our ever-evolving dialogue with the neighbouring departments of English and Comparative Literary Studies and Philosophy, and with the Centre for Renaissance Studies, makes Warwick an especially stimulating place to study ancient texts. Strengths include critical theory, ancient texts and the histories of rhetoric, philosophy, and science, palaeography, epigraphy, and reception studies.

ancient sculptureArt, Literature and Society (Art and Text)

Art and literature are products of the society that produces them and in turn help to construct societies and their norms. We are engaged in thinking about how art and text interact and inform one another, as well as how they diverge, and jointly have an effect on those who produce, view and use them.

ancient theatreAncient Spaces

We cannot properly understand history without a full appreciation of the spaces through which its actors moved, whether in the home or in the public sphere, and the ways in which they thought about and represented the spaces of their worlds. Research in this area considers both the ways physical spaces were constructed and affected those within them, and the ways the space was conceptualised within ancient literature and thought.

caravanConnecting Classics

This cluster encompasses ancient global history as well as the Classical Connections Network. Global History is a popular and expanding field, which seeks both to understand better the connectivity between human cultures, and to understand better individual human cultures through comparison with others.


For further details please see individual staff profiles and departmental research projects.

    Research Interests

    We have particular research interests in the following areas and welcome applications from prospective postgraduate students.

    • Ancient Visual and Material Culture (Kevin Butcher, Alison Cooley, Zahra Newby, Clare Rowan, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Dario Calomino, Mairi Gkikaki, Antonino Crisà, Conor Trainor, Naomi Carless Unwin)
    • Classical Archaeology (Kevin Butcher, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Clare Rowan, Conor Trainor)
    • Epigraphy (Alison Cooley, Abigail Graham, Naomi Carless-Unwin)
    • Greek History (James Davidson, Michael Scott)
    • Roman History (Kevin Butcher, Alison Cooley, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Zahra Newby, Clare Rowan)
    • Greek Literature and Thought (Emmanuela Bakola, David Fearn)
    • History of medicine (Caroline Petit, Simon Swain, Uwe Vagelpohl)
    • Numismatics (Kevin Butcher, Marguerite Spoerri Butcher, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Clare Rowan)
    • Roman Literature and Thought (Elena Giusti, Victoria Rimell)
    • Late antiquity (Caroline Petit, Simon Swain)
    • Reception, including critical theory and comparative literature (Emmanuela Bakola, David Fearn, Elena Giusti, Caroline Petit, Victoria Rimell, Simon Swain, Uwe Vahelpohl, Maude Vanhaelen)