Research Clusters

Our research interests embrace the full range of classical disciplines from literature, history, visual and material culture to philosophy, critical theory and the history of ideas, including reception studies. Search our staff by their research areas.

Our research is focused around four 'clusters': Ancient Visual and Material Culture, incorporating the disciplines of epigraphy and numismatics as well as history and archaeology; Ancient literature and thought, encompassing the study of texts of all kinds, including inscriptions and medical texts; Medical humanities and Greco-Arabic studies, bridging philological and historical approaches, as well as reception studies, and Classical receptions and critical theory, which reflects specific specialisms in the department yet is also embedded in the other three research clusters . Each of these interdisciplinary nodes is therefore distinctive, yet there are also multiple points of contact and synergies between them. Our research culture sustains critical dialogue between traditionally separate sub-fields, as part of an ongoing interrogation of what the discipline of 'Classics' might mean and entail in the 21st century.

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

The department hosts a lively and diverse community of postgraduates studying for taught MAs, research MAs and PhDs. Explore their current and recent research projects here.

Medical Humanities and Greco-Arabic Studies.

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. Warwick is leading the way through key publications on Galen and the Galenic corpus, and its reception in the Islamic, Byzantine and Western worlds.

Ancient Visual and Material Culture

The department is a centre of excellence in research into ancient visual and material culture, particularly numismatics, epigraphy, art history, and classical archaeology. We have established one of the strongest numismatic research hubs in Europe, publishing new finds and confronting interdisciplinary questions with broader implications for the study of history and archaeology. The department has a unique Taught MA programme [Ancient Visual and Material Culture], including a stream incorporating the Postgraduate City of Rome course at the British School at Rome [Visual and Material Culture of Ancient Rome] and short courses at the British School at Athens [Visual and Material Culture of Ancient Greece], in which students have the opportunity to specialise in Classical Epigraphy

Ancient Literature and Thought

The Department has a thriving research culture in many areas of ancient literature and thought, characterised by its innovative, interdisciplinary approaches. Our ever-evolving conversations 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.

Classical receptions and critical theory

All our research staff engage in some way with (debates around) classical reception, and think critically about theories and methodologies relevant to their research. This research cluster brings together various threads of Medical Humanities (e.g. the reception of Galen in Renaissance Europe and in medieval Byzantine and Arabic medicine), Visual and Material Culture (e.g. the comparative study of ancient and modern economies by our numismatists, the reception of inscriptions in the modern world) and Ancient literature and thought (e.g. critical-theoretical approaches to Greek and Latin texts, mediations between art and text both ancient and modern, critical engagements with modern philosophical and political writings through ancient texts and vice versa). Our recent publications interact with, among other things, psychoanalytic thinking on mourning (Rimell), ecopoetics and photography (Fearn), phenomenology (Bakola), feminist and queer theory (Davidson, Rimell, Watson), and the history of madness and melancholy (Petit). Warwick’s particular strengths in joined-up thinking across the Humanities is reflected across our research-led undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Our Taught MA in Ancient Literature and Thought is one of very few Classics Masters courses in the UK to offer an intensive introduction to literary and critical theory tailored specifically to classicists.

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

Interested in Postgraduate Study?

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, Emily Clifford, Alison Cooley, Zahra Newby, Clare Rowan, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Dario Calomino, Mairi Gkikaki, Antonino Crisà, Naomi Carless Unwin, Trevor Van Damme)
Classical Archaeology (Kevin Butcher, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Clare Rowan, Trevor Van Damme)
Digital Classics (Alison Cooley, Michael Scott, Clare Rowan, Dario Calomino)
Epigraphy (Alison Cooley, Naomi Carless-Unwin)
Greek History (James Davidson, Michael Scott, Trevor Van Damme)
Roman History (Kevin Butcher, Alison Cooley, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Zahra Newby, Clare Rowan)
Greek Literature and Thought (Emmanuela Bakola, Eric Csapo, Emily Clifford, David Fearn, Caroline Petit)
History of medicine (Caroline Petit, Simon Swain, Uwe Vagelpohl)
Numismatics (Kevin Butcher, Marguerite Spoerri Butcher, Suzanne Frey-Kupper, Clare Rowan)
Roman Literature and Thought (Alison Cooley, Victoria Rimell, Emily Clifford, Joe Watson)
Late antiquity (Caroline Petit, Simon Swain)
Reception, including critical theory and comparative literature (Emmanuela Bakola, Emily Clifford, David Fearn, Caroline Petit, Victoria Rimell, Simon Swain, Uwe Vahelpohl, Joe Watson)